All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

Portugal

Praia Melão, a sugar mill and slavery plantation, situated on São Tomé, stands as the primary focus of archaeological exploration on the island.	Source: M.D. Cruz/Antiquity Publications Ltd

Tiny West African Island Shows Evidence of the Invention of Plantation Slavery

Situated on the West coast of Africa, with the equator running through it, the tiny island of Sao Tome was uninhabited before being colonized by the Portuguese in 1486. Now being investigated...
Church of Santa Maria do Olival in Tomar, Portugal. Source: milosk50 / Adobe Stock.

The Tiny Church at the Heart of the Knights Templar (Video)

Hidden within the charming town of Tomar, Portugal, lies a hidden gem of historical significance - the tiny church of Santa Maria do Olival. Dating back to the 13th century, this Gothic church holds...
Cromeleque dos Almendres, Portugal. Source: dudlajzov / Adobe Stock.

Neolithic Marvel: Almendres Megalithic Complex (Video)

The Cromlech of the Almendres in Evora, Portugal, stands as a remarkable testament to ancient civilizations and their profound connection with the cosmos. Dating back an astonishing 7,000 years, this...
Sintra, Portugal at the Initiation Well. Source: LALSSTOCK / Adobe Stock.

Knights Templar Symbols in Sintra's Inverted Tower (Video)

The Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra , Portugal, houses a mesmerizing architectural wonder known as the initiation well or inverted tower. This awe-inspiring structure is steeped in strange symbology,...
Curious bone growth on the femur of an adult female in Constância, Portugal. Source: ©Sandra Assis/International Journal of Paleopathology

Curious Bone Growth Found on Portuguese Skeleton Buried Centuries Ago

The skeletal remains of a woman who lived in Portugal between the 14th and 19th centuries show that she suffered a physical injury so severe that it caused an extraordinarily large growth to appear...
Replica of Capilla stelae. Source: Ralph Araque Gonzalez / University of Freiburg

Proof Bronze Age Iberians Made Steel Tools 1,000 Years Before the Romans!

A study of elaborate 2,900-year-old carvings in stone monuments found in Portugal has revealed a rather amazing fact. It seems these Late Bronze Age engravings could only have been made with hardened...
The village Vilarinho da Furnas inside the national park Peneda-Geres in Portugal. It is only visible at low water levels. Source: Carlos Caridade/Wirestock Creators/Adobe Stock

The Submerged Village of Vilarinho da Furna and Its Unique History

Sometimes, the need of modern development necessitates that buildings, villages, or even cities need to be abandoned, demolished, or even submerged in water. It certainly isn’t an easy decision for...
Neanderthals were eating brown crabs like this 90,000 years ago.	Source: davemhuntphoto/Adobe Stock

Proof Emerges that Neanderthals Harvested and Ate Crabs 90,000 Years Ago

New research has once again illustrated that the Neanderthals were neither primitive nor unsophisticated. It shows that Neanderthals living in a cave near Lisbon, Portugal 90,000 years ago enjoyed a...
Composite image depicting the similitude between a replica of the Valencian slate owl plaque with inserted feathers (on the left) and the long-eared owl species which may have inspired numerous engraved owl plaques (on the right). Source: Juan J. Negro / CC BY 4.0

Enigmatic Copper Age Owl Plaques Were Made by Children, Study Claims

Decades of excavations in ancient burial pits in the Iberian Peninsula (modern-day Spain and Portugal) have unearthed more than 4,000 palm-sized slate owl plaques engraved with geometric images of...
Hands sprinkling salt. Humans have cultivated salt for centuries, but in some places, salt has covered the earth. Source: Left zlikovec / Adobe Stock

Salt Sowing: An Ancient Method to Settle Scores

Many people use salt to bring out the flavor in their food. Others spread it on icy roads and sidewalks to give vehicles or pedestrians some grip as they go about their day. It is, by most accounts,...
The burial of the11th-century Portuguese man who was diagnosed with the earliest case of Klinefelter syndrome ever found so far.Source: The Lancet

1,000-Year-Old Case of Syndrome Causing Small Testes Found in Portugal

The oldest clinical case of Klinefelter Syndrome has been detected in a 1,000-year-old Portuguese skeleton. Klinefelter Syndrome is a super rare genetic but non-hereditary condition that gives men an...
Top Image: Detail of study co-author Rita Peyroteo-Stjerna examining a Mesolithic skeleton. Source: José Paulo Ruas

