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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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A hooded scribe working on an ancient manuscript.  Source: UniverseInside / Adobe Stock

Top 10 Mysterious Ancient Manuscripts and Inscriptions Yet to be Deciphered

While exploring the enigmatic depths of ancient history, scholars often stumble upon cryptic relics, among which lie manuscripts that continue to defy the most skilled scholars and linguists. The...
The Book of Deer contains notes in the margin which are the first written examples of Scottish Gaelic and hinted at the location of the monastery where they were written. Source: The Book of Deer Project

Lost Monastery Tied to Oldest Scottish Text “Book of Deer” Unearthed

A monastery, where the earliest surviving Scots Gaelic text was once noted within the margins of a significant Scottish manuscript called the Book of Deer , disappeared from the pages of history...
Mayan codex with hieroglyphic alphabet script writing system, Mexico City, Mexico. Source: SL-Photography / Adobe Stock.

9 Mysterious Undeciphered Codes and Inscriptions in History

From Neolithic tablets containing the oldest known system of writing, to a series of letters scrawled on the back of a dead man’s book, some of the most legendary undeciphered codes and texts remain...
Pen with blood ink. Source: VJP / Adobe Stock

Blood Quran: Ancient Holy Text Written in the Blood of Saddam Hussein

The Qur’an is the Islamic Holy text written approximately 1400 years ago, originally memorized and recited orally, and believed to contain the words of archangel Gabriel revealed to the Prophet...
Selection of Greek Magical Papyri which are kept at the British Library.	Source: British Library

Curious and Unusual Spells from the Greek Magical Papyri

The Greek magical papyri, as it is commonly known, is an extensive collection of ancient Greco-Roman Egypt magical spells, rituals, remedies, hymns, and myth. Scholars have placed its origin between...
Detail of 16th-century prayer roll under analysis. Source: Gail Turner / Journal of the British Archaeological Association

16th-Century Prayer Roll Exposes Medieval Religious Cult

A first-time study of a privately owned 16th-century prayer roll from England is a valuable addition to knowledge on medieval England’s Christian ‘cult of the Cross’ in which the Holy Cross was...
Hanging out in the margin of an illuminated manuscript

Beautiful, Decorative, and Sometimes Crude: Illuminated Manuscripts and Marginalia

Illuminated manuscripts are manuscripts that are covered with painted ornaments presented under several forms. These documents are perhaps most commonly associated with the European Middle Ages...
Sections of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets scroll discovered in the Judean Desert expedition prior to their conservation. Source: Shai Halevi / Israel Antiquities Authority

Dead Sea Scroll Fragments Discovered In Judean Desert Cave

Dozens of fragments of a 2,000-year-old biblical “Dead Sea scroll” have been found in a cave in the Judean desert, Israel. It is the first time such text has been found in 60 years, since the...
Exploded model of the cosmos gearing of the rebuilt Antikythera Mechanism.

The Rebuilt Antikythera Solves Secrets Of The World’s First Computer

The famous ancient Greek astronomical calculator known as the “Antikythera Mechanism” is a mechanical device created to predict astronomical events. Now, UCL scientists have recreated the tool which...
Study Unveils Just How Scribes Compiled the Famous Domesday Book

Study Unveils Just How Scribes Compiled the Famous Domesday Book

New research has cast light on how and why the iconic Domesday Book was created. The study shows that the work of the medieval scribes was so efficient and sophisticated that they accomplished what a...
Battle at Lanka, Ramayana, by Sahib Din. Source: Public Domain

Ramayana: The Grand Epic of Ancient India

Ramayana is an integral part of life for millions of Hindus across the globe. It is one of the two most popular epics written in Sanskrit from ancient India, the other one being Mahabharata...
Detail of illuminated art in the Sherborne Missal. Source: Public Domain

Sherborne Missal: 44-Pound Medieval Masterpiece Goes Digital

The British Library has digitized one of the most remarkable medieval books ever made in England. The Sherborne Missal contains many paintings on a vast array of subjects. Many of the images are...
Egyptian Hieroglyphs: The Language of the Gods

Egyptian Hieroglyphs: The Language of the Gods

Egyptian hieroglyphs are among the oldest writing systems in the world, dating back some 5,200 years. Known in ancient Egyptian as the “language of the gods” and said to have been created by the god...
Kama Sutra couple on bed

The Kama Sutra: Setting the Record Straight

Out of all the necessities in the world, three come to the forefront: food, water, and reproduction. While the first two are necessary for the survival of the individual among the many, the latter is...
The Rosetta Stone: One of Archaeology’s Greatest Treasures

The Rosetta Stone: One of Archaeology’s Greatest Treasures

The Rosetta Stone is one of the most significant discoveries in the history of archaeology. This artifact was created during the Ptolemaic Period, and was rediscovered at the end of the 18th century...
Ogham sticks

The Celtic Ogham: An Ancient Tree Alphabet that May Disappear Before Showing its Roots

In secluded fields, on the walls of churches, and beneath construction sites, stones have been found with intricate markings that rise from the lower left up to the center and then down to the lower...
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden by Wenzel Peter, Vatican Museum

What Happened in Eden? Alternative Translation Tells a Very Different Story

All modern concepts of the Garden of Eden stem from a few verses in the biblical Book of Genesis, none of which is entirely free from ambiguity. The ancient Hebraic documents, from which the early...
Red runes carved from wood on the ground. There are 24 runes in the Elder Futhark.

Futhark: Mysterious Ancient Runic Alphabet of Northern Europe

Runes are the characters of the earliest written alphabet used by the Germanic peoples of Europe called Futhark. The runic alphabet was used within Germanic languages but primarily in Nordic...
The Vedas: Ancient Mystical Texts Offer Charms, Incantations, Mythological Accounts and Formulas for Enlightenment

The Hindu Vedas: Charms, Myths, and Formulas for Enlightenment

The Vedas are the sacred scriptures of Hinduism and are regarded as the oldest religious texts in the world. Thought to have been composed at least 3,500 years ago, the Vedas are a collection of...
Closeup of glyphs on a Mayan calendar. Credit: zimmytws / Adobe Stock

Artificial Intelligence Inching Closer to Deciphering Long Lost Languages

With new technology available to us, we’re inching closer to the end of the days when deciphering ancient languages is a painstaking task filled with frustration and confusion. Nifty machines...
The head of a Buddha statue. Credit: Richard / Adobe Stock. Inset: Fragments of a birch bark manuscript from ancient Gandhara. Credit: British Library (public domain)

Scholars Get Closer to Words of Buddha as They Unravel Oldest Buddhist Scrolls in the World

The oldest Buddhist scrolls ever discovered were made on birch bark and spent two millennia folded in clay pots, in a cave, situated along the northern border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and now...
Angel and a page from the book of Raziel

Practical Magic: The Secret Teachings of the Book of Raziel the Angel

Within the varied teachings of the Jewish mystical tradition known as Kabbalah there is a minor tradition known as Practical Kabbalah (Kabbalah Ma’asit). This branch concerns itself with the use of...
Assyrian Cuneiform

Deciphering Cuneiform to Get a Handle on Life in Ancient Mesopotamia

Cuneiform is a system of writing that was invented by the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia. Believed to have been created sometime during the 4th millennium BC (between 3500 and 3000 BC), this script...
Digitized image of the Komkom Vase.

Hieroglyphic Vase Reveals Amazing Insights into Maya and Eventual Collapse of Civilization

The discovery of an ancient Maya vase painted with hieroglyphs is the longest Pre-Columbian text ever found in Belize and is offering new information about this once powerful civilization including...

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