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Other Artifacts

Other Artifacts covers many items which have been recovered from the past and give us insights into ancient human worlds. From loaded Roman dice to the Shroud of Turin, these items help tell the stories of the varied culture and everyday lives of our ancestors. 

Recreation of the oldest drinking straws, found at the Maikop burial, in use. Source: Kevin Wilson / Antiquity Publications Ltd
19 January, 2022 - 00:00 Sahir

Maikop ‘Scepters’ Are Actually the World’s Oldest Drinking Straws

An exciting new study from Russia has reinterpreted an 1897 find of silver and gold tubes from a Bronze Age burial mound in Maikop in the northern Caucasus as being straws rather than scepters as...
The front view of the gold neck ring found in Denmark that was likely a hidden treasure as opposed to a votive offering. Source: Sydvestjyske Museum
18 January, 2022 - 18:00 Sahir

Exquisitely Made 1,700-year-old Gold Neck Ring Found in Denmark

In October 2021, Dan Christensen, an amateur metal detectorist made the exciting discovery of a remarkably fine gold neck ring weighing a whopping 446 grams (approximately 1 pound). The discovery of...
Flat throwing stones with sharpened corners, an early form of ninja weapons, unearthed at the ruins of the Owada jinya administrative headquarters in Saitama, Japan. Source: (Saitama Prefectural Ranzan Historical Museum
18 January, 2022 - 13:57 Nathan Falde

Ninja Weapon Prototypes Found in Japan

After analyzing artifacts collected from three locations in the Saitama Prefecture, which is located just north of Tokyo, a Japanese archaeologist has announced findings that shed new light on the...
Left: Machi playing the Kultrún. Behind her it can be seen the inclination of the staggered Rehue . Center: A Rehue in the exhibition of the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino. Right: A Rehue as a symbolic figuration of the Tree-Man. Source: Martin Thomas / Photographic Archive of the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino; Photo by the author: Rafael Videla Eissmann, 2017; Author provided
16 January, 2022 - 18:00 Rafael Videla E...

Araucanian “Staircase to Heaven” Symbolism in the Pre-Hispanic World

One of the fundamental magical-religious symbols of the Lituche-Araucanian cultural substrate of Chile is the Rehue or stepped totem carved in wood. The Rehue is a representation of the Axis Mundi ,...
A sampling of the 41 curved Celtic golden coins from the late Iron Age found not far from present-day Berlin, Germany. Source: Brandenburg State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archaeological State Museum
14 January, 2022 - 21:51 Sahir

Rare Hoard of 2000-year-old Curved Celtic Gold Coins Found in Germany

Forty-one “curved” Celtic gold coins from 2,000 years ago have been found in northeast Germany in the Brandenburg district where Berlin is located. It is the first ever hoard of Celtic gold treasure...
The Roman era wooden statue found at the Twyford Buckinghamshire HS2 rail project dig site in England submerged for cleaning. Source: HS2
13 January, 2022 - 21:53 Nathan Falde

Archaeologists Find Ultra-Rare Roman-Era Wooden Statue in Britain

In a waterlogged ditch in a field near the village of Twyford, Buckinghamshire, a team of experts working for the HS2 archaeological contractor Fusion JV were stunned but delighted to discover an...
The Roman coin hoard discovered in the cave in Northern Spain. Source: Consejería de Cultura del Principado de Asturias
12 January, 2022 - 13:50 Sahir

Badger Finds Largest Ever Roman Coin Hoard in Northern Spain

A badger desperately hunting for food during the harsh winter of 2021, when Storm Filomena deposited snow across the Iberian Peninsula , has accidentally uncovered a substantial Roman coin hoard in a...
This 4,000-year-old Bronze Age stone board game was recently unearthed in a remote area of northern Oman at an ancient copper trading center. Source: PCMA
9 January, 2022 - 18:00 ashley cowie

Incredible 4,000-year-old Stone Board Game Found in Oman Was For More Than Just Fun

A 4,000-year-old stone board game has been discovered at a Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement in Oman. Furthermore, stone towers and evidence of Bronze Age trade has also been found in the same area...
Malachite silver pendant and earrings. Source: Pixabay
7 January, 2022 - 14:00 ancient-origins

Ancient Crystals and Gemstones in Culture and Myth: Magical Malachite

Crystals and gemstones have been a part of ancient cultures for millennia. They were and continue to be used as decoration and to preserve the memories of those who have passed on. Malachite is one...
The 10 Most Exciting and Extraordinary Artifact Finds Of 2021
5 January, 2022 - 18:00 ancient-origins

The 10 Most Exciting and Extraordinary Artifact Finds Of 2021

2021 was a bumper year for the discovery of obscure, odd and unexpected artifacts all around the world – and even beyond! From the golden tongued mummies of Egypt, a bullet-shaped metal anomaly in a...
The terracotta dog statue found beneath the streets of central Rome, Italy. Source: Soprintendenza Speciale Roma
4 January, 2022 - 22:00 Nathan Falde

Tombs Unearthed in Rome Produce Unusual 2,000-Year-Old Dog Statue

Utility workers laying pipes under the pavement of the Via Luigi Tosti in Rome’s Appio Latino quarter found something ancient and historically significant. While chipping out tunnels they discovered...
Lewis Chessmen king and queen, with rook and knight behind them.
25 December, 2021 - 01:00 Nancy Marie Brown

The Icelandic Theory: Experts Challenge Establishment Dogma to Reveal History of Ivory Vikings

In 1874, the Norwegian chess historian Antonius Van der Linde belittled Frederic Madden’s suggestion that Iceland could produce anything approaching the sophistication of the Lewis chessmen...
The two Viksø horned helmets found in Denmark in 1942, which were used in a new study as evidence that an ancient Bronze Age trade route linked the Mediterranean to Scandinavia. Source: Nationalmuseet / CC BY-SA 3.0
23 December, 2021 - 21:55 ashley cowie

Do 3,000-year-old Bronze Age Horned Helmets Have Trans-Continental Links?

