marginalia

Drolleries were common in medieval manuscripts.

6 April, 2019 - 13:57 dhwty

Drolleries of the Middle Ages Included Comical Yet Sinister Killer Rabbits and Erotic Art

A drollerie (also spelled as drollery) is a type of marginalia found on Medieval manuscripts. Drolleries are amusing, often grotesque, figures drawn on the edges of manuscripts and may be found in...

Opening from the Hours of Catherine of Cleves, 1440. The Morgan Library & Museum.

21 December, 2015 - 02:53 dhwty

Beautiful, Decorative, and Sometimes Crude: Illuminated Manuscripts and Marginalia

Illuminated manuscripts are manuscripts that are covered with painted ornaments presented under several forms. These documents are perhaps most commonly associated with the European Middle Ages...

Myths & Legends

Illustration of a sea serpent. Credit: Tina Leyk / deviantart

In the Wake of the Stronsay Globster

More humans have walked on the moon than have been to the deepest parts of planet Earth and although the oceans cover 70% of Earth’s surface, we only know around 1% of the seafloor. Many a mystery surrounds the deep blue and this is the remarkable story of a cryptozoological enigma which washed up on Scotland's northern shores in the 19th century.

The Epic of Gilgamesh Unveiled: Searching For a Way to the Home Planet

Hopi Prophecy and the End of the Fourth World - Part 1

Why We Should Remember Menelaus, the King Lost in his Wife’s Shadow

The Powerful Symbol of the Swastika and its 12,000 Year History

Lilith: Ancient Demon, Dark Deity or Sensual Goddess?

Human Origins

Left: Pictish warrior (public domain) Right: Scythian Warrior with Axe, Bow, and Spear.

Piecing Together the Origins of Ancient Near East Names in Scotland

Thinking of Scotland, as I do from the somewhat similar mountains of northern India, which has been my home for nigh on twenty years, I do so from a rather Indian perspective; I think of families, clans, and tribes living on land that they consider to be their ancestral land.

Controversy at Hueyatlaco: When Did Humans First Inhabit the Americas?

Is There Scientific Evidence for the Exodus?

Mount Shasta: Mystery Mountain and Sacred Destination

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

The Theory of ‘Three Human Species’

Ancient Technology

Beyond the Pyramid Ramp: Unravelling Egypt’s Most Elusive Enigma

The mystery of how the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt were built continues to elude scholars, even in the 21st century. As famed Egyptologist Flinders Petrie records in his The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh (1883)

Egyptian Blue – The Oldest Known Artificial Pigment

Uncovering Ancient Pyramid Science at Teotihuacan, Where Men Become Gods

Ancient Chinese Earthquake Detector Invented 2,000 Years Ago Really Worked!

6 Advanced Ancient Inventions Beyond Modern Understanding

Ancient Advanced Technology: 2,400-Year-Old Yakhchals Kept Ice in the Desert

Ancient Places

Hy-Brasil: The Legendary Phantom Island of Ireland

Hy-Brasil is a mysterious island appearing on maps from 1325 to the 1800s. In Irish myth, it was said to be clouded in mist except for one day every seven years, when it became visible but still...

Why Was Such a Colossal Bath Tub Built for Tsar Alexander I?

How A Handful of Yamnaya Culture Nomads Became the Fathers of Europe

Ancient Stones of Australia: A Mysterious Series of Rock Arrangements and Placements that Defy Conventional Historical Accounts

The Secret Bridge to Peru’s Most Legendary City, Machu Picchu

The Punctilious Planning, Design, and Construction of the Ancient Round City of Baghdad

Opinion

Mount Shasta: Sacred Mountain and a Strange Destination for Many

Mount Shasta: Mystery Mountain and Sacred Destination

Mount Shasta is not the tallest or most beautiful mountain in the Cascade Range; but it is the most legendary. In terms of weirdness and strangeness, the unusual stories surrounding the mountain will...

Atlantis: Examining the Legendary Tale of Plato

New Masked Carving in St Albans Cathedral Restoration is Distasteful

Shakespeare’s Ghosts Live! What Secret Messages do The Spirits Reveal about the Nature of Reality?

Is Bigfoot Real? Let’s Look at Emerging Scientific Evidence

Uncovering Ancient Pyramid Science at Teotihuacan, Where Men Become Gods

Our Mission

At Ancient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exist countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained.

The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe.

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By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings.