megafauna

Somewhere in Southwestern North America during the late Pleistocene, a pack of dire wolves (Canis dirus) are feeding on their bison kill, while a pair of gray wolves (Canis lupus) approach in the hopes of scavenging. One of the dire wolves rushes in to confront the gray wolves, and their confrontation allows a comparison of the bigger, larger-headed and reddish-brown dire wolf with its smaller, gray relative. Source: Mauricio Antón/ Nature

13 January, 2021 - 16:00 Alicia McDermott

Beyond Game of Thrones: Study Reveals Secrets of Real Dire Wolves

Have you ever heard of dire wolves? You’ll probably say “Yes” if you are a fan of the TV show Game of Thrones . This canine species appears in the iconic TV series, where it is known as a ‘direwolf’...

Clovis tools may have been developed to hunt the last of the North American megafauna. Source: Daniel /Adobe Stock

28 October, 2020 - 21:01 Alicia McDermott

Short Lived Clovis Tools May Have Killed Off North American Megafauna

While they were not the earliest inhabitants of the Americas, the Clovis people had an extremely significant prehistoric culture that was distinctive and widespread across what is now North America...

11 October, 2020 - 17:34 ashley cowie

10,000-Year-Old Footprints Tell Amazing Story of Human Encounter with Megafauna

Archaeologists at White Sands National Park in New Mexico examining a 10,000-year-old track of human footprints , have made more fascinating discoveries. But they’ve also unearthed a trowel-full of...

Artist’s reconstruction of a savannah in Middle Pleistocene Southeast Asia. In the foreground Homo erectus, stegodon, hyenas, and Asian rhinos are depicted. Water buffalo can be seen at the edge of a riparian forest in the background. Source: Peter Schouten / Nature

9 October, 2020 - 00:40 ashley cowie

Nature Killed Off Megafauna, And It Could Happen Again

The giant beasts and ancient megafauna that roamed Southeast Asia 100,000 years ago died because of climate change. A team of scientists from Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, has published...

The cave painting, believed to represent the now extinct giant sloth lemur, was discovered in the a limestone cave located in a nature reserve in western Madagascar. Source: gudkovandrey / Adobe Stock

3 July, 2020 - 19:23 ashley cowie

Unique Painting of Extinct Giant Sloth Discovered in Madagascar Cave

A team of scientists exploring a cave in western Madagascar have discovered an ancient painting which they are calling the “only known drawing of an extinct giant lemur” that once lived in the island...

Life and death in tropical Australia, 40,000 years ago. Giant reptiles ruled northern Australia during the Pleistocene with mega-marsupials as their prey. Source: R. Bargiel, V. Konstantinov, A. Atuchin & S. Hocknull (2020). Queensland Museum.

18 June, 2020 - 01:55 ancient-origins

Humans Coexisted with Giant Lizards and Mega Marsupials in Australia

When people first arrived in what is now Queensland, they would have found the land inhabited by massive animals including goannas six meters long and kangaroos twice as tall as a human. We have...

Students make protective plaster wrappings for asphalt-preserved giant sloth bones at the Tanque Loma tar pit locality in southwestern Ecuador. (Martin Tomasz / La Brea Tar Pits)

6 May, 2020 - 22:51 ashley cowie

Giant Sloth Death Pit Reveals Death By Feces Ingestion

The fossilized remains of 22 Ice Age, elephant sized sloths have been found preserved in 20,000-year-old asphalt in Ecuador. The discovery of this giant sloth death pit is revealing a virtual Bible...

11 January, 2020 - 13:55 ancient-origins

Did Ice Age Extinctions Force Us to Invent Civilization?

Nick Longrich / The Conversation Why did we take so long to invent civilization? Modern Homo sapiens first evolved roughly 250,000 to 350,000 years ago. But initial steps towards civilization –...

The mammoth traps were found in Tultepec, Mexico. Source: Edith Camacho, INAH

8 November, 2019 - 13:56 ashley cowie

The World’s First 'Mammoth Traps' Found in Mexico?

Anthropologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a statement on Wednesday that a pair of hunting pits, essentially mammoth traps, were discovered during...

Skeleton of a prehistoric cave bear. Source: Fizped / CC BY-SA 3.0

16 August, 2019 - 05:13 Ed Whelan

Humans A Major Factor In the Extinction of Giant Cave Bears

Until 25,000 years ago, Europe was home to some of the largest mammals, that ever lived. One of the most remarkable of the megafauna was the gigantic cave bear. Why these massive animals and other...

An illustration shows the approximate height of a giant penguin next to a woman. Source: Canterbury Museum

16 August, 2019 - 01:39 ancient-origins

Huge Penguins Added to the List of New Zealand’s Extinct Species

A new species of giant penguin - about 1.6 meters (5.25 ft.) tall - has been identified from fossils found in Waipara, North Canterbury. The discovery of Crossvallia waiparensis , a monster penguin...

7 August, 2019 - 22:35 ashley cowie

3 Foot Tall Parrot Species Discovered On New Zealand, Island Of Feathered Giants

Scientists have uncovered fossilized leg bones from a gigantic parrot that once inhabited Central Otago on the South Island of New Zealand. The St. Bathans fauna comprises a rich suite of fossilized...

