pandemic

1 February, 2020 - 21:13 ashley cowie

Learn From History: Don’t Panic, But Prepare For Coronavirus Pandemic

The world is asking “ are we on the edge of the next pandemic?” as the new coronavirus looks set to go global and case numbers rise. But looking back at ancient pandemics, what have we learned about...

The Black Death was spread across Europe by rats. Source: rawinfoto / Adobe Stock.

2 January, 2020 - 14:00 Aleksa Vučković

Culling the World: The Catastrophic Conquests of the Black Death

Medieval history is seldom kind. The decades and centuries slumbered onwards, each one bringing its own share of wars, crime , poverty...and disease. Happiness and prosperity were rare and almost...

Lunel-Viel (Languedoc-Southern France). Victim of the plague thrown into a demolition trench of a Gallo-Roman house; end of the 6th-early 7th century. Source: 1990; CNRS - Claude Raynaud

4 June, 2019 - 21:37 ancient origins

Details of First Historically Recorded Plague Pandemic Revealed by Ancient Genomes

An international team of researchers have analysed human remains from 21 archaeological sites to learn more about the impact and evolution of the plague-causing bacterium Yersinia pestis during the...

St Macarius of Ghent Giving Aid to the Plague Victims, 1673 painting by Jacob van Oost

25 October, 2015 - 03:09 Mark Miller

The Plague that brought down mighty empires is thousands of years older than thought

The Plague is far older than previously known and later changed to become much more virulent—so virulent that it may have contributed to the decline of Classical Greece and the Roman and Byzantine...

31 March, 2014 - 23:05 aprilholloway

Study of Black Death skeletons reveals plague may have been airborne

An analysis carried out on 25 skeletons of plague victims discovered by railway engineers beneath London last year, has revealed that the Black Death was even more lethal than previously thought...

28 January, 2014 - 22:58 aprilholloway

Scientists decode 1,500-year-old plague and warn it could strike again

Scientists have, for the first time, achieved a complete reconstruction of the genome responsible for the bubonic plague, which struck the Eastern Roman Empire 1,500 years ago, and is said to have...

14 December, 2013 - 05:20 aprilholloway

Archaeologists find mass grave with evidence of cholera outbreak

Archaeologists digging in the graveyard of the Abbey of St Peter in Lucca, Italy, have discovered a mass grave that contains evidence of an ancient cholera outbreak . The researchers hope the DNA...

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Myths & Legends

The Last of the Siberian Unicorns: What Happened to the Mammoth-Sized One-Horned Beasts of Legend?

Elasmotherium, also known as the Giant Rhinoceros or the Giant Siberian Unicorn, is an extinct species of rhino that lived in the Eurasian area in the Late Pliocene and Pleistocene eras. They have been documented from 2.6 million years ago, but the most recent fossils come from around 29,000 years ago.

Magic into Myth: Avalon, Mystical Isle of Medieval Arthurian Literature

Were the Merovingians Descended from a Monster? Meet the Quinotaur

The Norse Legend of the World Tree - Yggdrasil

The great and powerful Xiongnu

The Real Story of Medusa: Protective Powers from a Snake-Haired Gorgon

Human Origins

The Controversial Lapedo Child – A Neanderthal / Human Hybrid?

Buried for millennia in the rear of a rock-shelter in the Lapedo Valley 85 miles north of Lisbon, Portugal, archaeologists uncovered the bones of a four-year-old child, comprising the first complete Palaeolithic skeleton ever dug in Iberia.

The Mythological Maori Origin Stories of New Zealand

Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu In Zoroastrianism’s Creation Mythology

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

The ‘Dynastic Race’ and the Biblical ‘Japheth’ – Part I: After the Deluge

Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories and the Creation Myths of Australia

Ancient Technology

The Evidence is Cut in Stone: A Compelling Argument for Lost High Technology in Ancient Egypt

Most people know of the great construction achievements of the dynastic Egyptians such as the pyramids and temples of the Giza Plateau area as well as the Sphinx. Many books and videos show depictions of vast work forces hewing blocks of stone in the hot desert sun and carefully setting them into place.

The High-Tech Stonework of the Ancients: Unsolved Mysteries of Master Engineers

Han Purple: A 2,800-year-old artificial pigment that quantum physicists are trying to understand

Is this a 300 million-year-old screw or just a fossilized sea creature?

150,000-Year-Old Pipes Baffle Scientists in China: Out of Place in Time?

Secrets Behind the Creepy Plague Doctor Mask and Costume

Ancient Places

Tomb of the Lord of Sipan, Mochican Warrior Priest

In 1987, an enormous complex of unplundered Moche culture tombs was unearthed at the Huaca Rajada archaeological site, near Sipán on the North coast of Peru. The most famous of the tombs belonged to El Señor de Sipán (The Lord of Sipán),

The Great Serpent Mound of Ohio, the Largest Earthen Effigy in the World

The 9,000-year-old underground megalithic settlement of Atlit Yam

The Lost World of Socotra: The Most Alien-Looking Place on Earth

The Plain of Jars: A Megalithic Archaeological Mystery in Laos

The Nile: How One River Helped Build a Civilization – 10 Amazing Facts

Opinion

Unearthing Ancient Magic in The Runes –Messages with Hidden Symbols and Powerful Numbers

The etymology of the word “rune” means: “to carve, or to cut.” In Low German the word is “raunen.” As the runes were cut and carved into wood, metal or stone, the word “rune” was analogous to the rune letters themselves.

Petroglyphic Features of Portable Rock Art

The Northern Mysteries Current: Futhark and Mystery Schools of the Viking Age

Was There Ever a Trojan War?

Floki and the Viking Discovery of Iceland

Messiah on Temple Mount: Are We Nearing the End of Time?

Our Mission

At Ancient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exists countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained.

The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe.

We’re the only Pop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives.

By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings.