Content written by Mark Miller (Page 35)

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Ancient relief carving depicting drug use

11 February, 2015 - 00:27 Mark Miller

Archaeological study explores drug-taking and altered states in prehistory

Neanderthals on speed 60,000 years ago; Paleolithic art inspired by psilocybin or Amanita muscaria mushroom trips; and alcohol-fueled religious worship all over the world down through the ages –...

James Balme found this stone on sale as a garden ornament in England

9 February, 2015 - 00:36 Mark Miller

Ancient stone with strange carvings, possibly Anglo-Saxon, turns up in garden shop

A stone with mysterious carvings, possibly dating from the Anglo-Saxon or Viking era, had been on sale as a garden ornament when television host and archaeologist James Balme bought it recently,...

The sun strikes the exact center of the figure at right at noon on the winter solstice.

7 February, 2015 - 21:59 Mark Miller

A thousand years ago, Native Americans aligned drawings with solstice sun

Hundreds of years ago, Native Americans in what is now West Texas drew more than a thousand glyphs in red pigment on rocks on a cliff. Every winter solstice at noon, the sun strikes the center of one...

4 February, 2015 - 22:11 Mark Miller

Garden and pavilions of the Taj Mahal found to align with rays of the sun

New research has revealed that the gardens of the Taj Mahal, and the structures within it, align with the rising and setting sun during the summer and winter solstices. While the reason for...

Skull of male with trepanation, who had a hereditary deformation of the skull

4 February, 2015 - 00:41 Mark Miller

New study reveals trepanation surgery in ancient Siberia

Russian scientists are examining ancient human skulls and testing bronze tools on a modern skull to see how doctors in Siberia more than 2,000 years ago performed brain surgery on three adults. It is...

Proto-cuneiform recording the allocation of beer, probably from southern Iraq, Late Prehistoric period, about 3100-3000 BC

1 February, 2015 - 00:42 Mark Miller

Archaeologist attempts to revive lost alcoholic beverages from ancient recipes and residues

An archaeologist working with a brewery is recreating ancient beers from around the world, including Turkey, Egypt, Italy, Denmark, Honduras and China. Alcohol archaeologist Patrick McGovern thinks...

Lithograph of Pervuian elongated skulls by J. Basire, 1842, and a Peruvian landscape. (Public Domain/Deriv)

31 January, 2015 - 22:13 Mark Miller

Peruvian child mummy with elongated skull undergoes analysis

Scientists know little about a pre-Columbian child mummy of Peru on display in Ohio, but that may soon change as the body of the toddler has just undergone CT scans at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital...

An archaeologist at work in a Roman-era necropolis in Poland

31 January, 2015 - 00:39 Mark Miller

Scientists find huge Roman-era burial site in Poland included two 'Princely Graves'

Archaeologists are working in a huge necropolis in Poland where remains of people who lived from about 100 to 400 A.D. are buried. They have found two gigantic tombs that they call “princely graves...

27 January, 2015 - 22:31 Mark Miller

Red-painted numbers helped Romans find their seats in the Colosseum

Archaeologists have discovered that the carved seat numbers in the Roman Colosseum had been painted red to make the seats easier to see, assuring orderly, trouble-free seating of the crowd--who then...

Relief, circa 728 B.C., depicting an Assyrian warrior holding a large shield to protect two archers taking aim, from the Central Palace in Nimrud and now in the British Museum, London.

27 January, 2015 - 12:44 Mark Miller

Weapons and tactics change, but PTSD goes back millennia

The weapons, tactics and strategies of warfare have changed enormously through the centuries, but the hellish aspects of war and the deep psychological scars it leaves on warriors were apparently...

Old Map of the Philippines in year 1628 showing the Reed Bank (an area just East of the Spratly islands) as part of the Philippines.

25 January, 2015 - 22:22 Mark Miller

Ancient Maps spark debate between China and Philippines over South China Sea islands

The Chinese government claims ninety percent of the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands, an archipelago of 750 islands and reefs nearer the Philippines. However, a series of ancient maps...

Paintings in a Yuan Dynasty tomb had beautifully painted scenes from stories of Filial Piety.

24 January, 2015 - 00:59 Mark Miller

Spectacular paintings found in 700-year-old Chinese tomb

An elaborate, beautifully painted tomb was found when rains washed away soil and revealed a capstone on a hillside in China. The tomb dates to the Yuan dynasty, about 700 years ago. Scholars believe...

