science

A 1909 photo of Mark Twain. (Public Domain) Background: Halley’s Comet as taken March 8, 1986 by W. Liller, Easter Island, part of the International Halley Watch (IHW) Large Scale Phenomena Network. (Public Domain) It’s an interesting historical coincidence that Mark Twain was born and died alongside appearances of Halley’s Comet.

5 December, 2018 - 18:54 ashley cowie

Are These Incredible Historical Coincidences Actually Due to Synchronicity or Mathematical Probability?

Coincidences are a concurrence of circumstances which are so unpredictable that they often become associated with the supernatural and paranormal. History is composed with brilliant acts of skill and...

‘The Unicorn is Found’ in one of the Unicorn Tapestries in Stirling Castle. Medieval science fiction had a convergence of science, technology and the imagination

14 September, 2018 - 00:31 ancient-origins

Medieval Science Fiction Existed – Here’s What it Looked Like

Carl Kears & James Paz / The Conversation Science fiction may seem resolutely modern, but the genre could actually be considered hundreds of years old. There are the alien green “ children of...

Four paintings from ‘The Course of Empire’

26 August, 2018 - 13:53 walter

Lost Star of Myth and Time: The Rise and Fall of Civilizations

The idea of a worldwide Dark Age or universal decline in man’s knowledge may be difficult to accept because the broad deterioration of ancient civilizations didn’t happen at an even pace in all...

ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) has captured this unusual view of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a planetary nebula located 700 light-years away. The Helix Nebula is sometimes called the “Eye of God.”

22 August, 2018 - 18:52 Rabbi Allen Maller

It Need Not Be Religion VS Science: Extra-Terrestrial Life and Religious Beliefs Combine

During Medieval times almost all Christian theologians accepted the Ptolemaic earth centered Greek view of the universe as an absolute universal truth of both nature and religion. The Catholic...

Archimedes pouring over his work by Fetti, 1620

15 August, 2018 - 01:06 Bryan Hill

Archimedes: An Ancient Greek Genius Ahead of His Time

Archimedes was a Greek mathematician, scientist, mechanical engineer and inventor who is considered one of the greatest mathematicians of the ancient world. The father of simple machines, he...

The Statue of Socrates at the Academy of Athens. Work of Leonidas Drosis (d. 1880). (C messier/CC BY SA 4.0) Background: This NASA image shows Earth from space. The image is a combination of data from two satellites.

9 August, 2018 - 18:53 Caleb Strom

Was Socrates in Space? A Question of Ancient Spaceflight

The ancient Greeks are credited with having made many early advancements in science and mathematics which influenced later western civilization. Aristarchus of Samos proposed an essentially...

28 May, 2018 - 14:00 ashley cowie

Out with the Ouija Board! How the Popular Divining Tool Influenced A Modern Murder Case

A convicted double murderer has won the right to a retrial on the basis that four of the jury had used a Ouija board the night before finding him guilty. Does this mean that the UK judicial system...

Neanderthal man at the Natural History Museum London

13 May, 2018 - 14:44 Alicia McDermott

Spectacular Science! Lab-Grown Mini Neanderthal Brains Could Explain What Makes Humans Different

We’re living in an age when many people believe there are no limits to what technology can do. Apply that to paleogenetics and you’ll see research into ancient disease, the domestication of animals,...

4 May, 2018 - 22:53 Daria Shatsylo

8 Ancient Chinese Inventions the West Had Not Imagined

According to the statistics provided by the World Economic Forum, nowadays China can boast its position of the world’s second largest spender on scientific research and development, yielding only to...

Llullaillaco mummy being examined by scientists (CC by 2.0)

9 April, 2018 - 14:00 ancient-origins

Rights of the Dead and the Living Clash when Scientists Extract DNA from Human Remains

The remains of a 6-inch long mummy from Chile are not those of a space alien, according to recently reported research . The tiny body with its strange features – a pointed head, elongated bones – had...

The Shroud of Turin: modern, digitally processed image of the face on the cloth

6 March, 2018 - 18:46 Dr Peter J Shield

Blood on the Shroud: An Interview with the Blood Investigator of the Shroud of Turin Research Project

In 1978 a large team of American scientists under the auspices of the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) spent over two years prior to embarking for Turin, planning a large number of specific...

27 January, 2018 - 22:56 ancient-origins

Religion Isn’t The Enemy of Science: It’s Been Inspiring Scientists for Centuries

Take notice of any debate in the media and you’ll see that science and religion are, and always were, at loggerheads. Science is about evidence-based fact, religion is about faith-based belief. But...

Artists impression of a group of australopith

12 January, 2018 - 19:12 ancient-origins

The Origin of ‘Us’: What We Know So Far About Where We Humans Come From

The question of where we humans come from is one many people ask, and the answer is getting more complicated as new evidence is emerging all the time. For most of recorded history humankind has been...

The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone by Joseph Wright of Derby, 1771.

