Monuments

Ruins and obelisks at Axum, former capital of the Kingdom of Aksum

13 April, 2019 - 01:51 Kerry Sullivan

The Kingdom of Axum: Facts and Legends of a First Millennium Powerhouse

Located on the Horn of Africa, the ancient Ethiopian kingdom of Axum (also spelled Aksum) played a significant role in international relations around the time of the first millennium. At its height,...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Kanopolis Lake recently discovered vandalism to an ancient petroglyph and is seeking information from the public.

15 March, 2018 - 21:54 ashley cowie

Vandalism at Ancient Sites, Who Really Cares Anyway?

Sometimes it doesn’t rain, but it pours. This month has seen two vandals, separated by thousands of miles, completely destroying a range of ancient carved animals. But does anybody really care...

Taq-e Bostan, famous rock relief monument of Sassanid Persia

14 November, 2017 - 13:58 dhwty

Histories of the Sassanian Kings Rivalry with the Romans Are Set in Stone at the Taq-e Bostan Monument

Taq-e Bostan (known also as Taq va san) is an archaeological site located in Kermanshah, a western province in Iran. This region is best-known for its numerous monuments dating to the Sassanian...

eft: Old Moon Goddess Destructive, Chak Chel. Dresden Codex, Forstemann version, with permission of FAMSI. Right: Old Moon Goddess, Beneficent Chak Chel. Dresden Codex, Forstemann version, with permission of FAMSI

2 August, 2017 - 13:59 lennie

Mayan Women and the Coiled Snake Headdress

The coiled snake headdress is a significant artifact connected with Mayan women, both ancient and modern. Images of ancient Mayan women wearing this distinctive headdress have been found carved on...

Lanyon Quoit. Used as the overriding image of ancient Cornwall and also known as the Giant's Table

13 July, 2017 - 22:50 Theodoros Karasavvas

Archaeologists Discover Ancient British Stones Have Secret Markings Visible Only at Night

A new study suggests that Stonehenge and other ancient stone memorials could have been used for sacred moonlit ceremonies which took place late at night. The archaeologists taking part in this study...

Saint Columba converting King Brude of the Picts to Christianity, Scottish National Portrait Gallery

13 May, 2017 - 01:42 ancient-origins

Does the Fierce Reputation of The Picts Reflect Reality?

It’s not that the Picts, a group of British Isle inhabitants, were that different from native Britons around the fourth century, a historian suggests in a new book. It’s just that Julius Caesar didn’...

9 April, 2017 - 19:03 ashley cowie

Sex Symbols of the Ancient World: Top Ten Sexually Explicit Caves, Mountains, Temples and Artifacts

If you are sensitive about matters pertaining to sex and sexuality it's probably best that you press the back button now. For those with a more exploratory attitude, what I hope you take away from...

Aerial view of Thebes' Ramesseum, showing pylons and secondary buildings and the Medical Papyri.

2 December, 2016 - 14:50 Natalia Klimczak

Revealing the Ramesseum Medical Papyri and Other Remarkable Finds from the Temple of Ramesses II

The mortuary temple of Ramesses II is one of the most magnificent temples in the Theban necropolis in Upper Egypt. It was discovered by Jean-Francois Champollion, the same man who deciphered the...

4 November, 2016 - 02:54 Natalia Klimczak

Three Famous Sites in One – The Story of the Legendary City of Tanis

For centuries, it was believed the city of Tanis was nothing more than a legend. Many people had doubts that it ever really existed. But that all changed when researchers who Napoleon Bonaparte...

24 September, 2016 - 21:52 Clyde Winters

Was Bolivia-Peru the Sunset Land of the Sumerians?

In an article on the Fuente Magna Bowl , April Holloway highlighted the evidence of Sumerian writing in South America. The Fuente Magna Bowl and Pokotia monument indicate that Sumerians may have...

A defensive monument along the Middle Nile.

2 August, 2016 - 03:49 Natalia Klimczak

Solved: Researchers Uncover Secrets of Over 100 Ancient Monumental Structures Across the Middle Nile

After a long period of speculation, a team of Polish archeologists has discovered the functions of almost one hundred monumental structures across the Middle Nile, which were built between the 4 th...

