Everyone loves a good, harmless prank. This was especially true for Filippo Brunelleschi, a Florentine man who famously got back at his friend for having failed to show up at a dinner party in...
The jus primae noctis , droit du seigneur , or “right of the first night,” is an alleged medieval custom which permitted lords to engage in sexual intercourse with the brides of their male subjects...
George Spencer has gone down in history for being the second person executed in Connecticut, USA. His crime? Allegedly fathering an ugly piglet.Records paint an unflattering image of George Spencer...
A team of international scientists has discovered an enlightening fact about early humans who lived in southern Africa between 60,000 and 65,000 years ago. Similarities in their toolmaking technology...
Workers carrying out paving and infrastructure work in Mexico’s southern port city of Maztalan stumbled upon ancient human remains from a pre-Hispanic Aztatlán culture settlement. Preliminary...
Let’s face it, shaving is a total inconvenience, whether it be your beard, legs, or something else. Yet most of us regularly do it in some form or another. Why? When did this trend begin? Well,...
One surprising quirk about life in medieval times is that people could, and did, take animals and insects to court and try them as if they were humans. While there is scant verifiable evidence on the...
Remarkable and extensive new research has shed light on one of the true mysteries of animal domestication. This breakthrough research has revealed important new information about chicken...
Researchers say the celebrated Chartres Cathedral encodes lost information on the Knights Templar, the Ark of the Covenant, sacred geometry, alchemy and numerology. Innumerable books and articles...
The scenic city of York in England has a lot to be proud of. The city, in one form or another has been nestled between the Ouse and Foss rivers for over 2,000 years. It has a rich history dating back...
Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire, England, was attacked by arsonists on Friday evening. The 12th century center of learning would have been entirely lost, if it were not for the brave actions of “heroic...
Peter the Great (1672 – 1725 AD), ruler of the Tsardom of Russia, was so hellbent on modernizing Russia according to European standards that he ordered all men to ditch their long overcoats and shave...
In some cultures, life and sentience are believed to exist for only certain beings, such as humans, animals, and plants. In other belief systems, however, places and objects are also believed to have...
In a legal case that has been unfolding in Iraq since the last week of March, the arrest of a retired British geologist has the seismic potential to rock diplomatic relations. When Jim Fitton was...
An Oxford University archaeologist exploring the Welsh countryside has discovered an ancient Roman road in Wales. He believes it might be the lost route upon which the bluestones were transported to...
The discovery of ancient cultures, and artifacts related to those cultures, often brings for new and surprising information about how our ancient ancestors once lived. Some cultures are found to have...
With mystery, treasure and the hunt for answers as its theme, Ancient Origins was a natural choice for the film makers of $400 million (£323 million) grossing feature film Uncharted to use as the...
There is perhaps no shape on earth so thought-provoking and awe-inspiring as a pyramid, and so mystical was this geometric form perceived in antiquity, that it was adopted for the graves and grand...
Dr Emlyn Dodd, an archaeologist specializing in the study of ancient food and drink, has attempted to recreate the ancient and original method of Egyptian olive oil pressing called the torsion method...
What were the important forces and factors that led to notable evolutionary leaps in Chinese culture more than 4,000 years ago? New research identifies one major cultural development that helped...
In the county of Dorset in southwest England is an enigmatic figure which has been carved into the side of a hill. Known as the Cerne Giant, it is a 55-meter (180 foot) tall depiction of a naked man...
Eugenics, the science of selectively choosing human genetics, is most synonymous with the modern world and the horrors of Hitler’s ‘final solution’, in which millions of Jews and other ‘undesirable’...
A man “mad at his girl” broke into The Dallas Museum of Art in Texas and destroyed three Greek artifacts, estimated to be worth up to $5 million and faces years in jail. The destructive attacks...
Originating in China in the 1300s, plague arrived in Europe aboard a ship, bringing fearsome death in its wake. The Black Death ravaged Europe between 1347 and 1351, carrying away at least a third of...
