All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

Plants

The bone, black henbane seeds and tar plug used to keep it sealed. Source: BIAC Consult

For Pain or Pleasure? Poisonous Plant Henbane Used by the Romans

While digging at the site of a rural, first-century AD Roman settlement in Houten-Castellum in the Netherlands, archaeologists uncovered a most unusual artifact. Inside a hollowed-out animal bone,...
The clay brick from the National Museum of Denmark and from which scientists have extracted ancient plant DNA. Source: Arnold Mikkelsen og Jens Lauridsen

Ancient Plant DNA Extracted from 2,900-Year-Old Assyrian Brick

DNA testing in an archaeological context has been improving by leaps and bounds, resulting in many new discoveries relating to ancient human, animal and plant genetics. New ground in DNA analysis of...
The amethyst seal found in a Jerusalem sewer may be the first artifact ever to depict the Biblical persimmon plant.     Source: Eliyahu Yanai / City of David

Unique Biblical “Persimmon” Amethyst Seal Discovered In Jerusalem Sewer

A rare lilac-colored amethyst seal has been discovered in an ancient sewer beneath Jerusalem. Depicting a bird holding a plant branch with five fruits with its feet, the engraved amethyst seal...
Charles Darwin (pict rider /Adobe Stock) was puzzled by flowering plants. (Pixabay License)

New Study Solves Flower Mystery that Baffled Charles Darwin

In 1879 Charles Darwin wrote a letter to his close friend, the botanist and explorer named Dr. Joseph Hooker. He expressed his annoyance at the puzzling mystery of how the first flowering plants...
The Shroud of Turin: modern, digitally processed image of the face on the cloth [left] and the full body image as seen on the shroud [right].

The Shroud of Turin: Jesus' Bloodstained Burial Cloth or a Fascinating Forgery?

The Shroud of Turin is believed by many to be the bloodstained burial cloth Jesus of Nazareth was wrapped in after his crucifixion. But skeptics say it is a forgery, or at best only a religious...
The Founding of Australia (public domain)

Botany and The Colonization of Australia in 1770

James Cook and his companions aboard the Endeavour landed at a harbour on Australia’s southeast coast in April of 1770. Cook named the place Botany Bay for “the great quantity of plants Mr. Banks and...

Ancient Plants Revive After Being Trapped in Ice for 400 Years

Scientists visiting Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic discovered something remarkable and fascinating . Led by Catherine LaFarge, a geologist from the University of Alberta in Edmonton (Canada...
Israeli town of Yavneh

Israeli town of Yavneh had thriving drug culture 3,000 years ago

Archaeologists discovered traces of hallucinogenic substances used over 3,000 years by the Philistines living in ancient Yavneh, Israel, revealing a drug culture that is believed to have revolved...
An indigenous person of Peru taking traditional medicine.

Ancient Medicinal Knowledge of Amazon Tribes to Be Recorded in Writing for First Time in History

“That plant will save you from a poisonous snake bite,” my Kichwa guide, Pidru, pointed out as I tried to remove my boot from a foot of mud in the depths of the Amazon jungle in Ecuador. “And this...
Egyptians with domesticated cattle and corn circa 1422-1411 BC

Rising Inequality Began with Agriculture and Domestication of Plants and Animals

Researchers at Washington State University and 13 other institutions have found that the arc of prehistory bends towards economic inequality. In the largest study of its kind, the researchers saw...
Pandora, Bouguereau, 1890

Eve was Created from Adam’s Rib, but What About the Other Women? Where did the First Women of Ancient Creation Come From?

In the Bible, Genesis 2:7 is the first verse that tells us about the first man. It tells how God formed a man from the dust and blew the breath of life into him. The man was then placed in Eden where...
Dragon's Blood Trees, Socotra Island, Yemen

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

The landscape of the remote island of Socotra looks so foreign that it could almost pass as an alien planet. Its native flora is so rare and unique that the island looks like something out of a...
Could Frozen Seeds Save the Future? Scientists Bring a 32,000-year-old Seed Back to Life

Could Frozen Seeds Save the Future? Scientists Bring a 32,000-year-old Seed Back to Life

Far away on the remote island of Spitsbergen in the Artic Svalbard archipelago lies humanity’s fail-safe storage of seeds. With the threat of natural and man-made disasters looming in the future, the...
Fairy circles in the Marienflusstal area in Namibia.

Secrets Behind the Namibian Fairy Circles May Finally Be Solved

Hundreds of strange circular patches of ground where nothing grows can be found amongst the thick grass of the vast Namib desert. These bald spots apparently exist, and sometimes grow, for years...
Archaeologists Discover 3,800-Year-Old Underwater Vegetable Garden

Archaeologists Discover 3,800-Year-Old Underwater Vegetable Garden

Piece by piece, archaeologists are discovering evidence of creative engineering techniques practiced by innovative ancient peoples. One such example is making archaeological news headlines – the...
2,800-Year-Old Seeds Retrieved from Ancient Castle in Turkey to be Brought Back to Life

2,800-Year-Old Seeds Retrieved from Ancient Castle in Turkey to be Brought Back to Life

In 2014, archaeologists discovered ceramic containers used for cereal storage dating back 2,800 years in Cuvustepe Castle in Turkey. Incredibly, some preserved sesame and wheat seeds remained inside...
Drugs in Ancient Cultures: A History of Drug Use and Effects

Drugs in Ancient Cultures: A History of Drug Use and Effects

The battle against drugs and drug usage rages on today and for good reason. However, with the near constant limelight that the ‘drug war’ receives today, it can seem like the most common drugs have...
Cenchrinae starch granules from the Haua Fteah cave and from a modern variety; Cenchrinae is a type of grass used as food in Africa

North African Neolithic Hunter-Gatherers Eschewed Domestic Grains for Wild Plants

A community of cave dwellers in North Africa apparently resisted switching over to pure agriculture and instead continued gathering highly nutritional wild grass seeds and other wild plants for many...
The squash in this photo had not been grown for hundreds of years. Native Americans revived it after finding seeds in a pot 800 years old.

Native Americans Revived Squash From 800-Year-Old Seeds

Some Native Americans found squash seeds in a pot about 800 years old and revived the plant for the first time in centuries. The seeds from the large, bright orange squash have been distributed to...
Date palms of kibbutz Gesher, Jordan Valley.

Scientists discover the earliest known evidence of plant cultivation in the Levant

It was in the Middle East that hunter-gatherers first started to switch to plant cultivation, thereby initiating the first movement towards organised agriculture. This is why the region is popularly...
Paleolithic man (Paleoindians) hunting a glyptodon – ancient ancestor to the armadillo. (Illustration 1920) Did these societies use poison to bring down their prey?

Invisible Killers - Poisons may have been used by Palaeolithic society 30,000 years ago, new testing shows

Poisons are ubiquitous in the plant and animal world – some snakes and frogs are venomous, and various trees and plants are lethally toxic. This was well-known by our ancient ancestors, and they...
Death of Socrates

Poison: The Good, the Bad and the Deadly

For thousands of years poisons have been both a deadly threat and a protective tool used around the world. Poisons have played a dominant role in our history and legends, persisting both as evil...
Pre-Columbian mummies Chile - arsenic poisoning

Pre-Columbian mummies in Chile show signs of arsenic poisoning

A team of scientists have discovered that people of numerous pre-Columbian civilizations in northern Chile, including the Incas and the Chinchorro culture, suffered from chronic arsenic poisoning...
Voynich Manuscript Decoded

First words in mysterious Voynich Manuscript decoded

We’ve got to hand it to the persistent and determined researchers who have not given up hope of decoding the enigmatic Voynich manuscript despite dozens of studies over the last few decades, many of...

Pages