For the first time in history, a team of archaeologists, forensic scientists, and model makers working under the Saudi Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) have reconstructed the face of an ancient...
A huge funerary building has been excavated by researchers at the Gerza archaeological site in Fayum, Egypt. Rare artifacts were discovered, but a collection of mummy portraits represent the first...
Behind the glitz and glam of modern-day waxworks of the likes of Donald Trump or Michael Jackson, lies the blood-soaked history of the French Revolution. In fact, the renowned Madam Tussaud franchise...
People and cultures around the world have always understood death - the unavoidable part of everyone’s existence – in a multitude of ways. Some saw it as a gateway to a new life, while others viewed...
Imagine finding a selfie carved in stone in the high darkness of a medieval church! While working in one of the most famous churches in Europe, a British art historian discovered exactly that. She...
Andrew Collins exclusively reveals the true face of a Siberian Denisovan. What the Denisovans might have looked like has been one of the hottest debates in paleoanthropology since the discovery of...
Based on ancient DNA methylation patterns, a portrait of a juvenile female Denisovan has been recreated. Only two weeks ago I wrote a news piece for Ancient Origins in which I listed all of the known...
Who is she, this little mummy girl? Northwestern University scientists and students are working to unravel some of her mysteries, including how her body was prepared 1,900 years ago in Egypt, what...
Near the end of the last great ice age, the remains of a descendant of the first people to move into Southeast Asia were found in the Tham Lod rock shelter of Thailand’s northwestern highlands. Now...
Diego Velázquez was a standout artist amongst iconic Spanish painters and his artwork is famous around the world. As a painter in the court of King Phillip IV of Spain, Velázquez is best known for...
When one comes across her portraits, the first thing that is assumed is that the woman depicted within had to be a pirate. However, Ana de Mendoza was actually noblewoman and a rebel in a gown. It...
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...
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...
The eerie, sightless stare of wax-figure mannequins disconcerts many an onlooker, but the famous wax museums of today which host hyper-realistic looking wax models of celebrities and historical...
“He looks almost Byzantine or Greek, gazing doe-eyed over the viewer’s left shoulder, his mouth forming a slight pout, like a star-struck lover or perhaps a fan of the races witnessing his favorite...