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Joanna Gillan's picture

Joanna Gillan

Joanna Gillan is a Co-Owner, Editor and Writer of Ancient Origins. 

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 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 in the UK, and Newstalk in Ireland. She has also appeared on Ireland’s national TV channel, RTE, on the Today Show

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Posts

Weekly Wrap Up - Witch Trials, Tunisian Atlantis & Hallucinogenic Tea!

Weekly Wrap Up - Witch Trials, Tunisian Atlantis & Hallucinogenic Tea!

As we begin the first days of 2022, we highlight our most popular articles of the last week, from the tragic Pendle witch trials of 1612, to new research on hallucinogenic tea, a theory that the...
Assyrian relief panel, 883–859 BC. Source: Public Domain / Met Museum

Mesopotamian Kings Were Slapped in the Face in the Ancient Akitu Festival

The Akitu festival was one of the oldest Mesopotamian festivals, dating back to the middle of the third millennium BC. It was during this twelve-day ceremonial event, which began at the first New...
Fireworks are popular in New Year's traditions around the world

Amazing New Year’s Traditions Around the World

In many countries around the world, New Year’s Day is celebrated on January 1st with fireworks and festivities the evening before. But this is not the only type of New Year’s celebration and not...
A firework show at the Temple of Dawn in Thailand

The Ancient Origins of New Year’s Celebrations

On January 1st of every year, many countries around the world celebrate the beginning of a new year. But there is nothing new about New Year’s. In fact, festivals and celebrations marking the...
Medieval knight with beer

The Water of Life: Alcohol as Medicine Through the Ages

While no one knows exactly when alcohol was first produced, it was presumably the result of a fortuitous accident that occurred at least tens of thousands of years ago. However, the discovery of late...
Wandjina rock art

The Mysterious Aboriginal Rock Art of the Wandjina Sky Beings

One of the most intriguing and perplexing legends of the Australian Aboriginal people is that of the Wandjinas, the supreme spirit beings and creators of the land and people. The land of the Wandjina...
A Han-era bì , 16 centimetres (6.3 in) in diameter (CC by SA 3.0).

The Mysterious Dropa Stones – Fact or Fiction?

The Dropa stones are said to be a set of 716 circular stone discs dating back 12,000 years on which tiny hieroglyphic-like markings can be found. Each disc is said to measure up to 1 foot in diameter...
The oldest wine in Europe has been found at Dikili Tash in Greece

Oldest Wine in Europe Found at Prehistoric Greek Site

Archaeologists undertaking excavations at the prehistoric settlement of Dikili Tash in northern Greece have completed analyses of wine samples from ancient ceramics revealing evidence of wine dating...
Boudicca, the Celtic Queen, (www.emilyhare.co.uk)

Boudicca: The Celtic Queen Who Unleashed Fury on the Romans

We British are used to women commanders in war; I am descended from mighty men! But I am not fighting for my kingdom and wealth now. I am fighting as an ordinary person for my lost freedom, my...
Dragon, Broncefigur, Golden Dragon, Thailand

The Devil’s Sea: Bermuda Triangle of the Pacific

The Devil’s Sea, otherwise known as the Dragon’s Triangle, is a region in the Pacific Ocean that has come to be associated with numerous accounts of disappearing ships and planes, sightings of ghost...
A figure wearing a face mask in St Albans Cathedral

New Masked Carving in St Albans Cathedral Restoration is Distasteful

St Albans Cathedral in Hertfordshire is the oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Britain and work to restore its rare medieval shrine has just been completed. But the addition of a new...
Child’s Handprints in Mexican Cave Reveal Ancient Maya Ritual

Child’s Handprints in Mexican Cave Reveal Ancient Maya Ritual

More than one hundred handprints made by children 1,200 years ago on the walls of a cave in Mexico may have been part of a mysterious coming-of-age ritual of the ancient Maya. Reuters reports that...
Plain of Jars

The Plain of Jars: A Megalithic Archaeological Mystery in Laos

The Plain of Jars on the Xieng Khouang plain of Laos is one of the most enigmatic archaeological points of interest on Earth. The unusual scattering of thousands of megalithic jars across nearly one...
The mummified remains of the 17th-century bishop, Peder Winstrup. A fetus was also in the bishop's coffin.

Mystery of the Fetus Found in a Bishop’s Coffin Solved!

Researchers at Lund University hospital were in for a surprise when they conducted a CT scan of a mummified Scandinavian bishop and spotted the remains of a tiny fetus tucked under the bishop’s feet...
Ruins of Shahr-i Sokhta, the “Burnt City,” in Iran.

Shahr-i Sokhta, Mysteries of the Burnt City of Iran

Located near Zabol in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, the ancient site of Shahr-i Sokhta (“Burnt City”) is one of the largest and richest Bronze Age sites in Iran and the Middle East...
Foot binding tradition

Last Traces of the Ancient Foot Binding Tradition Captured on Film

Throughout history, men and women alike have suffered pain and agony in the name of beauty - from the practices of body modification in indigenous tribes throughout the world, to suffocatingly tight...

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