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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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southeast Asia

Caves and rock shelters dot the mountains in the northwestern highlands of Thailand. Over 40 in Mae Hong Son province contain wooden coffins on stilts, dating back 1,000 - 2,300 years. Source: © Selina Carlhoff/ Max Planck Society

DNA Elucidates Thailand's Iron Age ‘Log Coffin Culture’

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology A mortuary practice known as ‘Log Coffin culture’ characterizes the Iron Age of highland Pang Mapha in northwestern Thailand. Between 2,300 and 1,...
Chicken domestication seems obvious today. For the longest time we have believed chickens were a domesticated food source since the dawn of civilization, but recent archaeological scientists have proven otherwise in a big way!		Source: Robert May/ Antiquity Publications Ltd

Before Chicken Domestication, The 'Exotic' Birds Were Revered, Not Eaten

Remarkable and extensive new research has shed light on one of the true mysteries of animal domestication. This breakthrough research has revealed important new information about chicken...
Evidence of Denisovans in Southeast Asia is growing one tooth at a time based on the recent find in Laos. The molar attributed to a young female individual of the extinct human species called the Denisovans was found in cave Tam Ngu Hao 2 in northeastern Laos.	Source: Fabrice Demeter / Handout via Reuters

Denisovan Girl’s Tooth Is First Physical Evidence of Denisovans in Southeast Asia!

A team of archaeologists and anthropologists recovered an exceptionally rare molar tooth fossil from a cave in northern Laos. While the fossil bears some resemblance to the teeth of modern humans, a...
Kris as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity ( CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Indonesian Keris Dagger Forged From Metal, Imbued With Spirit

In 2005, the Southeast Asian dagger, keris , was designated as a Masterpiece of Humanity's Oral and Intangible Heritage by UNESCO. The keris is an asymmetrical dagger with a unique blade design made...
A metal spearhead discovered at Ban Chiang is just one of many metal artifacts that have helped turn traditional theories about Thai metal production on their head.          Source: The Ban Chiang Project/ Penn Museum

Study Contradicts Top-Down Theories on Ancient Thai Metal Production

Archaeometallurgy, the study of metals and their past production and usage by humans, is a fascinating discipline that is a fixture of both archaeological and historical sciences. A groundbreaking...
Artist’s reconstruction of a savannah in Middle Pleistocene Southeast Asia. In the foreground Homo erectus, stegodon, hyenas, and Asian rhinos are depicted. Water buffalo can be seen at the edge of a riparian forest in the background. Source: Peter Schouten / Nature

Nature Killed Off Megafauna, And It Could Happen Again

The giant beasts and ancient megafauna that roamed Southeast Asia 100,000 years ago died because of climate change. A team of scientists from Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, has published...
A new study has found links between the end of the Green Sahara, the era when the Sahara Desert was lush and green, and the Southeast Asian megadrought that lasted a millennium. Source: Galyna Andrushko / Adobe Stock

Sahara Climate Change Linked to 1000-Year Southeast Asian Megadrought

Climate researchers exploring the molecular-structure of stalagmites discovered in Laos caves have married their observations with models of the Sahara drying up 4,000 years ago to show the...
Adaptation to harsh climates and isolated lands helped Late Pleistocene humans outlive other hominins.        Source: Gorodenkoff

Last Hominin Standing: Extreme Adaptation of Late Pleistocene Humans

How is our species unique compared to other hominins? What did Late Pleistocene humans have that their neighbors lacked? They obviously interacted, but Homo sapiens survived when others could not. A...
Bali gold ornaments found at Pangkung Paruk.         Source:  A. Calo / Antiquity Publications Ltd

Bali Gold Hoard Reveals Untold Links With Roman Empire

Archaeologists excavating in Bali have presented the largest collection of Roman gold-glass beads ever discovered in early Southeast Asia, which proves the existence of an ancient trade route where...
Borobudur Temple is surrounded by mountains nearby

One of the Greatest Monuments in the World but Who Built it? The Strange Origins of Borobudur and the Lost World of Cham

Borobudur is one of the great monuments of Southeast Asia. It is a colossal Buddhist stupa that rises out of the rice paddies and palm trees with the nearby volcano Gunung Merapi in the distance...
Hollow bone tube made from the long bone of a bear cuscus, may have been used as an ‘air-brush’ to create human hand stencils on rock surfaces.

Hints of Ancient Symbolic Culture are Revealed in Indonesian Ice Age Art and Jewelry

Adam Brumm & Michelle Langley / The Conversation A cave dig in Indonesia has unearthed a unique collection of prehistoric ornaments and artworks that date back in some instances to at least 30,...
From the same 1429 Persian manuscript. Sañjīvaka/Schanzabeh.

What Pearls of Wisdom are Held in the Animal Tales of the Panchatantra?

The Panchatantra (which means the ‘Five Principles’ in Sanskrit) is a collection of interwoven short stories from India. The tales in the Panchatantra are told in both prose and poetry, and consist...
Impossible Quest to Have the Perfect Man? The 5 Imperfect Brothers of the Mahabharata

Impossible Quest to Have the Perfect Man? The 5 Imperfect Brothers of the Mahabharata

The two major Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, still appear widely in popular folk drama, tales and art all over Southeast Asia with slight adaptations in all the myriad cultures of the...
Hanuman kneeling with tail encircling Rama and Sita in bed

The Sky, the Sun & the King: Mischievous and Divine Monkeys in Asian Myth

For the past few thousand years, the Indian Epic Ramayana has been among the most important literary and oral texts of South and Southeast Asia. Every autumn, Lord Rama's victory over the demon king...
Ancient Deep Skull Still Holds Big Surprises 60 Years After it was Unearthed

Ancient Deep Skull Still Holds Big Surprises 60 Years After it was Unearthed

Thousands of years ago, the ancestors of modern humans left Africa to embark on a journey that would eventually take them across the globe. Yet we still know precious little about the momentous...
The Laguna Copperplate Inscription.

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: An Ancient Text That Changed the Perception of the History of the Philippines

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription is the name of an inscription written on an artifact that has great significance for the understanding of the history of the Philippines during the 10th century AD...