Time

A representation of what human teleportation could look like.

13 September, 2019 - 01:29 johnblack

One Step Closer to ‘Beam Me Up’? Teleportation is Possible…At Least at the Quantum Level

Have you ever seen Star Trek? If so, you must be familiar with characters being ‘beamed’ from one spacecraft to another, or to a planet. While Star Trek is fictional, there are some concepts...

The 10,000-year-old pebble which is believed to be the oldest lunar calendar in the world. Source: SAPIENZA, Università di Roma

23 July, 2019 - 18:11 ancient-origins

10,000-Year-Old Engraved Stone Found to be World’s Oldest Lunar Calendar

A new study, coordinated by Sapienza, claims to have discovered the oldest lunar calendar in the world in a pebble that was carved during the Upper Paleolithic period. The remarkable find has been...

15 June, 2019 - 11:29 Nathan Falde

Teleportation: Will Quantum Physics Make Star Trek Tech a Success?

Most of us have seen the science fiction series Star Trek and are familiar with their concept of teleportation, in which characters are ‘beamed’ off the ship to another spacecraft or to the surface...

Example of an ancient calendar. The ancient Egyptians created a calendar with 365 days in a year.

16 May, 2019 - 16:52 dhwty

Why Are There 365 Days in a Year? Organizing Dates with an Ancient Egyptian Calendar

The calendar is one of mankind’s most important inventions. Calendars allowed societies to organize time for religious, social, economic, and administrative purposes. The calendar, or rather, two...

28 March, 2019 - 20:12 joannagillan

The Aztec Calendar Wheel and the Philosophy of Time

The Aztec or Mexica calendar wheels have been a source of fascination for centuries. It was not just a way to keep time - it was a complete philosophy of time in which every day had a religious...

31 December, 2017 - 22:54 aprilholloway

Rebirth and Rejuvenation: How Have Ancient New Year’s Traditions Influenced Festivities Today?

January 1st, New Year’s Day, is often ushered in with fireworks and festivities beginning on December 31st. Although this practice is the norm in many places around the world, not every culture has...

‘A Dance to the Music of Time’ (1634-1635) by Nicolas Poussin.

30 December, 2017 - 18:42 aprilholloway

Humans Have Been Making New Year’s Resolutions for Over 4,000 Years

New Year’s resolutions are a popular practice. Countless people begin to consider them every year as December 31st rolls around. Although the big plans and ambitious goals can be difficult to follow...

Deriv; A drowned land of Kasskara - Hopi.

24 December, 2017 - 13:59 Kasskara

Kásskara: Sunken Land of the Hopi Ancestors

There used to be a fable, commonly imposed as fact on schoolchildren in the United States, that in Columbus' time nearly everyone believed the Earth was flat. Fortunately, this untruth has been...

9 November, 2017 - 22:58 ancient-origins

Archaeologists Uncover Rare 2,000-year-old Roman Sundial and it Tells Them More than Just the Time

A 2,000-year-old intact and inscribed sundial – one of only a handful known to have survived – has been recovered during the excavation of a roofed theatre in the Roman town of Interamna Lirenas,...

17 September, 2017 - 18:54 walter

Long Lost Golden Age - Just a Myth?

The myth and folklore of ancient cultures speak of a vast cycle of time with alternating dark and golden ages; Plato called it the Great Year. Most of us were taught that this cycle was just a myth...

Detail of Alexandre Cabanel’s ‘The Birth Of Venus.’

31 August, 2017 - 02:00 johnblack

Linking the Planets and Human Life: Venus Calendars Helped Track Pregnancy in Neolithic Greece

Back in 4000 BC women of the ancient Aegean civilization may have used a calendar tracking the movement of the planet Venus to follow their pregnancy milestones. This is an intriguing explanation for...

30 June, 2017 - 01:49 John Tuttle

Boats, Bowling and Moldy Bread: Curious Achievements Ancient Egypt Shared With the World

Ancient Egypt is one on the oldest civilizations in the world and it was also home to many of the ancient world’s greatest achievements. Without their creativity and innovative approach to the world...