6 January, 2018 - 18:53 ashley cowie

Lord Kelvin’s Lost Alchemical Chamber of Secrets

In the world of historical investigation and detection, luck, is a universal component that often leads one to otherwise hidden realms. That is precisely what happened to me in 2009 while undertaking...

A Byzantine depiction of the Three Wise Men (526 AD), Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy.

16 December, 2017 - 02:02 ancient-origins

What the Magi Had in Common with Scientists

Picturesque and exotic, with their crowns and camels, the three kings regularly appear on Christmas cards and in nativity scenes. But how much is original, and how much is later addition for the sake...

“Lord Rama got fed up with asking a non-responding Varuna (God of the oceans) to help him and took up the Brahmastra.” (Fair Use) Ram Setu – a natural phenomenon or perhaps a manmade bridge built to save a queen?

13 December, 2017 - 23:00 Alicia McDermott

Is Ram Setu Really a Manmade Construction Bridging an Ancient 20 Mile Gap? New Studies May End the Controversy

Built by a king and his army to save a queen from the clutches of a rival? Or maybe a bridge to a land which led Adam to his atonement? While both of these ideas are far-fetched, current research...

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Myths & Legends

Glastonbury Tor. Source: vlorzor / Adobe. Inset: Representational image of a skeleton.

The Glastonbury Giant: Who Did the Mystery Bones of A Nine Foot Skeleton Belong To?

When researching the reality of giants in the past, one story which has survived the ages is the apparent discovery of the ‘Glastonbury Giant’ which was allegedly unearthed in 1190, on orders of King Henry II, following rumors that the legendary King Arthur was in fact buried at that specific location.

Magu: The Hemp Goddess Who Healed Ancient Asia

The symbol of the Swastika and its 12,000-year-old history

Ten Mythological Creatures in Ancient Folklore

The Disturbing True Story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin

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

Human Origins

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Sumer , or the ‘land of civilized kings’, flourished in Mesopotamia, now modern-day Iraq, around 4500 BC. Sumerians created an advanced civilization with its own system of elaborate language and...

Rh-Negative Blood: An Exotic Bloodline or Random Mutation?

The human skull that challenges the Out of Africa theory

Research Confirms that Neanderthal DNA Makes Up About 20% of the Modern Human Genome

A Snapshot of Our Mysterious Ancestor Homo erectus

Zecharia Sitchin and the Mistranslation of Sumerian Texts

Ancient Technology

Stone of the Pregnant Woman, an example of ancient high-tech stonework in Hajar al Hibla at Baalbek in Lebanon.

The High-Tech Stonework of the Ancients: Unsolved Mysteries of Master Engineers

There are many stone artifacts from the ancient world made from the hardest stone on the planet such as granite and diorite, which have been cut and shaped with such quality, precision and accuracy that the standard explanations of their manufacture are simply inadequate.

Boggling Bannerstones of Ancient Americans: Were They a Function of Flight or More a Flight of Fancy?

The Indian Sage who developed Atomic Theory 2,600 years ago

Ten amazing inventions from ancient times

The Lost Knowledge of the Ancients: Were Humans the First? Part 1

6 Advanced Ancient Inventions Beyond Modern Understanding

Ancient Places

Chongoni Rock Art Offers Fascinating Insight into Mysterious Secret Society of the Chewa

Civilizations who have left no written records have in some cases left us with a way to understand their history and culture. The Chongoni Rock Art area, which contains a number of locations, is a unique site in the central African country of Malawi.

Were the Women of Petra More Important Than the Men?

The Mysterious Waffle Rock: A Bizarre Boulder with a Hazy Background

The 9,500-year-old honeycomb city of Çatalhöyük

The Construction of Venice, the Floating City

The Grim Reality of the Brothels of Pompeii

Opinion

The astronomical ceiling at the Pronaos, Detail of the first Band west from the center. From left to right: two wind creatures (the winged ram with four heads personifies the south wind), the snake- and frog-headed eight goddesses and gods of the Ogdoad who ruled the cosmos before the creation of the world and Osiris seated on a throne sails across the sky as personification of the full moon accompanied by the seated goddesses Nephtys (left) and Isis on the right (Maat stands near the bow of the ship). Siri

Changing Colors and Scampering Across the Night Sky: What Did the Ancients Say about Sirius?

In Egypt, Sirius was the Star of Isis, Isis being the companion and rescuer of the god Osiris. In a very deep way, Osiris was Egypt.

Cracking the Code to Discover Ancient Tarot Symbolism and Forgotten Universal Knowledge

The Secret Strategic Plans of Darius the Great

The Secrets of the Kabbalists Garden

Alchemy and Generating Lifeforce —Global Temples Made in the Shape of Lingams: Shaivite Bull Cult Part II

From Green Man to Bull Son, The Universal Shaivite Bull Cult – Part I

Our Mission

At Ancient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exists countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained.

The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe.

We’re the only Pop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives.

By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings.