All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

mass grave

A mass grave of over 50 headless Vikings, known as the headless Vikings of Dorset. Source: Simon Fraser University / CC BY 2.0

Unraveling the Mystery of the Headless Vikings of Dorset

In June 2009, archaeologists made a shocking discovery in the seaside town of Weymouth in Dorset, England. While excavating in preparation for the anticipated Weymouth Relief Road, archaeologists...
Body collector during the plague. Source: YouTube Screenshot / Weird History.

What It Was Like to Be a Body Collector During the Black Death (Video)

Amid the Black Plague's devastating sweep from 1346 to 1353, a daunting profession emerged: that of the body collector. Their grim duty was unambiguous - to clear the streets and homes of the...
Skulls showing battle injuries. Source: Jan / Adobe Stock.

Skeletons Show Horrific Injuries from The Battle of Towton (Video)

The Battle of Towton , fought on March 29, 1461, during the Wars of the Roses , was a gruesome and decisive conflict in English history. Archaeological excavations at Towton have revealed a mass...
A headless skeleton, Suffolk, England (representational). Credit: Archaeological Solutions.

450 Headless ‘Vampire’ Skeletons Unearthed in Mass Grave in Poland

Archaeologists in Poland have excavated what is being called a “mass-suspected vampire grave.” With their decapitated skulls lodged between their legs, and coins in their mouths, every effort was...
Skeletons in a mass grave. Source: EKH-Pictures / Adobe Stock.

Grim Discovery: Uncovering London's Plague Burial Ground (Video)

In August 2015, an astounding discovery was made in the heart of London that sent shockwaves through the archaeological and historical communities. Researchers announced the unearthing of a mass...
Skeleton in mass grave Durham, England

Mysterious Mass Graves Contained Oliver Cromwell's Prisoners

In November 2013 archaeologists from the University of Durham in northern England found two mass graves near Durham Cathedral. At first the archaeologists thought the bodies belonged to the Cathedral...
Mass Grave Found in Vianen the Netherlands

Dutch Mass Grave Mystery: Skeletons were British Soldiers

In 2020 construction workers in the Netherlands made a gruesome discovery. While working in the city of Vianen they came across an enigmatic mass burial. Were the 82 skeletons victims of war, a...
Beheaded skeleton found in Roman cemetery in Buckinghamshire, England

Grisly Discovery of Dozens of Beheaded Skeletons in Britain

Archaeologists have discovered 40 beheaded skeletons in a large Roman era cemetery near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England. This strange find joins another discovery of decapitated skeletons from...
Tyrannosaurus Rex Likely Hunted in Packs - and There Were Billions of Them!

Tyrannosaurus Rex Likely Hunted in Packs - and There Were Billions of Them!

As the most ferocious dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus rex once prowled the lands that now comprise North America with impunity. And if the conclusions of a new research project are correct, their behavior...
This skull from a teen boy, found at the Croatian massacre site, clearly shows blunt force injuries in two locations.

6,200-Year-Old Croatian Massacre Solved With Genetic DNA Study

Archaeologists called to a home construction site in the village of Potočani in eastern Croatia in 2007 made a gruesome discovery . They found evidence of a massacre site that included the scattered...
Prof. Vasil Nikolov and his team of archaeologists at the Provadia-Saltworks found the ceramic artifact, believed to be a salt god, while excavating the bottom of a salt evaporation pool. Source: Provadia-Solnitsata

Unidentified Salt God Emerges from Ancient Bulgarian Cult Site

In the ancient world salt was so valuable that Roman soldiers were sometimes paid with salt instead of money . A monthly salt allowance was a salarium , and this Latin word seeds both the French word...
The skull of one of the individuals studied, in which the dental modifications are apparent, and the tubes used for isotope and genetic tests, both of which were carried out as part of our study.       Source: Collection of San José de los Naturales, Osteology Laboratory, (ENAH), Mexico City, Mexico. Photo: R. Barquera & N. Bernal.

Bones Reveal Story of Three African Slaves During Spanish Colonialism

Despite the infamy of the transatlantic slave trade , scientific research has yet to fully explore the history of the enslaved Africans brought into Latin America. In a study appearing April 30th in...
Mass grave of victims of the Black Death discovered at Thornton Abbey. Source: Sved Oliver / Adobe Stock.

