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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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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. 

The Perplexing Horned Helmet of Henry VIII

The Perplexing Horned Helmet of Henry VIII

One of the most bizarre artefacts exhibited today in the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, England, the peculiar horned helmet of Henry VIII has attracted much scholarly attention. Nevertheless, the...
Modern Welsh love spoon on flower petals

The Sweet Symbolism of a Welsh Love Spoon

Roses are red Violets are blue, Presenting a spoon Means I love you While one often thinks of presenting his/her loved ones with flowers or candy as a gesture of romance, it was once more common to...
Rivodutri’s Alchemical Door To Enlightenment In 17th Century AD Italy

Rivodutri’s Alchemical Door To Enlightenment In 17th Century Italy

Add magic to natural philosophy and early chemistry knowledge and you have the ancient art of alchemy . Alchemists tried to change various substances into gold and looked hard for the elixir of...
Detail, the medieval Hereford Mappa Mundi, “Cloth of the World” in Hereford, England. Circa 1300.

Hereford Mappa Mundi: Legendary Cities, Monstrous Races, and Curious Medieval Beasts

A large calfskin canvas was secreted away beneath the floor of an English cathedral, featuring what, at first glance, appeared to be a map of the world. Once recovered and repaired, the map which is...
The Vinland Map: A Most Non-European Artifact

The Vinland Map: A Most Non-European Artifact

The Vinland Map carries with it the air of mystery and, some would say, the stench of deception. In the vaults of Yale University, and insured for $25 Million, it is either a colossal fraud or an...
The Cursed Amethyst: Trail of Misfortune and Misery Follows Ancient Gem

The Cursed Amethyst: Trail of Misfortune and Misery Follows Ancient Gem

The ‘Cursed Amethyst’, also known as the Delhi Purple Sapphire was incorrectly identified as a sapphire in the nineteenth century. This legendary gemstone remained hidden for three centuries beneath...
Bronze Horseman on Thunder Stone Monolith Pedestal

The Thunder Stone and Bronze Horseman: The Monolithic Savior of St Petersburg?

The Bronze Horseman is a monument located in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg. The pedestal of this equestrian statue is known as the Thunder Stone, a monolith claimed to be the largest block of...
The concept of magic, occultism and protection from demons in daily life lies at the heart what the Arslan Tash amulets provided to the ancient Phoenician and Assyrian peoples.                       Source: Sergei / Adobe Stock

The Mystical Arslan Tash Amulets: Protection From Night Demons

The culture of Phoenician civilization was one of the most inspiring and influential in the ancient world. Through maritime trade and over many centuries, the Phoenician writing script, their...
Samurai with a sword

Searching for the Honjo Masamune, Lost Samurai Sword of Power

The Honjo Masamune is a sword that was forged by the renowned Japanese swordsmith, Goro Nyudo Masamune. This samurai sword is one of the most famous swords in Japanese history, and at one point of...
The rich burial of Varna man found with gold in Bulgaria

Varna Man and the Wealthiest Grave of the 5th Millennium BC

In the 1970s, archaeologists in Bulgaria stumbled upon a vast Copper Age necropolis from the 5th millennium BC containing the oldest golden artifacts ever discovered near the modern-day city of Varna...
The Gebel el-Arak Knife (Rama/CC BY SA 3.0) and detail of one side of the ivory handle. (Rama/CC BY SA 3.0)

Gebel El-Arak Knife – A Link to Ancient Egypt’s Distant Beginnings

The ancient, far reaching civilizations of the world are for many people a continuous source of inspiration. Ancient, ageless myths and wonders of emerging societies and archaic technologies are not...
Professor Charles Hapgood believed strange, unexplained maps were signs of a long-forgotten civilization of ancient sea kings. Source: Freesurf / Adobe Stock

Charles Hapgood and the Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings

Charles H. Hapgood began his book, Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings , by stating, after studying composite maps at least partially derived from ancient sources, that ancient voyagers traveled from pole...
Hansanlu Lovers skeletons close up of torsos and skulls

The Eternal Kiss of the Hasanlu Lovers Throws Up Questions of Ancient Love: Romance, Bromance or Something More Familial?

