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Dr Micki Pistorius

Micki Pistorius is a South African psychologist, author and journalist. As a child, Micki’s natural curiosity was cultivated by both her parents and developed into an insatiable interest in history, art and literature. Her passion for history, archaeology and human origins manifested at the age of sixteen when she selected these subjects at school. It has been a lifelong journey of discovery. After completing her BA degree, she worked as a journalist in printed and television media for 8 years, when she was elected in the University of Pretoria’s psychology programme. She completed her doctorate’s degree in psychology and was immediately appointed as psychological profiler in the South African Police Service. She founded and headed the Investigative Psychology Unit of the SAPS for 6 years. She testified as an expert witness in court. Besides training more than 300 South African detectives, Micki was invited to train detectives, correctional services staff, lawyers and judges on global platforms. She featured in many international television, magazine and news bulletins. After resigning from the SAPS, she returned to journalism and worked for a television production company, writing scripts and producing documentaries for a few years. Then she opened her private practice as psychologist. She continued training and presenting lectures on international podia. Micki never gave up on her calling as a writer and authored 7 books, and her autobiography, Catch me a Killer became a best seller. By 2010 her passion for ancient antiquity inspired her to enrol for an Honours degree in Biblical Archaeology. In her free time she explores archaeological sites all over the world. Micki has reached a point where she is drastically downsizing her psychology practice and shifting her focus to the flame that has been burning since her childhood: writing about archaeology, history and human origins on a permanent scale. She hopes to complete her Master’s degree in archaeology and may one day retire on an island where she will continue writing.

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Top image: Charles Christian (center) doing the "Ratty thing" with the cast of the Fisher Theatre pantomime. Photo credit: Charles Christian / Urban Fantasist.

A Tribute to Author, Columnist and Friend, Charles Christian

It is with the great sadness that we have to take leave of one of our most appreciated Ancient Origins authors and Ancient Origins Magazine columnist, Charles Christian, who unexpectantly passed away...
From Pagan To Christian To Islam, Religious Wars In Ancient Sudan

From Pagan To Christian To Islam, Religious Wars In Ancient Sudan

A change in religion more often than not, leads to bloodshed and war as gods hold on to their powers, and their priests and kings and queens take up arms to defend them. The history of Sudan has seen...
Locals on camels near Meroe pyramids, Sudan (Matyas Rehak/ Adobe Stock)

Secrets in The Sands Of Sudan: The Kushite Kings’ Pyramids

After the decline of Egypt’s New Kingdom, the Kings of Kush established the 25th Dynasty by expanding their territory to include Egypt, and ruled as the Black Pharaohs for at least a hundred years...
The Three Niles And Cataract Settlements Of Ancient Sudan

The Three Niles And Cataract Settlements Of Ancient Sudan

On January 1, 1956, after centuries of foreign rule, Sudan finally gained its independence from Great Britain, three years after independence was granted to Egypt on June 18, 1953, and today the...
Sculpting The Geological, Archaeological And Cultural Landscape Of Papua New Guinea

Sculpting The Geological, Archaeological And Cultural Landscape Of Papua New Guinea

The sculpturing of the geography of Papua New Guinea did not end with the eruption of the volcanos. In their wake basins and valleys formed, where people settled, thousands of years ago. A large...
Men of the Asmat tribe are floating in a canoe on the river. Amanamkay. Village, Asmat province, Indonesia (gudkovandrey/ Adobe Stock)

Papua New Guinea’s Sepik River Rituals

Winding its way like a serpentine from its origin source in the Victor Emanuel Mountain Range in the central highlands of Papua New Guinea, the Sepik River receives many tributaries along its way...
Modern day lakatoi at the Hiri Moale Festival, a modern celebration of the previous Hiri trade cycle. (Steve Jurvetson / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Oceania’s Papua New Guinea: Forged In Volcanic Fire

The Australasian realm in the Pacific Ocean includes Australia, New Zealand, eastern Indonesia, and several Pacific island groups - including Papua New Guinea – all scattered along the Ring of Fire,...
The sun sets on the ruins of Persepolis burnt by Alexander the Great in 330 BC (Pav-Pro Photography / Adobe Stock)

The Aftermath Of The Achaemenid Empire

Between 550 and 520 BC Cyrus the Great had unified the Medes and the Persians and founded an empire that stretched from the Indus River to North Africa and from the Aral Sea to the Persian Gulf...
Reliefs based on the Pinelli engraving (1928). It depicts a scene from the everyday life and the campaign of Alexander the Great. Reliefs by the sculptor Pr. Tzanoulinos (bronze). Hellenic War Museum (Athens, Greece). (CC by 2.0 / Tilemahos Efthimiadis)

Archaeological Track of Alexander The Great’s Footprint in Persia

Archaeology in modern Iran tracks Alexander the Great’s footprint in ancient Persia as his army crossed the Euphrates, crisscrossed the plateaus, marched along the Royal Road, across the Zagros...
Alexander Of Macedon And His Nemesis Persian Darius III

Alexander Of Macedon And His Nemesis Persian Darius III

Ironically, Xenophon’s Cyropaedia, written around 370 BC, a narrative describing the education of the ideal ruler centred on Cyrus the Great founder of the Achaemenid Dynasty, was a great inspiration...
Istanbul’s Bosporus Strait, Fragile Hinge Between East And West

Istanbul’s Bosporus Strait, Fragile Hinge Between East And West

The continents of Europe and Asia shake hands across Istanbul’s Bosporus Strait, connecting the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara which in turn connects to the Mediterranean Sea through the Dardanelles...
Night view of Topkapi Palace from across the Bosphorus (Lefteris Papaulakis  / Adobe Stock)

Topkapi Palace, Showcasing Ottoman Splendor And Opulence

Centuries before Versailles, Buckingham Palace and the Kremlin Palace, on the shore where the Western world meets the East, cupped by the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus Strait and the Golden Horn,...
Anatolia’s Mighty Phrygia, The Kingdom Of Myth And Midas

Anatolia’s Mighty Phrygia, The Kingdom Of Myth And Midas

In the western-central arid heartland of ancient Anatolia, the river Sangarios snaked through the ancient Iron Age Kingdom of Phrygia , once a rival to Assyria in the south-east and Urartu in the...
Mount Nemrut, Apex Of The Kingdom Of Commagene

Mount Nemrut, Apex Of The Kingdom Of Commagene

Crowned by Mount Nemrut , the territory of the Kingdom of Commagene, landlocked by Syria on the south, Cilicia on the west, Cappadocia on the north-west, Sophene on the north-east and Osroene on the...
Harran, City of Sin, Crusaders And Caliphs

Harran, City of Sin, Crusaders And Caliphs

Dusty winds blow around the desolate ruins on the arid plain of Harran, and the mirage of the heat conjures up images of what was once the site of a medieval hub of science. Har means ‘fire’ in...
Urfa Castle, Şanlıurfa, Turkey (Bernard Gagnon/  CC BY-SA 3.0)

From Urfa To Edessa To Şanlıurfa: Spanning 10,000 Years Of History

During the Hellenistic Period from 312 BC to 63 BC, the Seleucid Empire was a major superpower and at its apex encompassed Anatolia, Persia, the Levant, (now modern Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan...

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