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Alicia McDermott

Alicia McDermott holds degrees in Anthropology, Psychology, and International Development Studies and has worked in various fields such as education, anthropology, and tourism. She is the Chief Editor of Ancient Origins Magazine. Traveling throughout Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador, Alicia has focused much of her research on Andean cultures – past and present.

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The Indonesian cave art hunting scene panorama. Source: Credit: Adam Brumm, Agus Oktaviana

11 December, 2019 - 18:00 Alicia McDermott

Indonesian Cave Art Demands Human Cultural Evolution Overhaul

A major discovery has been made in a limestone cave in Sulawesi, Indonesia - the earliest known hunting scene in the world has been identified on a hard to reach cliff face. At least 43,900 years ago...

Michael Harrower and Cinzia Perlingieri mapping architecture at the Aksumite town of Beta Samati. (Credit: Nicole Harrower) A Christian stone pendant and a gold and carnelian intaglio ring found in the basilica. (Credit: I. Dumitru) Source: Antiquity Publications Ltd.

10 December, 2019 - 20:21 Alicia McDermott

Lost Aksumite Town Reveals Secrets of Enigmatic Kingdom

Despite their prominent place in the ancient world, much of the story of the Aksumite civilization is still a mystery to archaeologists today. This partly explains why the discovery of the town of...

Native American parents crafted mini weapons to teach their children vital life skills. Source: mmilliman /Adobe Stock

10 December, 2019 - 17:17 Alicia McDermott

Mini Weapons Taught Children Survival Skills in Oregon

Researchers believe that some weapons found at the Par-Tee site in Oregon, USA were purposely made for little hands to train children and youth life skills. These weapons for children were carefully...

An artistic representation of the Yamanasaurus lojaensis. (Jorge González) Some of the fossils of the titanosaur that were found in Loja province, Ecuador. (Federico Kukso/Twitter)

7 December, 2019 - 14:18 Alicia McDermott

A Titanosaur in Ecuador? New Dinosaur Discovered!

The fossils of a previously unknown titanosaur have been found in Ecuador. The medium to small-sized dinosaur lived 85 million years ago, during the Upper Cretaceous period. Its remains were...

art of the megalithic temple excavation site at Huaca el Toro in Peru. Source: EFE

20 November, 2019 - 17:59 Alicia McDermott

Water Cult’s Megalithic Temple in Peru was Re-Purposed for Death

A megalithic temple found near the springs of the Zaña Valley river in Peru is an interesting find for several reasons. First, it’s the only known megalithic architecture in the Lambayeque region...

5 November, 2019 - 16:29 Alicia McDermott

Experts Map Cave Full of Witches’ Marks Used to Counter Evil

Originally written off as graffiti, experts have now declared that the hundreds of markings of squares, letters, mazes , and lines in an English cave system are actually witches’ marks – apotropaic...

The wrapped cat mummy and the 3D reconstruction of what is hidden inside. Source: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes

4 November, 2019 - 00:04 Alicia McDermott

You Don’t Always Find What You’d Expect in a Cat Mummy

Gone are the days when a mummy had to be unwrapped to discover what’s inside. Improvements in medical technology and the application of that technology to archaeological research has helped...

Researchers claim to have found the ancestral homeland of all living humans today. Source: ginettigino /Adobe Stock

28 October, 2019 - 16:00 Alicia McDermott

Researchers Pin-Point ‘Ancestral Homeland’ of All Modern Humans

Most people accept that anatomically modern humans first arose in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago, but the location where that monumental evolutionary event took place on the continent has been less...

Deriv; Stone statue of Gilgamesh (CC BY 2.0), used here as a representation of an ancient Mesopotamian man. Background: Solar event. (CC0) Information provided by ancient Assyrian astrologers can help modern scientists predict future solar storms.

17 October, 2019 - 22:58 Alicia McDermott

Ancient Assyrian Astrologers Teach Us About Solar Storms

What exactly goes on high above our heads? Why do the stars and celestial spheres seem to dance around the sky? What is the sun up to when it seems to “randomly” disappear in the day, or when it...

Drones are becoming useful new tools for archaeologists. Source: Monopoly919 / Adobe Stock

26 September, 2019 - 01:49 Alicia McDermott

From Turning Stones to Launching Drones: Archaeological Surveys Take Flight

Drones are becoming ever more present tools for archaeologists looking to add to their survey and excavation toolkits. They’ve been used to get some great aerial views of archaeological sites and...

The Amazon’s new record-breaking tree. Source: Tobias Jackson

20 September, 2019 - 14:01 Alicia McDermott

A 400-Year-Old ‘Carbon Colossus’ Heralds Hope for Amazonia

At a staggering 88 meters tall, a 400-year-old tree found in the Brazilian Amazon has been declared the region’s largest tree. Researchers are now trying to figure out how it grew to such heights...

Facial reconstruction of Australopithecus anamensis by John Gurche made possible through generous contribution by Susan and George Klein. Photograph by Matt Crow, courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

28 August, 2019 - 18:48 Alicia McDermott

Australopithecus anamensis Skull Discovery: A ‘Game Changer’ in Human Evolution

Before the famed Australopithecus afarensis Lucy roamed the land of Ethiopia some 3.18 million years ago, one of her progenitors, an Australopithecus anamensis, met its demise in what is now the...

Indigenous father and son of the Amazon. Credit: gustavofrazao / Adobe Stock

25 August, 2019 - 13:59 Alicia McDermott

400+ Indigenous Tribes Under Threat as Amazon Burns

The fires blazing across the Amazon rainforest in Brazil are devastating. They’re making international headlines and sparking sadness and outrage across the globe as people worry about how the planet...

The Egtved girl. Source: Robert Fortuna/National Museum of Denmark

23 August, 2019 - 01:56 Alicia McDermott

Egtved Girl Origins Keep Getting More Complicated

The Egtved girl’s remains were found in an oak coffin in a peat bog at a Bronze Age archaeological site near Egtved, Denmark in 1921. Her remains have been dated to 1370 BC, but the story of where...

An aerial photograph of Dinas Dinlle Iron Age Hill Fort from the north (suffering from coastal erosion); Gwynedd, Cymru / Wales. Cromlechs & Ancient Sites. (CADW/Visit Wales/CC BY SA 3.0)

21 August, 2019 - 22:28 Alicia McDermott

Experts Scramble to Study Ancient Fort Before It’s Lost to the Sea

Archaeologists working on the 2,500-year-old Dinas Dinlle hill fort on the Gwynedd coastline in Wales are racing a climate change clock to uncover the site’s secrets before they are lost to the sea...

The newly uncovered wall carvings found in Vichama, Peru.

21 August, 2019 - 01:55 Alicia McDermott

3800-Year-Old Carvings Show Starving City’s Pleas To Water God Were Answered

3,800 years ago, the people living in what is now called Vichama, Peru carved snakes and human heads into their walls alongside depictions of emaciated people. They were starving and dying and hoped...