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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Traditional cremation ceremony in Bali. Source: Victoria Boroda / Adobe Stock

From India and Taiwan to Tibet, the Living Assist the Dead in their Passage

Many people see death as a rite of a passage : a journey to some new place, or a threshold between two kinds of being. Zoroastrians believe that there is a bridge of judgment that each person who...
Portrait of young Native American woman. Source: designprojects / Adobe Stock.

Apache Girls Face Tests of Endurance in Rite of Passage (Video)

The Mescalero Apache reservation in New Mexico holds a time-honored rite of passage for its young girls every Fourth of July. The four-day ritual involves a series of tests that challenge the girls'...
The super painful initiation rite of the Sateré-Mawé people, one of the oldest native tribes of Brazil, involved wearing gloves full of stinging Bullet Ants. (Mongabay)

The 5 Most Terrifying Initiation Rites in History

Being a full-fledged member of any society was an important thing in many of the world’s oldest cultures. To be a part of the community, of the tribe, or the family, is one of the strongest human...
Experts Still Stumped By Child Buried With A Bird In Its Mouth

Bizarre Burial: Girl With A Bird Skull In Her Mouth

Between the 18th and 19th century in Poland, a child was given an unusual burial involving bird skulls within the Tunel Wielki Cave. A ritualistic burial like this surely would have been a spectacle...
Mithra slaying the bull.

The Cult of Mithra: Sacred Temples, and Vedic Legends, and Ancient Armenian Understanding

Mithra was the god of light, purity, goodness, and truth and occupied an important place in the faith of the ancient Aryans. The Spread of Mithra There are various opinions on the spread of the...
1:12 scale model to explore how Stonehenge acoustics would have been in 2200 BC. Source: Trevor Cox / University of Salford

Accurate 3D Model Of Stonehenge Proves It Had Great Acoustics

Researchers in the UK have created a mini model of one of the most famous prehistoric monuments in the world in order to understand its acoustics . They have built a replica of Stonehenge and have...
Detail of a mural around a niche in one of the Roman tombs found at Beir Al-Shaghala archaeological site in Egypt’s Dakhla Oasis.

Roman Tombs Found in Egyptian Oasis Reflect Cultural Blending Evident in Burial Practices

If they stayed almost any length of time, the ancient Romans left a cultural mark on the place they visited, conquered, and/or had extensive trade with. One way this makes itself known in Egypt is in...
Arabian incense burner

Frankincense may infuse users with mild euphoria

A group of researchers using hard science put frankincense to the test: Does this ancient, fragrant smoke give feelings of exaltation to the practitioners of the many religions in whose rites it has...
Archaeological site in Sidon, Lebanon, where a hidden room was recently discovered.

Secret chamber hidden beneath ancient temple in Lebanon surprises archaeologists

Nothing ignites archaeological and historical curiosity more than an unexpected and mysterious discovery. A secret room uncovered by researchers at a Bronze Age temple in Sidon, Lebanon, is such a...

Daily Prayers with Decomposing Corpses: Death Chairs at Aragonese Castle

The Aragonese Castle is a castle built on top of a rocky islet next to Ischia, a small Italian island on the northern end of the Gulf of Naples. Whilst a stronghold is said to have already been built...
Image during part of the funeral ceremony for Thailand’s deceased King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The Grand Funeral of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Intricate Buddhist Funerary Rites

For Thai Buddhists, funerals are extremely important moments, as they represent rebirth and the passage from one existence to another. The elaborate funeral rites recently held in honor of Thailand’s...
A pair of dogs/wolves and the moon

Butchered Dogs Consumed by Bronze Age Wolf Warriors in Rites Ceremonies

Archaeologists claim that remains of dogs and wolves found at the Srubnaya-culture settlement of Krasnosamarskoe in the Russian steppes, dating back to 1900–1700 BC, indicate that a ritual took place...
A funerary garden discovered by CSIC's research team.

A First-Ever Find in Egypt: 4,000-Year-Old Funerary Garden at Tomb Entrance

The Djehuty Project, led by research professor, José Manuel Galán, from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), has discovered a 4,000-year-old funerary garden- the first such garden ever to be...
Lost in Translation? Understandings and Misunderstandings about the Ancient Practice of “Sacred Prostitution”

Lost in Translation? Understandings and Misunderstandings about the Ancient Practice of “Sacred Prostitution”

In the modern world, the mere mention of “Sacred Prostitution” may receive raised eyebrows or disgusted grimaces. Evidently, this was also the case for the ancients as many ancient authors describe...
The Abusir boat.
Stone ‘mushroom’ formations in Bulgaria.

Mushroom Monuments of Thrace and Ancient Sacred Rites

Throughout northeastern Greece, western Turkey, and Bulgaria, in the region known in antiquity as Macedonia, Anatolia, and Thrace, there are numerous megalithic natural rock formations that resemble...
In Scaloria Cave stalactites on the cave ceiling and at right a mixture of stalactite fragments and human bone fragments, found during 2013 excavations

First evidence of defleshing of human bones in Neolithic Europe found in Italy cave

Archaeologists studying a cave in southeast Italy with remains of people who died 7,500 years ago say they have identified the first known cases in New Stone Age Europe of people scraping the flesh...
Aztec dog cemetery

Discovery of Aztec dog cemetery puzzles archaeologists

Archaeologists have discovered “an exceptional” Aztec burial site under an apartment building in Mexico City containing the remains of twelve dogs , animals that had major religious and symbolic...
Madagascar dance with the dead

Turning of the bones and the Madagascar dance with the dead

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”, take place around various towns and...
Human Remains in Spain

6,400-year-old human remains found in hidden cave in Spain

Archaeologists from the University of Barcelona in Spain have uncovered a rare Neolithic death ritual containing the remains of four individuals which are incredibly well preserved, and the funerary...