A team of researchers has sampled organic matter from residue found inside a rare and deeply ancient bronze horned-helmet in Denmark. But their claim that a long-distance prehistoric oceanic trade...
An octagonal gold ring set with a green gemstone and carved with the 'Good Shepherd' figure. Source: Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority
23 December, 2021 - 17:59 Sahir

Roman Era ‘Good Shepherd’ Ring Amongst Shipwreck Treasures Found in Israel

Called an ‘exceptional’ find by Robert Kool, head of the authority’s coin department, the Israel Antiques Authority (IAA) announced Wednesday the discovery of remnants of two shipwrecks off the...
Curious Tjipetir blocks have been turning up on beaches across Europe for decades. Source: Tom Quinn Williams / Tjipetir Mystery Facebook page
21 December, 2021 - 01:00 lizleafloor

Mysterious Tjipetir Blocks Are Appearing on European Beaches

A woman was walking along the beach in Cornwall , England in 2012, when she by chance spotted a dark tablet in the sand. On closer inspection she noticed it was inscribed with a strange word, but...
The unicorn ring found by a metal detectorist in 2018 near Thornton, Buckinghamshire, England Source: Hanson Auctioneers
18 December, 2021 - 14:00 ashley cowie

Detectorist’s 2018 Unicorn Ring Sold, But Provenance Questions Remain

A 400-year-old gold signet unicorn ring has just sold at auction for 26,470 dollars (23,550 euros). Everyone is talking about the ring’s value and its association with a noble family linked to...
Iron Age bog body known today as Old Croghan Man and housed in the National Museum of Ireland. Source: Mark Healey / CC BY-SA 2.0
17 December, 2021 - 22:00 dhwty

Unravelling the Story Behind the Old Croghan Man’s Bog Body

Old Croghan Man is the name given to a well-preserved Iron Age bog body that was discovered in County Offaly, Ireland. The bog body derives its name from Croghan Hill , which is situated not far from...
The runic inscription on one side of the gold medieval cross found by metal detectorists on the Tweed River near Berwick in the county of Northumbria, England spells a name that is entirely unique. Source: The History Blog
16 December, 2021 - 21:55 Nathan Falde

Small Gold Medieval Cross Found in England Linked to Mysterious Eadruf

An unusual item unearthed by metal detectorists in 2020 in northeast England is puzzling scholars. In this case it is not the archaeologists who are puzzled, but linguistic experts who study the...
It was here in the Arma Vierana cave in northern Italy where the Mesolithic infant and her shell beads were found by the research team. Source: Jamie Hodgkins / University of Colorado Denver
15 December, 2021 - 13:57 Nathan Falde

10,000-Year-Old Mesolithic Burial Showed Special Reverence For Infant Girl

Archaeologists and paleoanthropologists exploring a cave in Italy excavated parts of a skeleton that belonged to an infant girl who died approximately 10,000 years ago, in the early Mesolithic period...
This spectacular, large Navulá-type monochrome vessel, used in pre-Hispanic Maya rituals, was complete but for one of its two handles. Source: INAH
14 December, 2021 - 17:41 Sahir

Yucatán Cave Was Used For Pre-Hispanic Maya Rituals

A recent pottery find dating to the Late Postclassic Maya period by archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Chemuyil town of Mexico’s Quintana Roo state shows...
The rare medieval falconry figurine found in an ancient land fill site uncovered in the Old Town of Norway, Oslo. Source: NIKU
13 December, 2021 - 21:57 Nathan Falde

Rare 13th-century Falconry Figurine Miraculously Found in Oslo

A Norwegian archaeologist digging in the frozen ground at a medieval excavation site in Oslo found something extremely rare and most unexpected. While sorting through a waste layer left behind by...
An X Ray of the Mayback Viking sword shows a decorative pattern. Source: Historic Environment Scotland
11 December, 2021 - 13:57 Sahir

“Rare, Exciting and Complex” Mayback Viking Sword Discovered On Orkney

Among several finds at a Viking burial site on Papa Westray, Orkney, is “a rare, exciting, and complex artifact” – a Mayback sword in the form of a Pedersen Type D, associated with the 9th century...
This handmade historical illustration shows Neo-Assyrian riders wearing their distinctive leather armor in ancient Mesopotamia. Source: Lunstream / Adobe Stock
10 December, 2021 - 13:58 Nathan Falde

2,600-Year-Old Leather Armor Found In China Was Made By Neo-Assyrians

An international team of archaeologists and historians has completed an extensive analysis of a rare leather armor waistcoat recovered from the grave of an ancient horse-riding soldier in Northwest...
The 1,000-year-old Middle Eastern gold earring was found in in Denmark. Source: Nationalmuseet
9 December, 2021 - 21:59 ashley cowie

1,000-Year-Old Middle Eastern Gold Earring Discovered in Scandinavia

The National Museum in Copenhagen announced on Sunday that 54-year-old Frants Fugl Vestergaard from Denmark unearthed a rare gold earring while metal detecting in a field in West Jutland. Believed to...

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