Plague

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...

Artist's representation of a scene during the Justinianic plague.

5 December, 2019 - 17:34 Mark Miller

The Justinianic Plague Wasn’t as Bad as Many Scholars Think

Researchers say that claims of the Justinianic plague as a “mass killer” are wrong. It certainly had some impact, but they assert that plague outbreak, which began in the 6th century, didn’t bring...

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...

Modern Mongol horsemen at the eagle festival. Life may have been tranquil for hunters during the time of Pax Mongolica too.

25 October, 2018 - 01:59 dhwty

The Pax Mongolica: When the Mongols Brought Peace to Europe and Asia

The Pax Mongolica (translated from Latin to mean ‘Mongol Peace’) refers to a period in history when a large part of Europe and Asia was under Mongol control as a result of the military campaigns of...

Slaves working in a mine. Corinthian terracotta plaque painting, 5th century BC.

18 May, 2018 - 22:58 ancient-origins

Ice-Core Study Finds Evidence of Ancient European Plagues, Wars, and Imperial Expansion

To learn about the rise and fall of ancient European civilizations, researchers sometimes find clues in unlikely places: deep inside of the Greenland ice sheet, for example. Thousands of years ago,...

1 November, 2017 - 13:01 Kaya Johnson

5 Important Egyptian Archaeological Discoveries that Provided Leaps in Our Knowledge of the Past

When it comes to archaeological discoveries, very few countries can measure up to the wealth of Egypt. From the Rosetta Stone , to the Valley of the Kings, to the great ancient pyramids at Giza,...

Famadihana reburial, ‘turning of the bones’ in Madagascar

27 October, 2017 - 01:59 aprilholloway

Plague Epidemic in Madagascar May be Spread by Dancing with the Dead Ritual

The Malagasy people of Madagascar have built a way of life around death – during the dry winter months, famadihana ceremonies, known as “the turning of the bones” and “dancing with the dead”, take...

9 August, 2017 - 18:45 Carly Silver

It’s Driving Them Out of Their Minds: The First Big Poisoning in Ancient Rome

There were quite a few methods of offing rivals available to criminals in ancient Rome, but poisoning became a popular one by the early imperial period. Perhaps the first widespread ring wreaking...

his head of indurated limestone is a fragment from a group statue that represented Amun seated on a throne, and Tutankhamun standing or kneeling in front of him. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

27 July, 2017 - 01:50 anand balaji

The Hunt for Ankhesenamun: A Murderess, Vixen or Helpless Child in this Ancient Egyptian Soap Opera? Part II

Ankhesenamun, wife of the boy-king Tutankhamun , is portrayed in many ways; as a terrified and hapless youngster; a power-hungry murderess; or a loathsome vixen who will stop at nothing to achieve...

The wine press in Ramat Negev is intermeshed with a building, as seen above, summer 2017.

26 July, 2017 - 22:50 Theodoros Karasavvas

Boutique Wine for Byzantines: 1,600-year-old Wine Press Discovered in the Negev Desert

The Times of Israel reports that a 1,600-year-old wine press has been discovered in a vast Byzantine building along the incense trade route in the southern Negev desert in Israel. Experts suggest...

16 June, 2017 - 15:31 Cam Rea

Ark of the Covenant: Destruction, War & Plague – Part II

One of history’s most intriguing ancient mysteries remains the elusive and legendary Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony. According to Biblical sources, it was constructed...

The remains of a mother and fetus were buried alongside those of two other children in the early days of the Black Death in Italy, however researchers cannot say for certain that they died of the plague.

30 March, 2017 - 01:57 Mark Miller

New Details Emerge on the Black Death by Examining a Plague Victim and her Tragic Coffin Birth

We can only guess about the life and times of a young mother and two children buried with her, possibly felled by the first wave of the bubonic plague in the 1340s in Italy. They were all buried in a...

A painting of 14th century St. Roch shows the dracunculiasis worm exiting the upper part of his leg.

23 March, 2017 - 00:56 Mark Miller

A Medieval Painting Depicts the Chilling Image of a Worm Eating Its Way Out of the Body of a French Saint

Imagine a 2- to 3-foot long (0.6- to 1-meter) worm slowly working its way out of your body… with the possibility of other worms doing so in the future. Such is the horror of the guinea worm, which...

The facial reconstruction of Context 958

21 March, 2017 - 13:02 ancient-origins

Face of ‘Ordinary Poor’ Man from Medieval Cambridge Graveyard Revealed

New facial reconstruction of a man buried in a medieval hospital graveyard discovered underneath a Cambridge college sheds light on how ordinary poor people lived in medieval England. The audience of...

31 January, 2017 - 02:00 dhwty

When Millions Were Dropping Dead From the Plague, The 14 Holy Helpers Were Summoned to Intercede

The Fourteen Holy Helpers are a group of saints venerated together in the Roman Catholic Church. Veneration of this group of saints (known also as auxiliary saints) began during the 14th century, as...

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Myths & Legends

The Powerful Symbol of the Swastika and its 12,000 Year History

The swastika is a symbol that has been used for at least 12,000 years. While in the Western world it is synonymous with fascism, being the centerpiece of the Nazi flag, in ancient times it was used as a positive symbol representing well being and good fortune.

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

A Pilgrimage of Thought: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Batman Existed in Mesoamerican Mythology and His Name Was Camazotz

The Sumerian King List still puzzles historians after more than a century of research

Ramayana: The Grand Epic of Ancient India

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.

Return of the Ancient Gods: The Resurgence of Paganism

Ancient Anomalous Human Skeletons: Humanity Could be Much Older Than We Think

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

The Secret Life of an Ancient Concubine

A Patriarchal Portrait of a Witch: Warning of Witchcraft in the Female Wiles

Ancient Technology

Two years ago, German scientists dated the Idol as being 11,000 years old.

Beaver's teeth 'used to carve the oldest wooden statue in the world’

Dating back 11,000 years - with a coded message left by ancient man from the Mesolithic Age - the Shigir Idol is almost three times as old as the Egyptian pyramids. New scientific findings suggest that images and hieroglyphics on the wooden statue were carved with the jaw of a beaver, its teeth intact.

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

Ten amazing inventions from ancient times

The Discovery that Revealed Ancient Humans Navigated the Seas 130,000 Years Ago

6 Ways Roman Engineers Were Way Ahead of Their Time

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

Ancient Places

Time Capsule of the House of the Tesserae Opens Window into the Past

In 2017 archaeologists in Jordan unearthed a time capsule dating back over a thousand years. The House of the Tesserae was fortuitously preserved after an earthquake struck the Jordanian city of Jerash in the 8th century AD.

More than a Dozen Mysterious Prehistoric Tunnels in Cornwall, England, Mystify Researchers

Tristan da Cunha: Only 269 People Remain on World's Most Remote Inhabited Island

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

Return of the Ancient Gods: The Resurgence of Paganism

The Theopetra Cave and the Oldest Human Construction in the World

Opinion

Floki and the Viking Discovery of Iceland

The Vikings’ next step out into the Atlantic – the discovery and settlement of Iceland – is one of the best documented events of the Viking Age. Medieval Icelanders were fascinated by genealogy, not only because, as emigrants

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

3 Problems to Remember When Trying to Find Atlantis

Naupa Iglesia: An Egyptian Portal in the Andes?

The Nephilim: Giant Offspring of the Sons of God and the Daughters of Man?

Mount Shasta: Spirits and Danger on a Sacred California Mountain

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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.

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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.