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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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‘La femme Préhistorique’ (The prehistoric woman) (1895) by James Tissot Reproductions of some Lascaux artworks in Lascaux II.

Creating Prehistoric Culture: Were the First Artists Women?

The first researchers of Paleolithic caves and sites related to the earliest humans called the people who left paintings and other pieces of early art “men.” Due to this decision, people created an...
New Rock Paintings Discovered in Machu Picchu

New Rock Paintings Discovered in Machu Picchu

More than 600 years ago the ancient Incas built a village in the Andes on the rocky outcrop that links the mountains Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu, at an altitude of 2,490 meters (8169.29 ft.) It is...
The artwork before the damage (left) and after (right).

5,000-Year-Old Rock Carving Depicting Skier in Norway Destroyed by Youths

Two vandals have irreparably damaged a 5,000-year-old rock carving in Norway, which is the oldest known depiction of a figure on skis. The famous carving was used as a symbol of the Winter Olympics...
Inside one of the caves on Mona Island.

Cave discoveries shed new light on Native and European religious encounters in the Americas

Recent fieldwork by a collaborative Anglo-Puerto Rican team has uncovered new evidence in the Caribbean of an early religious dialogue between Europeans and Native Americans. A large collection of...
Edwin Long’s The Babylonian Marriage Market.

The Babylonian Marriage Market: An Auction of Women in the Ancient World

In the 5 th century BC, Greek Historian Herodotus wrote about the customs and traditions he witnessed while in Babylon. One of the more controversial customs he reports on is the Babylonian marriage...
The Hidden Stories Behind Their Eyes: Unearthing the Secrets of Fayum Mummy Portraits

The Hidden Stories Behind Their Eyes: Unearthing the Secrets of Fayum Mummy Portraits

The famous Fayum mummy portraits of people who lived in Egypt during the Greco-Roman period contain many secrets and were very important for the dead buried with them. These magnificent portraits...
4,000-Year-Old Art Gallery Found in Siberia

4,000-Year-Old Art Gallery Found in Siberia

By Anna Liesowska / Siberian Times Vivid red and orange paintings by Bronze Age artists go on show for the first time. There are ancient images of humans, a bull, a trees and birds in 20-plus '...
More Than 70 Engravings and Paintings from 14,000 Years Ago Discovered in a Spanish Cave

More Than 70 Engravings and Paintings from 14,000 Years Ago Discovered in a Spanish Cave

A scientific team of archaeologists from the Provincial Council of Bizkaia (Biscay), Basque Country (Spain), has discovered fourteen panels with at least 70 engravings of animals dated to the Upper...
The Mogao Grottoes in China, the Legendary Home to a Thousand Buddhas and a Hidden Library

The Mogao Grottoes in China, the Legendary Home to a Thousand Buddhas and a Hidden Library

The Mogao Grottoes, known also as the Mogao Caves, the Dunhuang Caves, or the Thousand Buddha Caves, are a network of Buddhist cave temples in China. This site is located near the city of Dunhuang in...
A tiny hand, originally assumed to be of a very young child or infant was stenciled inside the outline of an adult hand on the wall of the Wadi Sura II rock shelter about 8,000 years ago. New research suggests that the prints were actually made by reptiles.

Anthropologist Suggests that Tiny Stone Age Cave ‘Handprints’ Are Not Actually Human Hands

The 6,000-8,000-year-old cave paintings at the Wadi Sura II site in Egypt have been a source of interest since they were discovered in 2002. Although there are thousands of paintings that include a...
"John Dee Performing an Experiment before Elizabeth I" (Henry Gillard Glindoni (1852-1913).

X-Ray Images Show Hidden Features in Painting of the Enigmatic John Dee

John Dee was a scholar, philosopher, navigator, doctor, and astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I of England. He is often remembered as an enigmatic man who repeatedly crossed the line between science and...
Mummy portrait of bearded man, encaustic on wood, Royal Museum of Scotland. Excavated in Hawara, Egypt in 1911.

