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April Holloway

April Holloway is a Co-Owner, Editor and Writer of Ancient Origins. For privacy reasons, she has previously written on Ancient Origins under the pen name April Holloway, but is now choosing to use her real name, Joanna Gillan .

Joanna completed a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) degree in Australia and published research in the field of Educational Psychology. She has a rich and varied career, ranging from teaching children with autism in an early intervention program, owning and operating an online English teaching business, working as a research and project officer in the office of TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall and assistant in the office of Prince William and Prince Harry, as well as co-owning a website design and development company.

Joanna co-founded Ancient Origins with her husband Dr Ioannis Syrigos. Together they immersed themselves in their personal passion for ancient history, mythology and human origins.  She loves learning about and experiencing other cultures and has spent time living in Australia, UK, Greece, Ecuador and Ireland and travelling to hundreds of historic sites around the world.

Joanna has written over 1,000 articles for Ancient Origins, some of which have been mentioned in the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, The Guardian, Peru Weekly, International Business Times, Spiegel and The Daily Mail. She has contributed as a guest writer for other media organizations, including The Epoch Times and iSpectrum Magazine, and has been interviewed on historical subjects on ten radio shows, including the BBC. She has upcoming radio and TV appearances in Ireland on Newstalk and RTE’s Today Show.

History

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Posts

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

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

The Great Pyramid of Giza is undoubtedly one of the most well-known icons of the ancient world. But thousands of other pyramids exist, not just in Egypt, but across the entire globe, including Europe...
Mangareva - Binary System

Remote Islanders Invented Binary Number System Before Famed Mathematician

Mangareva is home to just 2,000 inhabitants. The island is a tiny 18 square kilometres (6.94 sq mi) and is located halfway between Easter Island and Tahiti. Yet on this small, remote island, the...
Malta’s hypogeum Hal saflieni. Source: damian Entwistle/CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED

The Incredible Sound Effects of Malta’s Hypogeum Hal Saflieni

The Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni in Malta is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is believed to be the oldest prehistoric underground temple in the world. The subterranean structure is shrouded in mystery...
In the Altai-Sayan Mountains in Siberia, the owner of the Chinese Palace has remained a mystery. Source: henvryfo/Adobe Stock

What Was an Ancient Chinese Palace Doing in the Enemy Territory of Siberia?

Located in the majestic Altai-Sayan Mountains in the south of Siberia, the city of Abakan has a long and rich history going back thousands of years. But in the 1940s, archaeologists found something...
Sacrifice and care on Chinese Tomb Sweeping Day. Source: tuayai / Adobe Stock

The Myths, Legends and Traditions of Chinese Tomb Sweeping Day

Every year, the Chinese celebrate the historic Qingming Festival. Fondly known as Ancestors Day or Tomb Sweeping Day, it is a day that commemorates the onset spring and the occasion when families...
Montage of article images. 	Source: Various

Ten of the Biggest and Best Geoglyphs from the Ancient World

The most well-known geoglyphs in the world are undoubtedly the Nazca Lines of coastal Peru. Yet, scattered across the globe are thousands of other geoglyphs that are equally as impressive. The earth...
The temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Source: mikefuchslocher / Adobe Stock

The Mysteries and Spectacular Architecture of Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is a fascinating temple complex in northwestern Cambodia, located in what was once the capital of the ancient Khmer Empire which presided over a vast kingdom in Southeast Asia. While...
The Green Children of Woolpit, created from Babes in the Wood illustration by Randolph Caldecott. Source: Project Gutenberg / Public Domain

The Green Children of Woolpit: Legendary Visitors from Another World

The 12th century tale of the Green Children of Woolpit, in Suffolk, is a bizarre medieval folk story which has been remembered for generations. It isn’t often we hear of children appearing at the...
The Kabwe Skull with bullet-like hole. prehistoric skulls.	Source: Jim Di Loreto and Don Hurlbert / Smithsonian Institution

The Enigma of Prehistoric Skulls with Bullet-Like Holes

Nearly one century ago, a Swiss miner was searching for metal ore deposits in the limestone caves of Kabwe, Zambia, when he found a prehistoric skull that dated back between 125,000 and 300,000 years...
One of the Frankenstein mummies found at Cladh Hallan in Scotland. Source: Mike Parker Pearson / University College London

Why Did Ancient Scots Prepare ‘Frankenstein’ Mummies?

In 2001, a team of archaeologists found a pair of skeletons at an archaeological site on the island of South Uist off the coast of Scotland. At first, it appeared to be a typical Bronze Age discovery...
Starchild

Humanoid Skull Like No Other: Mainstream Rejection of Starchild Skull

It was back in the 1930s when an American teenager discovered an abandoned mine tunnel in Mexico’s Copper Canyon region. Inside it she found a human skeleton and, clutching onto its arm, was the hand...
Birch bark letter no. 1144 from the 12th century excavation layer.	Source: Institute of Archaeology RAS

Birch Bark Letters Found in Russia are an Ancient Time Capsule

Researchers excavating an estate dating back to the 12th and 15th century, have discovered a complete birch bark letter in the historic city center of Veliky Novgorod in north-western Russia. The...
Does the fabled 1,000-ft White Pyramid of Xian in China really exist? Source: EvgeniyBobrov / Adobe Stock

In Search of the Fabled 1,000-ft White Pyramid of Xian in China

Scattered across an isolated, flat plain in Shaanxi Province, near the ancient capital of Xi’an, lie dozens of spectacular pyramid mounds that are little known outside of China. Mixed in with the...
In China the Longyou Caves are known as the ninth wonder of the ancient world. Source: Zhangzhugang / CC BY-SA 4.0

Ten Enduring Mysteries of China’s Longyou Caves

Located near the village of Shiyan Beicun in Zhejiang province, China, lie the Longyou Caves - an extensive, magnificent and rare ancient underground world considered in China to be “the ninth wonder...
The Zone of Silence in northern Mexico. Source: Cryptocône / CC BY-SA 3.0

The Zone of Silence – The Bizarre Bermuda Triangle of Northern Mexico

Within the Mapimí Biosphere Reserve, in a place known as the Trino Vertex, lies a patch of desert which has garnered a reputation for strange occurrences. Known as la Zona del SIlencio , or the Zone...
According to the ancient text, Judas used a kiss to identify Jesus due to his abilities as a shapeshifter. Source: The Morgan Library & Museum

The Ancient Text That Describes Jesus as a Shapeshifter

It was in March 2013 when reports flooded the headlines about a newly deciphered Egyptian text, dating back almost 1,200 years, which controversially described Jesus as having the ability to change...

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