A deep mystery haunts the origins and rituals of the Jewish Fall Festivals: Rosh Hashanah (New Year), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), and Sukkot . Representing more than individual holidays, these...
The remains of an ancient female skeleton with an elongated skull , dating back to 400 – 600 AD, has been found during recent excavations at the Gamurzievsky settlement in the city of Nazran,...
Horses have lived on earth for more than 50 million years and they were first domesticated in Asia between 3000 and 4000 BC. According to the American Museum of Natural History at this time they were...
The term ‘American folklore’ encompasses the stories, myths, tall tales, music, proverbs, fairy tales, demons, giants and legends that arrived on the shores of North America with the first Europeans...
At a time when the Western Atlantic region was not nations, but confederations of loose tribes or clans, there were no frontiers like there are today. The western Iberian tribes lived in hillforts,...
Books, text, manuscripts and oral histories of most ancient cultures abound with heroes wielding an array of ancient weapons including endless famous swords, spears and supernaturally charged armor...
The story of Noah’s ark and the flood epic is one of the oldest nursery legends in the world and it has captivated the imaginations of children and adults alike throughout the ages. From childhood...
Chinese Thought conceived the idea of a universe governed by the interaction and cyclical alternation of two opposing, but complementary principles called Yin and Yang . Before becoming...
In the ancient world, the early distribution of political power was dictated by the availability of fresh water, fertile soil and a temperate climate, all of which were important for the development...
Thor Heyerdahl was a man who, despite the era in which he lived, was able to overcome the barriers of academic dogmatism in order to prove his theories. One of his most prolific phrases was: “...
The Borobudur Temple , the massive Mahayana Buddhist temple in Central Java, Indonesia, was built in the ninth century during the reign of the Shailendra Dynasty, which emerged in eighth-century Java...
Medicine Wheels simultaneously represent time and space as well as the transcendence of the limits of time and space. So, like a seed comes from what came before and contains what will be, Medicine...
Archaeologists all over the world have for decades refuted claims of an extraterrestrial influence on the building achievements of ancient humans. The academic community regard such claims as “...
Growing up reading Arthurian legends, one would probably think the Grail is a cup. Not just any cup, of course, but a holy cup associated with Jesus and the Last Supper. One would probably also know...
Mankind’s ancient ancestors faced many challenges, for instance the need to be able to find drinkable water that did not show on the surface of the land. Many of these challenges were solved by way...
The Viking Age represents the earliest recorded raids made by Norsemen in 793 AD until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 AD. During this blood-thirsty period Scandinavians mastered shipbuilding...
The enigma of the Holy Shroud has fascinated and baffled both the faithful and scholars for hundreds of years. To unravel the history and secret journey of how it came to the lands of the French in...
According to the Sumerian King List , Lugalbanda was one of the kings who belonged to the First Dynasty of Uruk in Sumer in ancient Mesopotamia. What is particularly striking about Lugalbanda is the...
The Vikings were warriors and therefore weaponry was at the forefront of their culture, and this is why the heroes and gods of Norse religion and folklore were armed with a range of awesome weapons...
Nestled in a sacred valley, at an altitude of about 1,700 meters (5,560 feet) above sea level, to the south of Mexico City, lies the town of Tepoztlán. The surrounding landscape has been shaped by...
The ancient peoples of Anatolia and the Near East did not go unaffected by the terrible consequences of the Younger Dryas comet impact event, now known to have devastated the North American continent...
Sun Tzu's Art of War was, one is told, written by an ancient Chinese soldier - except there is no evidence that there ever was a General Sun Tzu. In general, the commentary on Art of War just guesses...
The Ark of the Covenant must be thought of as two or even three separate things. First of all it is a box with a cavity in the middle of it that can contain a medium-sized object, such as an...
In the Myth of the Minotaur , if not for the ministrations of the humble Princess Ariadne, Theseus —the Greek hero—would not have had a prayer. Although often portrayed as a mere maiden, truth be...