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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.

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The set of dentures discovered in Italy.

Archaeologists Find Medieval Dentures Made from the Teeth of Dead People

A team of scientists from the University of Pisa in Italy made an unusual discovery in an ancient family tomb in Lucca – a set of dentures that was constructed using teeth from several deceased...
Oldest Mummies in the World Are Turning into Black Slime

Oldest Mummies in the World Are Turning into Black Slime

The Chinchorro mummies of Chile, which have been preserved for at least 7,000 years, are turning into black slime due to rising humidity levels causing bacterial growth on the skin. More than one...
Two Rare Swords found in 6th-century Underground Tunnel Tomb in Japan

Two Rare Swords found in 6th-century Underground Tunnel Tomb in Japan

Two rare and unique swords have been found in a 1,500-year-old underground tunnel tomb in southern Kyushu, Japan. One of them is the longest sword ever found in an ancient Japanese tomb, while the...
Controversial New Theory Suggests Ancient Greeks Helped Build Terracotta Army in China

Controversial New Theory Suggests Ancient Greeks Helped Build Terracotta Army in China

New research suggests that Western explorers reached China more than 1,500 years before Marco Polo’s historic trip to the East, making it the first documented contact between Western and Chinese...
Rare Collection of Over 40 Shipwrecks Revealed in Mapping of Black Sea Landscape

Rare Collection of Over 40 Shipwrecks Revealed in Mapping of Black Sea Landscape

A maritime archaeology expedition launched to map the submerged ancient landscape of the Black Sea has found a rare collection of over 40 shipwrecks, including those from the Ottoman and Byzantine...
Buffalo Jump

1,600-Year-Old Untouched Meal Still in Roasting Pit Unearthed in Alberta

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient feast, still intact, in a 1,600-year-old roasting pit at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. The exact contents of the meaty meal are...
Iraqi Transport Minister Announces that Sumerians Launched Spaceships 7,000 Years Ago

Iraqi Transport Minister Announces that Sumerians Launched Spaceships 7,000 Years Ago

The Minister for Transport in Iraq made a controversial speech at the inauguration of a new airport in southern Dhi Qar, in which he stated that ancient Sumerians built the first airports 7,000 years...
Humans Wiped Out the Hobbit: New Study Suggests Homo Sapiens Caused Extinction of Tiny Homo Floresiensis Species

Humans Wiped Out the Hobbit: New Study Suggests Homo Sapiens Caused Extinction of Tiny Homo Floresiensis Species

In October 2004, excavation of fragmentary skeletal remains from the island of Flores in Indonesia yielded what was called "the most important find in human evolution for 100 years." Its discoverers...
Otzi Speaks: Scientists Reconstruct Voice of 5,300-Year-Old Iceman

Otzi Speaks: Scientists Reconstruct Voice of 5,300-Year-Old Iceman

Scientists have made the best approximation of the voice of Otzi the Iceman, the world-famous mummy who met a violent death in the mountains of Austria around 5,300 years ago. His voice was...
Lord of Sipan: First Time Real Face of 2,000-Year-Old Mochican Priest Revealed

Lord of Sipan: First Time Real Face of 2,000-Year-Old Mochican Priest Revealed

The face of a powerful ruler of the ancient Moche civilization of Peru, known as El Señor de Sipán (The Lord of Sipán), has been revealed for the first time following an intensive project to...
2,000-Year-Old Human Remains Found on Famous Antikythera Shipwreck

2,000-Year-Old Human Remains Found on Famous Antikythera Shipwreck

Underwater archaeologists made an extremely rare discovery at the world-famous Antikythera shipwreck site in Greece – the 2,000-year-old remains of a young male – and now scientists are hopeful they...
Hidden Fourth Circle at Mysterious 4,000-Year-Old Standing Stones in Cornwall to be Investigated

Hidden Fourth Circle at Mysterious 4,000-Year-Old Standing Stones in Cornwall to be Investigated

Archaeologists are set to undertake an investigation of a hidden fourth circle identified by geophysics at an ancient megalithic site in Cornwall known as ‘The Hurlers’. The Plymouth Herald reports...
The Cochno Stone bears what is considered to be the finest example of Bronze Age 'cup and ring' carvings in Europe.

Will the Secrets Behind the 5000-year-old Cochno Stone Finally Be Solved?

With dozens of grooved spirals, carved indentations, geometric shapes, and mysterious patterns of many kinds, the Cochno Stone, located in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, is considered to have the...
The 1,000-year-old Viking sword discovered in Iceland.

1,000-Year-Old Viking Sword Discovered in Iceland by Men Hunting Geese

A group of hunters tracking geese in Skaftárhreppur, South Iceland, brought back more than just birds on their latest trip – they found a 1,000-year-old Viking sword lying completely exposed in the...
Accounts of Roman Infanticide and Sacrifice All Just Myth and Legend?

Accounts of Roman Infanticide and Sacrifice All Just Myth and Legend?

It has long been taken as fact that ancient Romans brutally murdered, abandoned or sacrificed countless infants as piles of baby bones have been found at numerous Roman sites. However, a new study...
2,800-Year-Old Seeds Retrieved from Ancient Castle in Turkey to be Brought Back to Life

2,800-Year-Old Seeds Retrieved from Ancient Castle in Turkey to be Brought Back to Life

In 2014, archaeologists discovered ceramic containers used for cereal storage dating back 2,800 years in Cuvustepe Castle in Turkey. Incredibly, some preserved sesame and wheat seeds remained inside...

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