Have you ever heard of the “The Hasanlu Lovers?” If not, don’t be too quickly seduced by the exotic and romantic sounding moniker this phenomenon has been awarded. Colorful and amorous images are...
The rarest diamonds formed far below the surface. Source: Björn Wylezich / Adobe Stock

Diamond Secrets: Crown Jewels Gem Formed 400 Miles Deep

Discovered at the Premier No.2 mine in Cullinan, South Africa, on January 26, 1905, the famous “Cullinan diamond” is the largest gem-quality diamond ever found. Weighing an incredible 3,106.75 carats...
Chinese Votive Sword Found in Georgia

Chinese Votive Sword Found in Georgia suggests Pre-Columbian Chinese travel to North America

In July 2014, an avocational surface collector chanced across a partially exposed Chinese votive sword behind roots in an eroded bank of a small stream in Georgia. The 30 cm artifact is possibly a...
The Bosnian Pyramids: One of the Greatest Finds Ever?

The Bosnian Pyramids: One of the Greatest Finds Ever?

In 2020, as we begin a new decade, Dr Sam Osmanagich and The Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Foundation is celebrating its 15 th year since multidisciplinary investigations of the Bosnian Pyramids began...
Ribchester Helmet, discovered in the summer of 1796 by the son of Joseph Walton who was playing behind his father’s house in Ribchester, Lancashire, England

The Sinister Roman Cavalry Helmet of the Ribchester Hoard

The Ribchester Helmet is a cavalry helmet dating to the Roman period in Britain. As indicated by its name, the helmet was found in Ribchester, Lancashire, in the northwest of England. The Ribchester...
Dendera light relief, Temple of Hathor, Dendera, Egypt

The Dendera Light: Myths, Tests and Truth

The Dendera light is a particularly controversial topic since it is not exactly an artifact of potential ancient technology, but the possible depiction of such an artifact on a wall of one of the...
Lewis Chessmen

The Missing Pieces: Unraveling the History of the Lewis Chessmen

In the early 1800s, on a golden Hebridean beach, the sea exposed an ancient treasure cache: ninety-two game pieces carved of ivory and the buckle of the bag that once contained them. Seventy-eight...
Cleopatra’s Needle: The Story Behind the Obelisks

Cleopatra’s Needle: The Story Behind Three Awe-Inspiring Obelisks

Cleopatra’s Needle is the name shared by three ancient Egyptian obelisks – one in New York City, one in London, and one in Paris. However, each comes from a different Egyptian site and none may have...
Viking jewelry and sword representations on fur

Viking-Era Jewelry: Revealing an Intricate Cultural History of the Ancient Norsemen

When you think of ancient Vikings, the first thing that pops into your mind is probably not jewelry, right? The picture that forms in the mind of most people is one of savages with long sharp spears...
Moldavite, green vitreous silica rock found in South Bohemia             Source: KPixMining/ Adobe Stock

The Cintamani Stone - A Truly Powerful Gem or a Humble Philosophy?

The Cintamani Stone, or Chintamani, long sought by treasure hunters, has captured the imagination of man through the ages as tales of this wish-fulfilling jewel have spread around the world. The...
Bird flying over Sigiriya / Lion Rock in Sri Lanka.         Source: Givaga / Adobe stock

How Sigiriya’s Ancient Connections Question Dogmatic World History

Sigiriya - literally translating to ‘Lion Rock’, pales in comparison to its famed Egyptian counterpart - not through a lack of sheer, grandiose scale, it is by no means unimpressive in either size or...
Representation of a female Viking magic practitioner

Vestiges of the Vikings: Magic Buried in a Viking Woman's Grave

Murky, elusive and undefined, the religion of the pre-Christian Vikings has long been subject to debate. Contemporary texts of their spiritual worship do not survive, and the later records that do...

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