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The now destroyed Nebi Yunus in Nineveh. Iraqi archaeologists excavate the monumental entrance to a late Assyrian building. The large head of a bull-man sculpture lies in a passageway.

Lost Codes Discovered in Terrorist’s Treasure Tunnel

Hidden deep beneath the ancient Iraq city of Nineveh, archeologists assessing the destruction of Isis treasure hunters have uncovered 2,700-year-old inscriptions describing the rule of an ancient...
Neanderthals (CC0)

Five Surprising Things DNA has Revealed About our Ancestors

Researchers recently used DNA from the 10,000-year-old “Cheddar Man”, one of Britain’s oldest skeletons, to unveil what the first inhabitants of what now is Britain actually looked like. But this isn...
Top: A petroglyph portrays multiple symbols on Har Karkom ridge, Israel. (CC BY-SA 4.0). Bottom left: Instances of names of god found in rock art of the Negev as sited by Yehuda Rotblum.

Does the Negev’s Ancient Rock-Art Help Turn the Bible Exodus Story into Fact?

A chain of holy mountains with “god’s name” painted in ancient rock-art has led a scholar to claim he has finally identified the long sought after “lost region" inhabited by the proto-Israelies after...
‘Njord god of the sea’. (Deriv.)

Njord: The Tumultuous Marriage of a Norse God of the Sea and a Goddess Giantess

Njord was the god Norse sailors and fisherman turned to in times of need. He was a sea god with powers over the wind and the fertility of land along the coast. But what this deity is best remembered...
13,500 year old carved bison bone dredged from the North Sea.

13,500-year-old Artwork Saved from the Abyss of the Continental Shelf

Snared in a fishing net at the bottom of the North Sea, on the edge of the continental shelf, the “oldest Dutch work of art” has been found, according to an article published in Cambridge Antiquity...
Close-up view of the “Screaming Mummy” with its horrific expression. It was discovered by Émile Brugsch in the Deir el-Bahri (DB320) cache in 1881; design by Anand Balaji (Photo credit: G. Elliot Smith); Deriv.

Enduring Mystery of the Screaming Mummy: Mortal Wounds and Divine Justice—Part I

The hideously contorted facial features of ‘Unknown Man E’ - also called the ‘Screaming Mummy’ - are unlike any we have witnessed in an ancient Egyptian mummy. It bears mute testimony to the gruesome...
Illustrations to Dante's Divine Comedy: The Inscription over Hell-Gate

Toxicity at Gateway to Hell Explains ‘Miracle’ in Ancient City of Hierapolis

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here,” said William Shakespeare, and now, new scientific findings tells us how the devils got here! And it was through a “gateway to the underworld” located in...
Old rusty sword

Notorious Knight Greysteil and His Magical Sword Sit on the Cusp Between Legend and Reality

Swords imbued with magical powers and supernatural qualities are like nails in mythological systems and having originated in ancient legends, they now feature in fantasy fiction. Being inspired by...
Representational image of broken Roman statues. The statues here were found before the current discovery and are housed in the Hierapolis Archaeological Museum, Turkey.

Corporate Terrorists Strike Roman Temple in Turkey

A storm in the Black Sea has washed up ancient Roman pillars and artifacts in Turkey's Amasra district. According to Hurriyet Daily News “locals found the ruins lying among the rocks on the beach and...
Avalon finalised

Magic into Myth: Avalon, Mystical Isle of Medieval Arthurian Literature

The Isle of Apples, Isle of the Blessed, and the Otherworld. These titles have long been associated with the magical resting place of the early medieval king, Arthur Pendragon. A realm imbued with...
The library of the Abbey of St. Gall.

The Abbey Library of St. Gall: One of the Oldest Working Libraries in the World

Founded during the 8th century, the Abbey of St. Gall has served both the Church and scholars over the years. Its library has a particular draw because it is one of the oldest and most important...
View and colour rendered model of the hominin track P-01, belonging to the left foot of an adult

What ancient footprints can tell us about what it was like to be a child in prehistoric times

Western society has a rather specific view of what a good childhood should be like; protecting, sheltering and legislating to ensure compliance with it. However, perceptions of childhood vary greatly...
Artist’s rendering of the Beast of Exmoor.

The Beast of Exmoor: Is this Phantom Cat More than Mere Folklore?

