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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Lead white was a lethal pigment. Source: rodjulian / Adobe Stock.

Lead White Was a Lethal Pigment That Painted a Deadly History

Lead white, a pigment as notorious as it is historic, has painted a perilous line through human history. For over two millennia, this deceptively vibrant hue has been a silent killer , lurking in the...
Forbes pigment collection. Source: YouTube Screenshot / Great Big Story.

Forbes Pigment Collection: The World's Rarest and Most Ancient Colors (Video)

Amid the vast palette of colors that grace our world, some hues have more intriguing origins than others. Nestled within Harvard University lies the Forbes pigment collection, a treasury of...
Turkish artist Garip Ay producing ebru water art. Source: YouTube Screenshot / Great Big Story)

The Ancient Turkish Art of Painting on Water (Video)

We’ve all heard of watercolor painting but what about painting on water? Few artworks are as unique as those produced by the Turkish artist Garip Ay who masterfully resurrects the ancient technique...
Victorian children died from arsenic-laden wallpaper. Source: Olek / Adobe Stock

Victorian-Era Wallpaper Killed Countless Children

Wallpaper isn’t as popular as it once was, and perhaps the reason for its fall from fashion was its ability to kill! In the Victorian Era, a brilliant green-colored pigment proved popular in wall...

Pointed Turkey Bones Are Oldest Native American Tattoo Kit, Says Study

A group of researchers now think they’ve discovered and identified what might be the world’s oldest tattoo kit - a set of pointy, ink-stained needles that were carved out of wild turkey bones and...
The ancient wall paintings inside Buddhist cave temple “Cave 465,” located near Dunhuang about 932 miles (1500 km) west of present-day Beijing.

Mystery of Ancient Buddhist Cave Temple Writing Solved

Researchers have successfully dated a set of mysterious phrases discovered on the ceiling of a Tibetan tantric Buddhist cave temple in China. The Mogao Caves are located on the ancient Silk Road in...
Egyptian writing sample from a medical treatise (inv. P. Carlsberg 930) belonging to the Tebtunis temple library with headings marked in red ink.

Danish Experts Discover the Earliest Secrets of Egyptian Writing Ink

Egyptian writing has always fascinated modern people because it is so exotic. Researchers studying Egyptian writing in manuscripts from an ancient Egyptian temple have made an important discovery...
The Powerful and Mysterious Spider Woman of Mexico

The Powerful and Mysterious Spider Woman of Mexico

The Spider Woman of Teotihuacan continues to be one of the most mysterious figures of ancient Mexican culture. She is also known as the Great Goddess, but since 1983 Spider Woman has become the most...
Several of the ancient pigments were deadly. Photo source: Ezume Images / Adobe Stock.

Poisonous Pigments: History’s Deadliest Colors

Throughout history, ancient civilizations have been using all kinds of ingenious ways to create pigments for the coloring of clothing, objects and even buildings. While some of the pigments were...
The Pantheon dome. The concrete for the coffered dome was poured in moulds, probably mounted on temporary scaffolding.

From Chrome Plating to Nanotubes: The Modern Chemistry First Used in Ancient Times

The ancient Babylonians were the first to use sophisticated geometry – a staggering 1,400 years before it was previously thought to have been developed. Sadly, these mathematical innovations were...