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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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An artist’s imaginary depiction of a pharaoh burning herbs in a ritual. Source: Fair use

Dealing in the Past: How Did Ancient Egyptians Get Nicotine and Cocaine?

The discovery of traces of nicotine and cocaine within 3,000-year-old human remains, which came to be known as Egypt’s cocaine mummies, raised curious questions amongst historians. Challenging...
Cursus Publicus, ancient Roman courier and transportation logistics masterpiece, fuelled the Roman Empire's success. Source: Bill Perry/Adobe Stock

Cursus Publicus: The Ingenious Postal System of the Roman Empire

No great empire is truly functional without a proper system of communication and transport. Logistics are what keeps a vast realm ticking like a good mechanism, and what brings it together into one...
The 1927 passport of Isabel Ingram (Ken Mayer / Flickr)

Passports Through Time: From ‘Safe-Conduct Letters’ to Digital Documents

Everyone loves to travel abroad to discover new countries, new cultures and new languages. Traveling is always fun and never fails to broaden your horizons. These days it’s virtually impossible to go...
The ancient Chinese compass, one of the great inventions in history. Source: hong/Adobe Stock

How the Chinese Compass Revolutionized Navigation

We all know that the compass is an invaluable tool for navigation and orientation. Without it, we’d pretty much be “lost at sea”. That’s why it ranks as one of the most important inventions of...
The Silk Road offered opportunities to explore, not only new lands, but new sexual adventures.	Source: Demian / Adobe Stock

Sexual Exploits and Exploitation along the Silk Road

The Silk Road created a convergence of cultures like no other. The route is deemed influential by historians because of the contributions it made to trade and the economy, as well as society in...
Vintage postcard showing European tourism destinations. Source: Freesurf/Adobe Stock

Tourism Through the Ages: The Human Desire to Explore

Although taking a summer vacation is now a standard aspect of modern-day civilization for many, it wasn’t always that way. Tourism was far less common in ancient times than it is today, but that...
English Tourists in Campagna, one of many ancient tourist spots, by Carl Spitzweg. Source: Public domain

10 Tourist Spots That Ancient People Visited

Believe it or not, tourism has been around since the time of the Egyptians. Throughout history, ancient people used to travel not only for political and religious purposes, but also for leisure and...
The Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan and the Pyramids in the background, Cairo, Egypt. Source: AlexAnton / Adobe Stock

10 Must See Ancient Cities to Add to Your Bucket List

Everyone ought to have a bucket list and for passionate history buffs, that list invariably includes visiting ancient cities. While reading about them in history books, or in news reports about...
Is it possible the ancient Greeks knew of the New World thousands of years ago? Courtesy Christos A. Djonis

The Legendary Hyperborea and the Ancient Greeks: Who Really Discovered America?

In his story of Atlantis, written at around 360 BC, Plato mentioned a grand island or continent across the Atlantic, one larger than Libya and Asia combined. This continent was so enormous, he said...
Left; The Statue of Idrimi found at Tell. Right; Map of Tell Atchana with excavation squares indicated (data courtesy of Alalakh Excavations Archive.) 	Source: Left; British Museum, CC BY-SA 2.0 FR Right; PLOS ONE

Was The First International Age For A Privileged Few?

The Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean, which included such civilizations as Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, has been viewed as the “first international age,” and it has been assumed there...
Mayflower II, a replica of the famous Mayflower ship

Trailing the Mayflower - The Iconic Ship of a Pilgrim Voyage to the New World

One of the most famous voyages from England to Virginia was on the Mayflower. This ship became the symbol of the search for a new life and pilgrimage to the New World in the 17th century. 2020 marks...
10 Must-Visit Sites in Cappadocia

10 Must-Visit Sites in Cappadocia

The Cappadocia region in central Turkey has one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world. The deep valleys and soaring rock formations are dotted with numerous archaeological wonders. There...
A Wa'a Kaulua (double canoe) of Hawaiian Nobility of the 18th Century. Polynesia was inhabited by skilled seafarers.

Where Did the Polynesians Really Come From?

Oceania was the last region to be settled by humans and the last part of Oceania to be settled by humans was Polynesia. Polynesians are famous for their voyages to remote islands in distant parts of...
There are many hidden travel destinations in India. Source: Roop Dey / Adobe Stock.

Odd and Inexplicable Places in India Even Indians Don’t Know About!

A land of mysteries, a civilization which has endured several mutations, India is indeed a myriad of many contradictions and paradoxes. As the famous BBC correspondent Mark Tully would say, ‘there...
Reconstruction of Otzi the Iceman by Alfons & Adrie Kennis. (Thilo Parg/CC BY SA 3.0) View looking down westwards to the Ötzi site. (J.H. Dickson et al)

Moss Reveals New Route For Otzi's Death Walk

His 5,300-year-old mummy contained traces of 75 plant species and reveal that Ötzi (Otzi) the Iceman climbed through the Schnalstal valley in Italy. The naturally mummified, 5,300-year-old corpse is...
Peru, old Incan road in the canyon Cotahuasi.

Inca Empire Constructed Over 40,000 Kms of Roads and Superhighways in 100 Years

The Inca Empire was a superpower that was centered on the western coast of South America. This prevailing civilization flourished between the 15th and 16th centuries, and at its height of power it...
A representation of what human teleportation could look like.

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...
Viking explorers  Source: Vlastimil Šesták / Adobe Stock

Pre-Columbian Explorers in the Americas: The Hard Evidence

These days, few people still believe Christopher Columbus was the first explorer to travel to the “New World.” But there is still a debate over whether adventurers and explorers from Europe, Asia,...
Warp speed travel

Anti-Gravity Research May Pave the Way for Warp Speed Travel

Researchers at CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research) are looking for experimental confirmation to establish the existence of antigravity . The secrets of antigravity may be unlocked,...
adult man (ID 2072) buried at Sigtuna

First Swedish City was Metropolis of Viking-Era Immigrants

Researchers in Sweden have made an important discovery about one of the first cities in Sweden. They have conducted tests on a number of skeletons in Sigtuna and have found that many were Viking era...
The Desert Caravan by Edmund Berninger

Did Jesus of Nazareth Travel to the Far East?

It is a mistake to think there wasn’t international travel during Jesus’ time. As this map of ancient merchant routes shows, the known world was linked by land and sea. Perhaps with some helpful...
Paintings in the Kapova cave (Southern Urals).

A Double-humped Camel Provides Clues to Long-distance Paleolithic Travel

Researchers have discovered an unexpected painting after graffiti was removed at a cave in the Southern Urals – a double-humped camel. Now they are explaining what it means about Upper Paleolithic...
Detail of a relief of Herodotus by Jean-Guillaume Moitte, 1806. Cour Carrée in the Louvre Palace, Paris, France.

Picking Apart the Words of Herodotus: Was He a Father of Histories or Lies?

“I owe it to tell what is being told, but I by no means owe it to believe it”. Herodotus, [Book 7.153-2] Herodotus was an ancient Greek writer who lived during the 5th century BC. He was born in what...
A Chontal Maya sea craft.

Forgotten Voyagers: The Ancient Mexican Merchants Who Took to the Seas

“They were all young, well built and not black but fairer than the other natives I have seen in the Indies. They were handsome with fine limbs and bodies, and long straight hair cut in the Spanish...

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