middle ages

20 February, 2019 - 23:01 dhwty

The Iron Maiden: This Medieval Torture Device Was Used as Recently as 2003!

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...

2 February, 2019 - 18:21 Sarah P Young

Kulning: The Ancient Swedish Herding Call That Has Echoed Through the Ages

Kulning is a vocal art with its origins in the forests and mountains of Scandinavia. It was first used as a method to call back cattle who were left free to graze in the wild landscape, but it is...

Detail from one of the fragments showing the name Merlin.

1 February, 2019 - 13:57 Ed Whelan

Fragments of Ancient Manuscript About Merlin Have Been Discovered and Could Change Arthurian Legend

A lucky discovery in a rare book has the potential to transform our knowledge of perhaps the most famous story from the entire Middle Ages. Some damaged manuscript pages found inside the volume are...

31 January, 2019 - 01:56 Ed Whelan

Could The Gedi Ruins Be Haunted By Jins?

Historic cities throughout the world have always intrigued experts and travelers and one of the most fascinating is the abandoned city known as Gedi on the coast of Kenya. The ruins of Gedi are...

Old iron chastity belt from Middle Ages.

29 January, 2019 - 22:54 Sarah P Young

The Long Fascination With the Chastity Belt – But Was it Just A Fantasy?

The chastity belt is an item that titillates and fascinates in equal measure. The idea of the brave medieval knight locking up his beloved, naively believing a mere padlock would be enough to keep...

Example of Anthropodermic bibliopegy – an 18-19th century notebook allegedly covered with human skin.

12 January, 2019 - 23:03 dhwty

Books Bound in Human Skin – The Practice Isn’t As Rare As You Might Think!

Anthropodermic bibliopegy refers to the practice of binding books in human skin . According to folk legend, the binding of books (or more appropriately manuscripts, as they were hand-written) in...

Self portrait of Guda, a 12th century nun and female scribe.

10 January, 2019 - 13:55 Ed Whelan

Blue Pigment Found on Medieval Teeth Reveals Secret Existence of Female Scribes

The analysis of human teeth has become increasingly important in modern archaeology. A recent discovery of a set of teeth in a German monastery is revolutionizing our understanding of women in...

Jayne and Martin Townley at their Middle Ages themed house hosting a medieval banquet

1 January, 2019 - 17:57 Joanna Gillan

Jousting Champion and Magician Wife Transform House into Medieval Castle Complete with Banqueting Hall

A medieval-obsessed couple have transformed their four-bedroom, semi-detached home in Somerset, England, into a Middle-Ages-themed castle complete with a banqueting hall. Martin and Jayne Townley...

The Medieval skeleton was found still in its boots

4 December, 2018 - 22:57 ashley cowie

Mystery Man in High Leather Boots: How Did His Medieval Skeleton End Up in London’s River Thames?

Archaeologists working at London’s 'super sewer' in Bermondsey have recovered the skeletal remains of a man, wearing high leather boots, lying face-down in the silt of the River Thames. Much about...

Detail of ‘Brawl between soldiers and peasants’ (1565-1570) by the Circle of Marten van Cleve. A new ‘murder map’ shows that Medieval London streets were the backdrop to many murders.

28 November, 2018 - 18:57 ancient-origins

Beaten to Death for Littering with Eel Skins: ‘Murder Map’ Reveals Medieval London’s Meanest Streets

The first digital map of the murders recorded by the city's Coroner in early 1300s shows Cheapside and Cornhill were homicide ‘hot spots’, and Sundays held the highest risk of violent death for...

Kit Harington appears in a scene from HBO's, 'Game of Thrones,' 2017. Game of Thrones is a seemingly authentic portrayal of a pseudo-medieval world. But it is ahistortical and actually reveals much more about how we imagine the past and view our society today.

8 November, 2018 - 01:52 ancient-origins

Game of Thrones Creates a Romantic and Grotesque Pseudo-Medieval World, Revealing Modern Perceptions of the Past

Take the dragons and the zombies away from the television adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire novels and you are left with the seemingly authentic portrayal of a pseudo-...

A 17th century engraving depicting an ordeal by water.

30 October, 2018 - 22:50 dhwty

Trial by Ordeal: A Life or Death Method of Judgement

In the modern judicial system, the innocence or guilt of an accused may be established based on the evidence brought against him or her. In ancient and medieval societies, however, a different way of...

29 October, 2018 - 22:02 ancient-origins

The Evolution of The Medieval Witch – And Why She’s Usually a Woman

Flying through the skies on a broomstick, the popular image of a witch is as a predominantly female figure – so much so that the costume has become the go-to Halloween outfit for women and girls...