Generally, it is a good idea for farmers to keep a keen lookout for possible predators for their livestock. But what should they do if that predator is a huge beast which can supposedly hop over high...
Mammoth in the Royal BC Museum in Victoria (Canada). The display is from 1979, and the fur is musk ox hair.

Surprising Stone Age Knowledge Revealed on a Mammoth Bone Bracelet

In Sivershchina, close to the village of Mizyn in Ukraine is one of the oldest and most unique settlements of humans – and it was discovered in a parking lot. The now well-known archaeological site,...
A caricature of the crew of HMS Beagle painted off the coast of Argentina (at Bahía Blanca) around 24 September 1832, presumed painted by the shipboard artist Augustus Earle. Described by Sotheby’s as "one of the earliest depictions of Darwin, the only image of him on the Beagle, and an exceptionally rare image of him at work as a naturalist". By  Augustus Earle (1793 – 1838)

The Californian OOPArt versus Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

Archaeologists, anthropologists and geologists in the field sometimes discover objects in seemingly impossible contexts, which don’t immediately fit their models of evolution or history as we know it...
Isle of May monastery ruins (Peter Yeoman) top left; Skeletal remains on May (Peter Yeoman/ British Archaeology Magazine); The foot bones of a teenager with syphilis (left). An enlarged skull, possibly due to hydrocephaly (right). (Images: Marlo Willows/British Archaeology) bottom left.

Sick Children’s Skeletons Unearthed on Holy Healing Isle

The lost history of a sacred Scottish “healing island” has revealed its holy secrets in the skeletal dna of sick children, archaeologists in Edinburgh have announced. This string of majestical...
A cuirass known as a “tanko” and preserved in excellent condition, and a stone coffin, left, have been unearthed in Shibushi, Kagoshima Prefecture.

Workers Paving a Japanese Road Unearth Remarkable 1,500-Year-Old Armor and Sword

Could you imagine? You are tired after working for hours on fixing a roadway when you suddenly find a strange slab of stone. This gives you a jolt of energy and you call a coworker over. Together you...
Skulls from the Andean Paracas (top left). (CC BY-SA 3.0); Paracas skull at Ica Museum(right). (CC BY 2.0); Child head shaping methods (bottom left).

Elongated Skulls Increased Kudos in Ancient Peru

Archaeologists dig them up all over the ancient world from Egypt to Peru, and now, these curious elongated skulls are believed to have been “status symbols,” according to a recent paper in Current...
Part of the Cochasquí archaeological site. (Santiago Martinez/ L. Ortiz) A mask found at the site. (Alicia McDermott)

Cochasquí: The Immense Pyramids of Ecuador Provide Evidence for a Forgotten Civilization

The archaeological sites in Ecuador are often overshadowed by more popular locations in neighboring Colombia and Peru. However, archaeology enthusiasts have a wealth of options including more than...
 A Ming silk tapestry depicting Dongfang Suo stealing a Peach of Immortality.

Reserved for the Gods: Only Two Humans Have Tasted the Chinese Peaches of Immortality

You may have heard of the golden apples of Greek myth, but do you know of the Chinese Peaches of Immortality? These sacred fruits have become symbols that continue to hold significance at yearly...
The skeletons and a depiction of what the grave may have originally looked like.

Mammoth Tears of Compassion Sealed A 34,000-Year-Old Children’s Grave

About 34,000 years ago, two physically challenged boys were buried head to head, with tens of thousands of animal bone offerings, according to a Cambridge Journal of Antiquity paper published last...
Detail of ‘Solitude’ (circa 1890) by Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton.

Alone Need Not Be Lonely: What Joyous Solitude of Early Hermits Can Teach Us

Kim Haines-Eitzen / The Conversation In today’s world, loneliness seems to have reached epidemic proportions. Countless studies have highlighted the serious and negative impact that loneliness has on...
The Massacre of Glencoe James Hamilton (1853–1894)

Mapping A Massacre for Old Times Sake

Archaeologists in Scotland are to bring alive “the human story” of the Glencoe massacre, one of the most violent episodes in British history. Three former settlements in the magnificent Glencoe...
Arabian Nights by Jean-Joseph Benjamin Constant (1845 – 1902) (Public Domain)

Romance of the Beautiful Slave and the Rebellious Ruler: Al-Khayzuran and Al-Mahdi

Arabian Nights conjure up images of romantic love stories of slave girls’ rags to riches journeys of the heart. We celebrate Valentine’s Day with the real love story of such a slave girl. It was not...

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