There is no doubt that most of us, in our childhoods and later in life, heard all about the stories and legends of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. For many, the stories of Arthur and...
The Shroud of Turin is believed by many to be the bloodstained burial cloth Jesus of Nazareth was wrapped in after his crucifixion. But skeptics say it is a forgery, or at best only a religious...
A recent post from a Hungarian museum curator on Facebook tells of the discovery of “rare treasures of magnitude,” relating to the Turkish devastation following the Battle of Mohács. The news...
When it comes to Kings (and Queens) of England, there is strong competition as to who can claim the title of being the worst in the nation’s long history. There is Ethelred the Unready , whose...
New research has cast light on how and why the iconic Domesday Book was created. The study shows that the work of the medieval scribes was so efficient and sophisticated that they accomplished what a...
Ongoing excavations at a rural spot near the village of Újlengyel in central Hungary recently struck gold, both figuratively and literally. Archaeologists armed with powerful metal detectors found a...
Remote Italian towns and historic villages have begun selling homes for €1 euro ($1.13) in a new governmental ancient home scheme to stop a severe drop in rural populations. But before you rush off...
An English metal detectorist hunting for treasure in Hampshire recently unearthed something rare and startling. While scouring a field near the bucolic village of Buriton, where medieval artifacts...
Britain’s antiquities experts have mostly written them off as a loss from a curated collection, but the presence of two Chinese Northern Song dynasty (960 - 1127 AD) coins unearthed at separate sites...
The knight is arguably one of the most iconic figures of the Middle Ages. Knights were essentially mounted warriors, and in the hierarchy of medieval society , were considered to be part of the lower...
The iron maiden is a torture device widely believed to have been used in Europe during the Middle Ages. This notorious contraption is known by other names, such as the Virgin (a reference to the...
The medieval period saw the rise of many new inventions all around the world. Emerging out of the so-called Dark Ages, many prominent scholars and learned minds came up with new inventions to make...
For several decades, a team of researchers have been carrying out excavations at old cemeteries and villages at sites in central Mali and eastern Senegal. Over the years they’ve come across a handful...
In early medieval history – especially English history – landed gentry and aristocracy played a significant role in the political and social development. Following the Norman invasion of England by...
A home full of occult objects has attracted enormous interest, recently. A hidden space beneath a staircase in a 16th-century Welsh home was filled with occult objects, including animal skulls and a...
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. This old adage has now been taken to a whole new level in the northeast of England. A team of...
The island of Rhodes which now forms part of Greece, has a long and dramatic history dating back 12,000 years to the Neolithic era. In the medieval period it was the headquarters of The Order of...
A lost medieval bridge, dating back to the 1300s, has been discovered submerged beneath the whiskey-tinted waters of Scotland’s River Teviot. The cities, towns and villages of Middle Age Europe were...
Volterra, an archaeological gem in the province of Pisa, in Italy, is often eclipsed by more famous historical sites. This beautiful village, however, dates to the Etruscan period and also contains...
In Britain, a mysterious discovery has been made in the ruins of a church in an abandoned medieval village. On some stones, archaeologists have found graffiti and some enigmatic marking. It is...
British archaeologists have long speculated over the most probable site for a long lost medieval Friary that once stood in open countryside near Gloucester, England. Now it’s been discovered, but not...
A medieval toilet may not be the first place you’d want to dig as an archaeologist, but old latrines are surprisingly good at revealing secrets to life in the Middle Ages! A team of scientists...
Rasiglia is a small village located in the province of Perugia, in the central Italian region of Umbria. The village, which traces its history all the way back to the Middle Ages, is known also as...
A large calfskin canvas was secreted away beneath the floor of an English cathedral, featuring what, at first glance, appeared to be a map of the world. Once recovered and repaired, the map which is...
![The Shroud of Turin: modern, digitally processed image of the face on the cloth [left] and the full body image as seen on the shroud [right].](https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_optimized/public/field/image/The-Shroud-of-Turin.jpg?itok=C6wvY5Gn)