The Brosno Dragon. Source: Fergregory / Adobe.

23 May, 2019 - 14:02 Sarah P Young

The Brosno Dragon: The Loch Ness Monster’s Evil Russian Cousin?

Most people are familiar with the legendary Loch Ness Monster – a mysterious cryptid said to lurk in the depth of Loch Ness in Scotland. The Brosno Dragon, which is also known as Brosnya, is a...

A saber-toothed cat stands atop a boulder on a grassy plain. Credit: Daniel / Adobe Stock

8 May, 2019 - 23:00 ancient-origins

Of Bunyips and Other Beasts: Evidence of Extinct Megafauna Displayed in Art and Stories

On many continents during the last ice age , typically from about 50,000 to 12,000 years ago, species of megafauna that had lived there for hundreds of thousands of years became extinct...

Artistic representation by Heinrich Harder of humans hunting glyptodon, a megafauna that lived during the Pleistocene period.

19 October, 2018 - 23:02 Caleb Strom

Pleistocene Epoch: Humans, Welcome to Earth

The Pleistocene epoch is a geologic epoch which began around 2.6 Mya (Million years ago) and came to an end around 11,700 BP (Before Present). It is characterized by lower sea levels than the present...

A diprotodon (Peter Trusler) in the Australian outback.

17 September, 2018 - 19:08 Veronica Parkes

Diprotodon: The Massive Marsupial that Roamed Australia 5.3 Million Years Ago

Today, Australia contains many wild and wondrous animals, and not much has changed over the past millions of years. The diprotodon is an animal that roamed Australia 5.3 million years ago. It was the...

Pages

Myths & Legends

The Thirteen Legendary Treasures of Britain

The ancient Greek writer Hesiod once wrote that there were five ages of mankind – the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, the Heroic Age, and the Iron Age. Similarly, in Hinduism, there are...

The Dogon’s Extraordinary Knowledge of the Cosmos and the Cult of Nommo

The Dark Reputation of the Dunmore Cave of Ireland

Legendary Black Knights: Mysterious Medieval Entities of Neutrality

The Real Story of Medusa: Protective Powers from a Snake-Haired Gorgon

Was Dracula Story inspired by Abhartach, the Bloodsucking Chieftain of Ireland?

Human Origins

Photo of Zecharia Sitchin (left)(CC0)Akkadian cylinder seal dating to circa 2300 BC depicting the deities Inanna, Utu, and Enki, three members of the Anunnaki.(right)

Zecharia Sitchin and the Mistranslation of Sumerian Texts

In a previous 2-part article (1), the authors wrote about the faulty associations of the Sumerian deities known as the Anunnaki as they are portrayed in the books, television series, and other media, which promotes Ancient Astronaut Theory (hereafter “A.A.T.”).

Footprints, Fairies and even a Foreskin: 10 Bizarre Relics from History

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Dark Skin and Blue Eyes: European Hunter-Gatherers Did Not Fit with Common Representations

Research Confirms that Neanderthal DNA Makes Up About 20% of the Modern Human Genome

The human skull that challenges the Out of Africa theory

Ancient Technology

The Man Who Stopped a Desert Using Ancient Farming

Desertification is a serious problem facing numerous countries in the world today. Various measures have been taken to counter the negative effects, with some providing better results than others. A farmer in Burkina Faso looked to his ancestors and came up with an innovative solution.

Han Purple: A 2,800-year-old artificial pigment that quantum physicists are trying to understand

Catapult: The Long-Reaching History of a Prominent Medieval Siege Engine

The Evidence is Cut in Stone: A Compelling Argument for Lost High Technology in Ancient Egypt

150,000-Year-Old Pipes Baffle Scientists in China: Out of Place in Time?

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

Ancient Places

The tragedy of Queen Ankhesenamun, sister and wife of Tutankhamun

Everyone has heard of the famous boy king, Tutankhamun , but the name of his beloved sister and wife Ankhesenamun is rarely uttered. The tragic life of Ankhesenamun was well documented in the ancient...

Pavlopetri: 5,000-Year-Old Town Discovered Underwater in Greece

The Great Boat of Khufu: The ‘Black Box’ to the Construction of the Pyramids

The 9,000-year-old underground megalithic settlement of Atlit Yam

5 Pyramids of the Ancient World that You May Not Have Heard About

The Dark Underworld of the Paris Catacombs

Opinion

Unearthing Ancient Magic in The Runes –Messages with Hidden Symbols and Powerful Numbers

The etymology of the word “rune” means: “to carve, or to cut.” In Low German the word is “raunen.” As the runes were cut and carved into wood, metal or stone, the word “rune” was analogous to the rune letters themselves.

Petroglyphic Features of Portable Rock Art

The Northern Mysteries Current: Futhark and Mystery Schools of the Viking Age

Was There Ever a Trojan War?

Floki and the Viking Discovery of Iceland

Messiah on Temple Mount: Are We Nearing the End of Time?

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 exists 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.