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Colosseum

Ancient Roman Tunnel from Gladiator Training School to Colosseum set to be Revived

Authorities hope to preserve some ancient Roman history with the restoration of a tunnel that runs from a gladiator training school to the Colosseum, where brutal gladiatorial bouts took place. Parts...
Denmark during the Bronze Age. Image by: State Danish Archives. 2013.

Five Huge Bronze Age axes discovered in a field in Jutland, Denmark

Five Bronze Age axes, twice the size of those normally discovered, have been discovered in a field near Boest, near Nørre Snede in Jutland, Denmark. The axes have been dated to 1600 BC, which means...
Rediscovery of the Relics of St Mark, a 14th century painting by Paolo Veneziano

Religious Artifacts found alongside Bones in Attic may be Relics of a Saint

A resident of St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, has found what may be religious relics hundreds of years old in his attic. The man's daughter contacted a museum, an archaeologist, some nuns, a jeweler...
Image from an illuminated manuscript depicting a Byzantine siege of a citadel. A tactic of ancient biological warfare was to hurl infected dead bodies over city walls.

The Devastating and Diabolical Ancient Origins of Biological Warfare

History paints a bleak picture of the devastating effects that disease, contamination, or poison can have on humans. But with those hard lessons came experience and knowledge, and mankind has...
Seven-Branched Sword

The Seven-Branched Sword: The Mystical Ceremonial Sword of Japan

The Isonokami Shrine is a Shinto shrine believed to have been built in 4 AD. Located in in the foothills of Tenri in Nara prefecture, Japan, this shrine is culturally significant for it houses...
Screenshot from the movie 300 on the Spartan War which used Helots in combat on many occasions.

The Helots: Slave Warriors of Ancient Sparta

The ancient Greek city state of Sparta had a social hierarchy that was different from many of its neighbors. The top of the social pyramid was occupied by the two kings, whose powers were checked by...
Noblewoman buried with her husband’s heart - France

Fully clothed body of 17th Century noblewoman buried with the heart of her husband unearthed in France

The well-preserved and fully clothed body of a French noblewoman, thought to be Louise de Quengo, has been discovered among 800 other graves in the city of Rennes in Brittany, North West France. The...
Immense Full Moon Palace Excavated by Rare Collaborative Team from both North and South Korea

Immense Full Moon Palace Excavated by Rare Collaborative Team from both North and South Korea

The ancient Manwoldae, a 10 th century royal palace, was built in what is now Kaesong, North Korea during the Koryo Dynasty. Historians and archaeologists from both North and South Korea are now...
‘The Elevation of the Great Elector into Olympus’. Ceiling painting (detail: Mercury), City Palace, Potsdam

Two thousand year old Mercury figurine found in Yorkshire

A metal detector enthusiast has discovered a 2000-year old figurine depicting the Roman god Mercury in a field near Selby, Yorkshire, UK. It is the 1,000 th officially recorded archaeological find of...
An arm from a body in the cemetery of Ipswich friary

Mutilated remains may be 14th century mob-attack victim, Richard de Holebrok

In February 1327, 84 angry people assaulted Richard de Holebrok of Tattingstone, tied him to a tree and cut off his right hand. Holebrok complained to the English authorities, but what he did to...
An unconscious naked man lying on a table being attacked by little demons armed with surgical instruments

Devils, Demons, and Dangerous Creatures of the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum

Pseudomonarchia Daemonum , also known as the False Hierarchy of Demons , is a great compendium from the 16 th century dictating the names of sixty-nine demons. The title itself indicates that the...
The scene depicts Hinguar and Hubba setting out to avenge their father, Lothbrok

Viking beaters: Scots and Irish may have settled Iceland a century before Norsemen

Remarkably similar carvings and simple cross sculptures mark special sites or places once sacred, spanning a zone stretching from the Irish and Scottish coasts to Iceland. We can look to Skellig...
marijuana

Medical marijuana: Modern hunter-gatherers may use cannabis to treat intestinal infections

It has been found that the more cannabis that modern foraging tribes smoke, the less they are infected with parasitic intestinal worms. Scientists are trying to determine if ancient-hunter gatherers...
Bahrain Fort

Ancient Persian Cuneiform Contract and Artifacts Discovered in Bahrain Fort

A private contract written in Akkadian script on a clay tablet has been discovered among other artifacts in a fort in Bahrain. The discovery, reported in Trade Arabia , was found among a number of...
The Defense of the Sampo, by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, shows Louhi in the form of a flying, winged creature. Created in 1895 by unknown artist.

Loviatar: Finnish Goddess of Desolation, Death, and Decay

Known as the blind daughter in Finnish mythology, Loviatar is the goddess of death and disease. Born from the union of Tuoni, the god of death, and his underworld queen Tuonetar, Loviatar is...
1,400-year-old medicinal treatise of Galen found hidden under hymns in ancient manuscript

1,400-year-old medicinal treatise of Galen found hidden under hymns in ancient manuscript

A 6th century translation of a work of one of the most important ancient Greek doctors has been discovered in an animal-hide manuscript, hidden underneath text of 1,000-year-old hymns. A researcher...
The body of Shinnyokai Shonin, found in Oaminaka, Japan. He had practiced self-mummification.

Dying to Live Forever: The Reasons behind Self-Mummification

Sunada Tetsu (1768-1829) was arguably the most famous individual who successfully mummified himself. Early in life, he was not religiously inclined. He loved a prostitute in Akagawa, Tsuruoka’s...
This dragon head, unearthed at Xanadu, was attached to the end of a beam.

Stunning dragon heads found at ancient summer palace of Xanadu

Archaeologists have found some stunning artifacts during excavations of the famed palace at Xanadu in Inner Mongolia, including three ceramic dragon heads. Xanadu became the summer palace of Kublai...
Adam’s Calendar

Adam’s Calendar: Oldest Megalithic Site in the World?

Adam’s Calendar is controversially suggested to be the oldest man-made structure in the world. Sometimes referred to as "African Stonehenge", it predates both Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid of Giza...
The Hanging Monastery of Mount Heng

The Precariously Hanging Monastery of Mount Heng

Hengshan, or Mount Heng, which is located in Shanxi province, is one of China’s Five Great Mountains. Pinned to the side of its cliff face is the Xuan Kong Si, also known as the Hanging Monastery...
The teeth of a 17th dynasty (circa 1550 BC) mummy had his teeth broken out, probably during the embalming process. This mummy's wrappings were removed in the early 20th century.

First Physical Evidence found of Ancient Egyptian Opening of the Mouth Procedure

Ancient Egyptians took great care to mummify the bodies of high-status people and adorned and entombed them with some of the most beautiful objects ever made. However, in what appears contrary to the...
Chavin de Huantar ruins in Peru, where one researcher says the mythical home of the ancient Greek Gorgon may have been.

Ancient Greek Legend Seems to Describe a Place in Peru: Early Contact?

By Tara MacIsaac , Epoch Times In the 8th century BC, the Greek poet Hesiod described in his Theogony a place at the end of the Earth where the gorgons dwell, where the god Atlas appears as a giant...

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