1 June, 2017 - 19:03 Veronica Parkes

Epic Battle Equals Doom or Twilight for Norse Gods? Ragnarök: The Real Message in the Myth

In Norse mythology, Ragnarök encompasses a series of events that will come to pass. It foretells an epic battle which leads to the death of numerous gods, natural disasters, and the death of the...

17 February, 2017 - 19:00 Caleb Strom

Where Death Rings in the Hour: The Amazing Medieval Astronomical Clock of Prague

The technical sophistication of the Middle Ages tends to be underestimated. Near the end of the High Middle Ages, mechanical technology such as clocks and water mills, for example, were becoming...

10 January, 2017 - 00:44 Kerry Sullivan

Sumerians Looked to the Heavens as They Invented the System of Time… And We Still Use it Today

One might find it curious that we divide the hours into 60 minutes and the days into 24 hours – why not a multiple of 10 or 12? Put quite simply, the answer is because the inventors of time did not...

24 December, 2016 - 02:23 victor labate

The Roman Origins of Our Modern Calendar - Influenced by Popes, Generals, Emperors and Gods

The most widely used calendar around the world today is called the Gregorian calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in the 16th century CE and was a modification of an ancient Roman...

Pages

Myths & Legends

The legendary Furies of ancient Greek mythology

The Furies of Greek mythology are monstrous women who lived in the underworld and avenged murders, particularly matricides. In Greek they are called Erinyes, a name thought to have come from the...

The Powerful Symbol of the Swastika and its 12,000 Year History

The Greek God Apollo and His Mystical Powers

Beware the Kitsune, The Shapeshifting Fox of Japanese Folklore

The Abandoned Heroine Archetype in Greek and Roman Myth

When Kalki the Destroyer Descends, the Apocalypse Begins

Human Origins

Photo of Zecharia Sitchin (left)(CC0)Akkadian cylinder seal dating to circa 2300 BC depicting the deities Inanna, Utu, and Enki, three members of the Anunnaki.(right)

Zecharia Sitchin and the Mistranslation of Sumerian Texts

In a previous 2-part article (1), the authors wrote about the faulty associations of the Sumerian deities known as the Anunnaki as they are portrayed in the books, television series, and other media, which promotes Ancient Astronaut Theory (hereafter “A.A.T.”).

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

Did Autism Make the Denisovans Savants of the Prehistoric Age?

Facing the Facts: Just How Accurate Are Facial Reconstructions?

Celtic Myths on creation

The Golden Age of the Christian Picts: Evidence for Religious Production at Portmahomack

Ancient Technology

Ten amazing inventions from ancient times

Dating back thousands of years are numerous examples of ancient technology that leave us awe-struck at the knowledge and wisdom held by people of our past. They were the result of incredible advances...

Mini Weapons Taught Children Survival Skills in Oregon

The Legacy of Armenia: Trade, Metallurgy, and Forging of Precious Metals of the Ancient World

Could Plastic Bottles Made by Ancient Americans be the Cause of their Health Decline?

Romans Mastered Nanotechnology and Used it for Eye Catching Decoration

Five da Vinci inventions that could have revolutionized the history of technology

Ancient Places

Ancient town ruins. Underwater background. Was Atlantis actually in India?

Atlantis in India: Did Plato’s Lost City Exist in the East?

Available written evidence indicates that a site known as ‘The Lost City of Atlantis’ corresponds to an ancient site in India that has been hidden for millennia. According to this investigation, there has been a major erratum among cartographers resulting in the ancient history of India being hidden.

Decoding Göbekli Tepe: Secret Society AND Space Observatory?

Hidden For A Thousand Years – China's “Underground Great Wall”

The White Slaves of Barbary

The Greek God Apollo and His Mystical Powers

Chinampas, The Floating Gardens of Mexico

Opinion

Nephilim - Giants - Sons of God And Daughters Of Man

The Nephilim: Giant Offspring of the Sons of God and the Daughters of Man?

Who were the nephilim ? The word nephilim appears twice in the Old Testament of the Bible. They are first mentioned in chapter 6 of the book of Genesis and then again in Number 13:33. But their brief...

Mount Shasta: Spirits and Danger on a Sacred California Mountain

Mysterious Worlds: Travels to the Faerie and Shamanic Realms

Pharaoh Akhenaten: An Alternative View of the Heretic King

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

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

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.

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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.