English Medieval Hospital Shows Horrors of Black Death

The Black Death was one of the greatest disasters in recorded history. New discoveries in a medieval hospital burial ground are revealing new insights into its impact on rural England. It shows that...
After the bodies had been dismembered, the body parts were placed at the bottom of an artificial water reservoir and covered with large stone blocks. Source: © Nicolaus Seefeld.

Isotope Analysis of Maya Mass Grave Reveals Brutal Ritual

Several years ago, Maya archaeologists from the University of Bonn found the bones of about 20 people at the bottom of a water reservoir in the former Maya city of Uxul , in what is now Mexico . They...
Skulls from mass grave in Yaroslavl, Russia, showing traces of violence. Source: Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences

800-Year-Old Russian Mass Grave Illustrates Extreme Mongol Violence

DNA testing has proven that three people who were found in a mass-grave in Russia dating back 800 years ago belonged to an elite family. Reading the words ‘Russia’ and ‘mass-grave’ in the same...
One of the skeletons found beneath Coleg Menai in Llangefni, Wales. Credit: Archaeology Wales.

Mysterious Mass Grave Found in Wales May Contain Bodies of Vikings’ Slaves

Archaeologists have uncovered a mysterious mass grave dating back 1,600 years in Wales containing the remains of 86 individuals. Researchers are now attempting to explain strange characteristics...
The mass grave of 15 skeletons and grave goods at the Koszyce burial. Source: H Schroeder et al / PNAS.

5000-Year-Old Family Found In Mass Burial Was Brutally Murdered

New research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ( PNAS ) entitled “Unravelling ancestry , kinship, and violence in a Late...
Ancient Greek murder victim was a muscular warrior.

Muscular Ancient Murder Victim Had Perfectly Circular Hole Punched In His Chest

Somewhere around 2,000 years ago on a Greek island, a very strong man had a seven-pointed spear, known as a styrax, thrust through his chest with such a violent force that it punched a perfectly...
Several mass graves have been found at the site of one of the biggest battles of the Napoleonic Wars, during which some 55,000 soldiers died in July 1809.

The Napoleonic Discovery of Mass Graves in Austria

A team of battlefield archaeologists near Deutsch-Wagram in Austria, working from a “makeshift detective's office inside a shipping container with photos of mass graves,” have discovered one of the...
Underwater timbers related to the Batavia shipwreck being tagged by researchers off the coast of Western Australia.

Skeleton found at shipwreck site is a reminder of a brutal massacre off the Australian coast

On June 4 th 1629, a contrived dispute in order to instigate a mutiny on the Duch East India Company vessel, the Batavia, culminated in the deaths of over more than 120 people. The bodies of the dead...
A pirate burial ground has been located in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

A Pirate’s Death for Me: Black Bellamy’s Drowned Crew Found in Largest American Mass Buccaneer Burial Ground

The notorious pirate “Black Sam” Bellamy sailed the seven seas, plundering and pirating, becoming the richest buccaneer ever known. But the crew drowned when their ship was wrecked, and the 102 lost...
Vaulted royal tomb of Haft Teppah (Haft Tepe), the Bronze Age Elamite city where archaeologist have uncovered a mass grave filled with unfortunate victims.

Researchers Study Mysterious Deaths in Mass Grave at Ancient Haft Tappeh

A mass grave containing the remains of more than 250 people was discovered by archaeologists at the ancient city of Haft Tappeh, Iran. Scientist are now working to determine how these people perished...
What befell the ancient Elamite city of Haft Tappeh? Detail of the sack of Susa.

Human Tragedy Revealed at ancient city: Excavations uncover mass grave at Heft Tappeh, Iran

The skeletal remains of several hundred bodies piled high behind a ruin wall are testimony to the terrible tragedy that unfolded in the ancient city of the Seven Mounds. Archaeologists have uncovered...
A skeleton of the one of the young men buried on what is now the University of Durham campus

Discovery of 17th century mass grave reveals tragic remains of child soldiers

Archaeologists say they have verified that skeletons unearthed in a mass grave in northern England were Scottish prisoners, including child soldiers as young as 13, who died after capture in a 1650...

Pages