26 October, 2018 - 14:02 dhwty

The Shambles: Medieval Slaughterhouse Street Turned Tourist Hotspot

The Shambles (known officially as Shambles) is a street in York dating to the Middle Ages. Shambles has been called the best-preserved Medieval street in Europe and has been voted as the most...

Detail of an illustration of a woman emptying her chamber pot out the window. Medieval sanitation wasn’t very sanitary.

24 October, 2018 - 18:57 dhwty

Cheerio and Gardi Loo! Words of Warning Prompted By Medieval Human Waste Disposal

In 1775, the Scottish inventor Alexander Cumming was granted the first patent for the design of a flushing toilet. Although the Romans were known for their innovation in sanitation, which included...

This is the skeleton discovered during excavations exploring Medieval life on Torcello Island, Venice, Italy.

3 October, 2018 - 14:01 ancient-origins

Scholars Uncover Signs of Medieval Life and Death on an Italian Island

On the island of Torcello, at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice excavation site, some protagonists of the island's thousand-year history have begun to emerge. A tomb datable to around 700 AD has...

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Myths & Legends

The Last of the Siberian Unicorns: What Happened to the Mammoth-Sized One-Horned Beasts of Legend?

Elasmotherium, also known as the Giant Rhinoceros or the Giant Siberian Unicorn, is an extinct species of rhino that lived in the Eurasian area in the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene eras. They have been documented from 2.6 million years ago, but the most recent fossils come from around 29,000 years ago.

The symbol of the Swastika and its 12,000-year-old history

Lovelock Cave: A Tale of Giants or A Giant Tale of Fiction?

The Real Story of Medusa and the Gorgons

Mount Meru – Hell and Paradise on One Mountain

The Ballad of Hua Mulan: The Legendary Warrior Woman Who Brought Hope to China

Human Origins

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Sumer , or the ‘land of civilized kings’, flourished in Mesopotamia, now modern-day Iraq, around 4500 BC. Sumerians created an advanced civilization with its own system of elaborate language and...

Rh-Negative Blood: An Exotic Bloodline or Random Mutation?

The human skull that challenges the Out of Africa theory

Where are Ashkenazi Jews from? Their Origins May Surprise You

Facing the Facts: Just How Accurate Are Facial Reconstructions?

They’re Alive! Megalithic Sites Are More than Just Stone

Ancient Technology

Stone of the Pregnant Woman, an example of ancient high-tech stonework in Hajar al Hibla at Baalbek in Lebanon.

The High-Tech Stonework of the Ancients: Unsolved Mysteries of Master Engineers

There are many stone artifacts from the ancient world made from the hardest stone on the planet such as granite and diorite, which have been cut and shaped with such quality, precision and accuracy that the standard explanations of their manufacture are simply inadequate.

Ancient Journeys: What was Travel Like for the Romans?

Both a Princess and a Priestess, What Did the First Known Author Have to Share with the World?

The revolutionary invention of the wheel

They’re Alive! Megalithic Sites Are More than Just Stone

Ten amazing inventions from ancient times

Ancient Places

Were the Women of Petra More Important Than the Men?

The Nabataeans were a society who inhabited Arabia and the Southern Levant from the 3rd century BC to approximately 106 AD when the Nabataean kingdom was annexed by the Roman Empire.

Trance Rock Art of Nsangwini - Communing With the Spirits

The Colossal Hand of Hercules, So Where is the Rest of Him?

Eridu: The Sumerian Garden of Eden and the Oldest City in the World?

The Where, When and How of Quarrying Stonehenge 'Bluestones' Is Revealed in New Report

Hill of Crosses: A Hundred Thousand Times Lithuania Has Stood Up

Opinion

The astronomical ceiling at the Pronaos, Detail of the first Band west from the center. From left to right: two wind creatures (the winged ram with four heads personifies the south wind), the snake- and frog-headed eight goddesses and gods of the Ogdoad who ruled the cosmos before the creation of the world and Osiris seated on a throne sails across the sky as personification of the full moon accompanied by the seated goddesses Nephtys (left) and Isis on the right (Maat stands near the bow of the ship). Siri

Changing Colors and Scampering Across the Night Sky: What Did the Ancients Say about Sirius?

In Egypt, Sirius was the Star of Isis, Isis being the companion and rescuer of the god Osiris. In a very deep way, Osiris was Egypt.

Cracking the Code to Discover Ancient Tarot Symbolism and Forgotten Universal Knowledge

The Secret Strategic Plans of Darius the Great

The Secrets of the Kabbalists Garden

Alchemy and Generating Lifeforce —Global Temples Made in the Shape of Lingams: Shaivite Bull Cult Part II

From Green Man to Bull Son, The Universal Shaivite Bull Cult – Part I

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.

We’re the only Pop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives.

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.