Fayum Mummy Portraits Expose Information About Precise Painting Techniques and Possible Neurological Disorders

A group of researchers has uncovered telling clues about the underlying surface shapes and colors of 15 Fayum mummy portraits created during the Greco-Roman and Coptic periods in Egypt. Their...
Mona Lisa Meets War Machines: Details on the Driven Life and Lesser-Known Talents of Leonardo da Vinci

Mona Lisa Meets War Machines: Details on the Driven Life and Lesser-Known Talents of Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, known more commonly as Leonardo da Vinci, is arguably one of the most well-known figures of the Italian Renaissance. Leonardo’s primary claim to fame is in the field...
(A) A map of the cave with prehistoric representations of volcanoes, including (B) and (C) the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc megaloceros and volcanic spray (Photo by D. Genty, drawing by V. Feruglio-D Baffier).

Stone age Rock Art in Famous Cave of Forgotten Dreams May Show Oldest Human Depiction of Volcanic Eruption

A team of researchers has theorized that rock carvings in the form of spray-like flourishes from a cone shape are the earliest known depictions of a volcanic eruption. The carvings and associated...
The Walanae River at Paroto, east of Talepu, where some of the tools were found. Inserts: Professor Mike Morwood in 2009 examining stone artifacts collected near Talepu and Hand stencils in the Cave of Fingers.

Sulawesi Discoveries: Earliest Human Occupation Pushed Back 60,000 Years and Some of the Oldest Cave Paintings in the World

New research on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi shows the possible presence of an archaic species of hominins there dating back more than 100,000 years—at least 60,000 years earlier than the island...
Detail of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, The Mona Lisa. It now hangs in the Louvre in Paris.

Archaeologists say they have found the bones of Mona Lisa, but cannot extract DNA

A team of researchers seeking to unveil the true identity of the mysterious model who sat for Leonardo da Vinci’s world renowned painting, The Mona Lisa, say they have found bones of the woman with...
Along the River during the Qingming Festival painting

5-meter long ancient scroll painting is one of the most precious treasures of China

People lined up to wait for six hours to see one of China’s most famous artworks, an exquisite 12 th century scroll painting depicting the Song Dynasty capital of Haifeng during the festival of...
A close-up shows part of one of the murals that may date back 4,600 years—well before the brush-stroke process of painting was known previously in China.

Brush strokes on very ancient murals may rewrite the history of art in China

Recent discoveries in the ruins of a prehistoric city may rewrite the history of art in China. Archaeologists working in the ruins of the Neolithic Shimao Ruins have identified mural fragments that...
The mural shows a woman plucking a harp. (Photo by the Arles Museum of Antiques)

A rare treasure of ancient Roman frescoes comparable to Pompeii has been unearthed in France

Archaeologists have excavated an ancient Roman villa in Arles, France, with fresco murals depicting a musician playing a harp, Dionysus and the entourage of Bacchus. Researchers say it is rare to...
Statue of King Rene House of Valois-Anjou.

Rene of Anjou - the Littlefinger of the pre-Renaissance Game of Thrones

Ask someone of the most notable figures in the 15 th century and they may respond with: Jeanne d’Arc, Cosimo de Medici, Leonardo da Vinci, Christopher Columbus, or those involved in the War of the...
Kizil Caves

Kizil Caves, earliest Buddhist caves in China, hide rare images from the time of the Silk Route

The ancient Silk Route was not only a trade route where goods could be transported between East and West, but was also a corridor where ideas could flow freely. This transmission of knowledge would...
Junior Obsidian kneels before the Lord of Hammer-Stone Hill, the apparent ruler of Xultun.

Archaeologists study stunning murals adorning the walls of an ancient Maya home

In a complex, 1,300-year-old Maya mural in the Guatemalan jungle, a ruler with an elaborate plumed headdress and impersonating a god, consults with priest-scholars as they celebrate the new year...
Depiction of Jesus - Egypt

Egyptologists discover unusual structure with a possible early depiction of Jesus

A team of Catalan Egyptologists from the Catalan Egyptology Society and University of Barcelona claim to have found one of the earliest-known pictures of Jesus in a 6 th century tomb unearthed in...

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