Mesolithic Burials in Europe from 8,000 Years Ago Point to Earliest Evidence of Mummification

How old is the art of embalming the dead and where did it originate? This is one of those eternal archaeological questions that is constantly reinforced and altered with the arrival of new evidence...
Memories Of An Ancient Goddess At Sintra’s Mountain Of The Moon

Memories Of An Ancient Goddess At Sintra’s Mountain Of The Moon

Nothing about magical and mysterious Sintra is straightforward, including its name. Sintra can refer to a small town in western Portugal, a short distance north and west of Lisbon, or the large and...
Maxilla and tooth specimen excavated at the Stone Age burial site in Portugal’s Cabeço da Amoreira. Source: Petroteo-Stjerna et. al. / CC BY 4.0

African Remains Discovered in Prehistoric Shell Heap in Portugal

In an intriguing discovery, the remains of an African man who died just 350 years ago have been found buried in a prehistoric shell midden in Amoreira in Portugal. The middens in Amoreira and other...
Could the Mercury poisoning spike discovered in Iberian Copper Age bones be evidence that cinnabar powder was ingested during rituals? The healing art in pre-historic times, by Ernest Board. Source: Wellcome Trust / CC BY 4.0

Did Ritual Use of Cinnabar Cause Mercury Poisoning in Ancient Iberia?

A team of 14 biologists, chemists, physical anthropologists and archaeologists from the University of Seville have published a new study in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology . The...
New evidence proves that Norse explorers discovered the Azores 700 years before the Portuguese. Source: Catmando / Adobe Stock

Norse Explorers Reached Azores 700 Years Before Portuguese

Until now it was believed that the Azores island group was discovered by Portuguese sailors in the 15th century. However, a new study shows Norse explorers had brought animals to the islands 700...
Was the fleet of Santa Maria, Pinta and Niña represented here admiral led by Christopher Columbus or Don Cristóbal Colón?

Columbus’s Identity Crisis and the Ongoing Spread of False Columbus News

The news was astounding! Famous India was discovered just a month’s sailing across the Atlantic, proclaimed the first-ever International Press Release , dated Lisbon, March 4, 1493. The outrageous...
An aerial view of the 2,100-year-old Roman camp of Lomba do Mouro at Melgaço, Portugal. 	Source: University of Exeter

Oldest Roman Camp of Northern Hispania Found in Portugal

A vast 10,000-man Roman camp has been discovered in northern Portugal. Not only is it one of the biggest ever discovered, but it’s also the oldest ever discovered in northern Hispania (the name of...
Lapa do Picareiro Cave Findings Rewrite History of Human Migration

Lapa do Picareiro Cave Findings Rewrite History of Human Migration

Archaeological excavations at the Lapa do Picareiro cave in Portugal have revealed Palaeolithic stone tools that are rewriting the history of the settlement of Europe by modern humans. The find...
Representation of how Perdigões’ Neolithic “Woodhenge” would have looked (with full worked area highlighted).       Source: ERA Archueologia

Neolithic “Woodhenge” Discovered at Perdigões’ Complex Portugal

Remains of a Neolithic “Woodhenge” have recently been unearthed by a team of archaeologists at Perdigões in Portugal . The newly found wooden structure was built at the end of the Stone Age and is...
Lapedo Child

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...
Medieval manuscript. Credit: Andrzej Solnica / Adobe Stock

Experts Solve 1000-Year-Old Mystery of Rare Medieval Blue Ink

Portuguese researchers believe that they have identified the long-lost process and plant that provided a unique purple-blue pigment in the Middle Ages . This was used to color many things including...
Portuguese caravel of the 15th century. Credit: Michael Rosskothen / Adobe Stock

Epic Voyage of Vasco da Gama Connected Europe to the East

Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese sailor and explorer who lived between the 15th and 16th centuries. Not only is da Gama a significant figure in the history of Portugal and Europe, but he is also an...
The Age of Discovery was a time when European explorers journeyed across the world. Source: oleskalashnik/Adobe Stock

The Age of Discovery: A New World Dawns

The Age of Discovery (also known as the Age of Exploration) refers to an exciting era in European history when a number of extensive overseas voyages took place. This period lasted roughly from the...

Pages