Colorful Rainbow over an ocean rock in Iceland.

23 January, 2015 - 00:37 Mark Miller

Phantom islands on ancient maps dismissed as mirages, myths, or mistakes

When explorers began making maps as they explored the world a couple of millennia ago they included land masses that later could not be found. As recently as 2012 an expedition went to one of these...

22 January, 2015 - 00:27 Mark Miller

Ancient artifacts and human remains surface as glaciers melt

In summer 2014 in just one Norwegian county a team of archaeologists found 400 Stone Age artifacts uncovered by glacial melt. “Mittens, shoes, weapons, walking sticks – lost in the high mountains of...

An archaeologist works in the Bronze Age Burnt City of southeastern Iran

19 January, 2015 - 23:59 Mark Miller

Scholars rethink the beginnings of civilizations following discoveries in Burnt City of Iran

Archaeologists digging in the Burnt City of southeastern Iran have excavated a piece of leather adorned with drawings from the Bronze Age. The Burnt City, known as Shahr-e Sukhteh in Persian, is a 5,...

Father Louis Hennepin's woodcut of the Griffon

19 January, 2015 - 00:33 Mark Miller

Ill-fated ship of ill-fated explorer reportedly found in Lake Michigan

In the 17 th century, Europeans came to what they called the New World and started divvying it up and parceling it out under the rubric of ‘exploration’. One particularly grasping Frenchman was...

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Myths & Legends

The Thirteen Legendary Treasures of Britain

The ancient Greek writer Hesiod once wrote that there were five ages of mankind – the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, the Heroic Age, and the Iron Age. Similarly, in Hinduism, there are...

The Dogon’s Extraordinary Knowledge of the Cosmos and the Cult of Nommo

Legendary Black Knights: Mysterious Medieval Entities of Neutrality

Was Dracula Story inspired by Abhartach, the Bloodsucking Chieftain of Ireland?

The Dark Reputation of the Dunmore Cave of Ireland

The Real Story of Medusa: Protective Powers from a Snake-Haired Gorgon

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.”).

Footprints, Fairies and even a Foreskin: 10 Bizarre Relics from History

Dark Skin and Blue Eyes: European Hunter-Gatherers Did Not Fit with Common Representations

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

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

The human skull that challenges the Out of Africa theory

Ancient Technology

Detail of a mural from an Eastern Han tomb with artificial pigment

Han Purple: A 2,800-year-old artificial pigment that quantum physicists are trying to understand

Han purple is an artificial pigment created by the Chinese over 2,500 years ago, which was used in wall paintings and to decorate the famous terracotta warriors, as well as ceramics, metal ware, and...

The Man Who Stopped a Desert Using Ancient Farming

The Evidence is Cut in Stone: A Compelling Argument for Lost High Technology in Ancient Egypt

Catapult: The Long-Reaching History of a Prominent Medieval Siege Engine

150,000-Year-Old Pipes Baffle Scientists in China: Out of Place in Time?

Ten amazing inventions from ancient times

Ancient Places

Pavlopetri: 5,000-Year-Old Town Discovered Underwater in Greece

Nothing sparks the imagination of history enthusiasts quite like underwater discoveries, ranging from sunken cities to the millions of shipwrecks still unexplored on the seabed. The bottom of the...

The tragedy of Queen Ankhesenamun, sister and wife of Tutankhamun

The Great Boat of Khufu: The ‘Black Box’ to the Construction of the Pyramids

The 9,000-year-old underground megalithic settlement of Atlit Yam

5 Pyramids of the Ancient World that You May Not Have Heard About

36,400 BC: The Historical time of the Zep Tepi Theory

Opinion

Unearthing Ancient Magic in The Runes –Messages with Hidden Symbols and Powerful Numbers

The etymology of the word “rune” means: “to carve, or to cut.” In Low German the word is “raunen.” As the runes were cut and carved into wood, metal or stone, the word “rune” was analogous to the rune letters themselves.

Petroglyphic Features of Portable Rock Art

The Northern Mysteries Current: Futhark and Mystery Schools of the Viking Age

Was There Ever a Trojan War?

Floki and the Viking Discovery of Iceland

Messiah on Temple Mount: Are We Nearing the End of Time?

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.