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Flamingoes have been admired throughout history. Source: CC BY 2.5
25 June, 2019 - 23:03 Maura Andreoni

The Ancient Admiration of Birds: Flamingos as Masterpieces of Art and Food

In the ancient past, relationships between humans and animals were stricter than today and included the sphere of the imaginary and the sacred. Investigations on how the ancients approached different...
The ruins of Fuerte de Samaipata
20 May, 2019 - 22:59 Ed Whelan

Fuerte De Samaipata - A Site of Ceremonial Carvings and Sacrifice

The Andean nation of Bolivia has been home to a number of remarkable cultures, and as a result many archaeological sites remain in the country. The Fuerte de Samaipata site has been recognized as...
Zultepec-Tecoaque archaeological site in Tlaxcala, Mexico
9 May, 2019 - 18:21 Mark Miller

Archaeological site in Mexico reveals sacrifice and cannibalization of Spanish conquistadors

Excavations at the Zultepec-Tecoaque archaeological site in Tlaxcala, Mexico, have revealed that indigenous Acolhuas peoples captured a caravan of 550 conquistadors and their allies in 1520, kept...
The mass grave of 15 skeletons and grave goods at the Koszyce burial. Source: H Schroeder et al / PNAS.
8 May, 2019 - 14:00 ashley cowie

5000-Year-Old Family Found In Mass Burial Was Brutally Murdered

New research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ( PNAS ) entitled “Unravelling ancestry , kinship, and violence in a Late...
Bocksten Man. Photo source: (CC BY 2.0 ) The Tollund Man as he appears today. (Tollundman.dk) Osterby Man with hair tied in a Suebian Knot. At Archäologisches Landesmuseum. (CC BY 3.0) The face of the bog body known as Grauballe man. (Public Domain) The Upper body of the Elling Woman. (CC BY SA 3.0)
7 May, 2019 - 22:57 ancient-origins

The Stories Behind Seven Mind Boggling Bog Bodies

Since at least the 18th century, there have been discoveries in northwestern continental Europe and Britain of “bog bodies” - human remains which have been preserved in the anoxic environment of bogs...
The Tomb of Duke Jing of Qi and his 600 Horses
15 April, 2019 - 10:30 mrreese

Excavations Launched at the Tomb of Duke Jing of Qi and his 600 Sacrificial Horses

In 1964, a surprising discovery was made in China – a tomb containing the remains of hundreds of horses, arranged neatly in rows. Such a complex burial and large sacrifice clearly indicated that the...
Aztec god of the underworld Mictlantecuhtli
30 March, 2019 - 17:49 dhwty

Mictlantecuhtli, Lord of the Land of the Dead, Tried to Stop the Recreation of Man

Mictlantecuhtli was a god in the Aztec pantheon. Translated literally, his name means ‘ Lord of Mictlan’ , Mictlan being the Aztec underworld or land of the dead. The Aztecs believed that there were...
Experts May Have Found an Aztec Royal Burial.
25 March, 2019 - 22:00 Ed Whelan

First Ever Aztec Royal Burial Site Could Be Indicated By Jaguar, Flamingo and Child Sacrifices [New Discovery]

Archaeologists working in Mexico City have made a series of amazing finds and these could lead to the discovery of an Aztec Emperor’s long-lost tomb. A team of specialists made the find in one of the...
Representative image of a cloaked druid in a forest.
16 March, 2019 - 17:41 Jack Wilkin

Stories of the Druids Abound, But What is the Hard Archaeological Evidence?

Druid comes from the Old Irish word druí meaning sorcerer. And that is how most people today think of the druids, as mysterious wizards enveloped in the world of magic and ritual. But there is much...
Skull of a child sacrifice at Huanchaquito-Las Llamas in Peru.
7 March, 2019 - 22:50 ashley cowie

140 Children Found To Be Sacrificed in Peru, But Why?

Archaeologists and anthropologists excavating in the north of Peru have made the incredible 600-year-old discovery of more than “140 children, three adults, and at least 200 young llamas” all...
A rich Moche grave with elaborate copper artifacts and several ceramic vessels.
15 February, 2019 - 18:50 ashley cowie

Making Copper Look Like Gold: 1,400-Year-Old Moche Graves Reveal Rich Artifacts of Ancient Elite

A team of archaeologists digging at the Ucupe archaeological site in the north-western Peruvian region of Lambayeque have discovered Moche civilization graves dating back 1,400 years. The Moche...
Statue of the god Moloch, Turin Cinema Museum.
10 February, 2019 - 18:35 Caleb Strom

Was Moloch really Ba’al, the Ancient God Who Demanded Child Sacrifice?

Moloch, or Molech, is well known in the Bible for being the god to whom child sacrifices appear to have been made in a shrine outside the city of Jerusalem. Although Moloch is well known in the Bible...
François Joseph Navez, The Massacre of the Innocents, 1824
27 January, 2019 - 18:56 dhwty

The Chilling Ancient Practice of Infanticide Was Once Accepted as Normal

Today, the thought of infanticide – the intentional killing of infants – fills us with horror, but in many ancient societies, not only was this practice permitted, it was considered a regular fact of...
The first clear example of an ancient Harappan couple burial.
11 January, 2019 - 13:58 Alicia McDermott

Archaeologists Find the First Example of a Harappan Couple Burial

A rare discovery at an ancient Harappan site shows that death doesn’t even mean the end for some relationships. The couple’s burial stands out from others in a sprawling cemetery. Even in the grave,...
‘Hercules Fighting Death to Save Alcestis’ (1869-1871) by Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton. Many ancient death rituals seem very odd or macabre to modern minds.
10 November, 2018 - 19:01 ashley cowie

Bizarre, Brutal, Macabre And Downright Weird Ancient Death Rituals

Any parent must agree that one of the greatest hardships experienced around the death of a family member is having to explain to children what happened and what happens next? Should you tell them the...
Nenets idol on Bolshoi Tsinkovy island.
27 October, 2018 - 01:55 ancient-origins

The Curse of the Nenets Idols of Vaygach Island, the ‘Territory of Death’

By The Siberian Times reporter For hundreds of years, visitors to this Arctic outpost have been frightened by terrifying totems and human sacrifices. With seven faces, this ancient wooden effigy...

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