The Hypogeum in Malta, which is known to create specific sound frequencies, which have an effect on the human body

1 July, 2016 - 04:29 LydiaGian

The Mysterious Connection Between Geophysics, Architecture and Biomedicine

From the ancient past to the modern times, man has been experimenting with various architectural approaches, according to the era, the specific functions and his own level of consciousness. Nowadays...

Hirbat Midras, in Adullam Grove Nature Reserve in Israel, part of what geologist Dr. Alexander Koltypin hypothesizes to be a massive complex of prehistoric underground structures stretching across the Mediterranean.

2 May, 2016 - 00:46 ancient-origins

Is This a Huge Million-Year-Old, Man-Made Underground Complex?

By Tara MacIsaac , Epoch Times Most archaeologists and historians agree that human civilization only emerged some 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Yet many researchers have drawn attention to artifacts...

9 April, 2016 - 03:50 Natalia Klimczak

Hathor, the Turquoise Goddess Near the Nile

The shadow of Hathor is still present in many places related to the monumental history of ancient Egypt. She was one of the most important goddesses near the Nile, and remains one of the best-known...

Chola Fresco of dancing girls. Brihadisvara Temple

29 March, 2016 - 03:49 dhwty

The Extensive and Sometimes Mythical History of the Chola Empire

The Chola Empire was a southern Indian state that existed from around the middle of the 9th century AD until the 13th century AD. Although the Chola Empire was founded during the 9th century AD, the...

The Gateway of the Sun from the Tiwanku civilization in Bolivia.

30 March, 2015 - 22:05 lizleafloor

Archaeologists Find Underground Pyramid at Tiahuanaco in Bolivia, Excavations Planned

The ancient fortress site of Tiahuanaco (Tiwanaku) in western Bolivia is still revealing secrets thousands of years after its peak as capital of an empire, and home to one of the most important...

Pages

Myths & Legends

The Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter

Easter is a festival and holiday celebrated by millions of people around the world who honor the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred three days...

The Story of the Scary Shtorka and the Revival of Croatian Mythology

Ragnar Lothbrok: A Real Viking Hero Whose Life Became Lost to Legend

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

Involuntary Initiation: Tales of Demonic Powers of Sorcery Transmitted to the Unsuspecting

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

Human Origins

One Hundred Thousand Adams and Eves?

When the journalist Roger Lewin in 1987 dubbed the common maternal ancestor of all people living today “Mitochondrial Eve,” he evoked a creation story—that of a woman who was the mother of us all, and whose descendants dispersed throughout the earth.

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

Where are Ashkenazi Jews from? Their Origins May Surprise You

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

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

Religion Isn’t The Enemy of Science: It’s Been Inspiring Scientists for Centuries

Ancient Technology

Is this a 300 million-year-old screw or just a fossilized sea creature?

A Russian research team known as the Kosmopoisk Group, which investigates UFOs and paranormal activity, claims to have found a one-inch screw embedded inside a rock that is 300 million years old...

Romans Mastered Nanotechnology and Used it for Eye Catching Decoration

The Man Who Stopped a Desert Using Ancient Farming

Dujiangyan: The 2,200-Year-Old Chinese Irrigation System That is Still Used Today!

Does ‘New Evidence’ Prove Noah’s Ark Is Buried on a Turkish Mountain?

Norimitsu Odachi: Who Could Have Possibly Wielded This Enormous 15th Century Japanese Sword?

Ancient Places

Left: The temple of Ain Dara before. Right: The temple after its recent destruction.

3,000-Year-Old Ain Dara Temple in Syria Reduced to Rubble by Turkish Airstrikes

The Syro-Hittite temple of Ain Dara built in the 1st millennium BC boasted intricate stone sculptures of lions and sphinxes, elaborately decorated walls with geometric designs, floral patterns, animals and mythical creatures, and limestone pavings that are famously imprinted with a pair of gigantic footprints.

Driver Plows Truck into 2,000-Year-Old Nazca Lines Causing Irreversible Damage

Ashurbanipal: The Oldest Surviving Royal Library in the World with Over 30,000 Clay Tablets

Roque Bentayga, Gran Canaria: Vestiges of the Mysterious Guanche People

Somalia: The Ancient Lost Kingdom of Punt is Finally Found?

The Lost Tribe of Clover Hollow – Oldest Civilization in the World Found in Appalachian Mountains?

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.

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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.