wine

14 March, 2019 - 17:51 Caleb Strom

Commandaria: The Oldest Wine in Production, Praised By Homer, and Richard the Lionheart's "King of Wines"

The first evidence of wine making is from the Caucasus Mountains bordering Eastern Europe and Western Asia around 6000 BC. From there it spread throughout the ancient Near East to gradually become...

18 December, 2018 - 01:53 dhwty

The Incredible History of Kolossi Castle - Won By Richard the Lionheart, Home to the Knights Templar, and Birthplace of the King of Wines

Kolossi Castle is a medieval castle located on the island of Cyprus. The original castle was built during the 13 th century, not long after the island was conquered by the Crusaders. Although Kolossi...

20 May, 2018 - 18:57 Mark Oliver

The Chinese Emperor Who Built A Lake of Wine and a Forest of Meat

The last ruler of China’s Shang Dynasty knew how to relax. When he and his Queen wanted to unwind, they would head to his pleasure palace and take a dip in their lake of wine. That wasn’t just a cute...

Left to right- Barn Hammer Brewing Company Head Brewer Brian Westcott, Matt Gibbs of the University of Winnipeg and Barn Hammer owner Tyler Birch teamed up to re-create an ancient beer. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski/The Conversation

26 April, 2018 - 01:52 ancient-origins

We brewed an ancient Graeco-Roman beer and here’s how it tastes

Matt Gibbs / The Conversation Beer is the most consumed alcoholic beverage in the world; it is also the most popular drink after water and tea . In the modern world, however, little consideration is...

The ancient vessel (center) that was found to contain 2,000-year-old alcohol.

19 March, 2018 - 21:59 aprilholloway

Would You Try This Ancient Liquor Found Inside 2,200-Year-Old Chinese Vessel?

ArchaeologChinese Vesselists have unearthed an ancient tomb in China’s Shaanxi Province, containing a hoard of relics, including a sealed bronze kettle filled with 2,200-year-old liquor. Would you be...

Ancient Egyptian relief. Design by Anand Balaji. (Image credit: Julian Tuffs);Deriv.

29 December, 2017 - 22:04 anand balaji

Amarna Era Chronological Conundrum: Accession of Neferneferuaten and Tutankhamun’s Death–Part II

With only an Amarna wine jar label from Regnal Year 17 – purported to be the last dated inscription from his reign – that makes no mention of Akhenaten by name, and the generous 59 years’ rule...

Ancient Egyptian relief. Design by Anand Balaji.

27 December, 2017 - 15:22 anand balaji

Amarna Era Chronological Conundrum: Dating Akhenaten’s Death and the Length of Horemheb’s Reign–Part I

When the Nineteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Menmaatre Seti I drew up the famed King List at his mortuary temple in the holy city of Abydos, he was confident that he had struck the final nail in the coffin of...

Roman fresco with banquet scene from the Casa dei Casti Amanti

23 December, 2017 - 18:52 dhwty

Savoring the Danger: ‘Sugar of Lead’ Was Used to Flavor Roman Food and Wine with Toxic Consequences

How far did ancient people go to enhance the flavor of their food and drinks? Would they consume toxic substances if it made things a little more appetizing? The Romans did, by adding a sweet version...

Detail of ‘Monk tasting wine’ by Josef Wagner-Höhenberg.

20 November, 2017 - 01:55 ancient-origins

Feeling Guilty About Drinking? Well, Ask the Saints

Michael Foley / The Conversation Each year the holidays bring with them an increase in both the consumption of alcohol and concern about drinking’s harmful effects. Alcohol abuse is no laughing...

This is base of Neolithic jar being prepared for sampling for residue analysis.

14 November, 2017 - 01:45 ancient-origins

Discovery of 8,000-year-old Residue in the Middle East is the Earliest Evidence Yet of Winemaking

Gadachrili Gora Regional Archaeological Project Expedition (GRAPE), a joint undertaking between the University of Toronto (U of T) and the Georgian National Museum, have uncovered evidence of the...

Egyptian hieroglyphics depict the pouring out of beer.

2 October, 2017 - 22:50 Patrick McGovern

The Strange and Wonderful World of Ancient Brews

Many of us now enjoy unusual alcoholic beverage concoctions since the advent of the craft beer and cocktail movements. What we may not realize is that fellow humans have been carrying on like this...

Fresco depicting two lares pouring wine from a drinking horn (rhyton) into a bucket (situla), they stand on either side of a scene of sacrifice, beneath a pair of serpents bringers of prosperity and abondance, Pompeii, Naples Archaeological Museum

31 August, 2017 - 13:57 Theodoros Karasavvas

6,000-Year-Old Cave Find Shows Sicilians Made Wine Way Before Previously Thought

Researchers have found traces of wine in Sicily dating back to the 4th millennium BC. According to experts, that could mean that Italians have been making and drinking wine for much longer than...

The wine press in Ramat Negev is intermeshed with a building, as seen above, summer 2017.

26 July, 2017 - 22:50 Theodoros Karasavvas

Boutique Wine for Byzantines: 1,600-year-old Wine Press Discovered in the Negev Desert

The Times of Israel reports that a 1,600-year-old wine press has been discovered in a vast Byzantine building along the incense trade route in the southern Negev desert in Israel. Experts suggest...

7 July, 2017 - 19:01 Scott Rank

Little Known Links Between Spirits You Drink and the Holy Spirit

Beer may have been invented by the ancient Egyptians, but it was perfected in medieval monasteries, which gave us modern brewing as we know it. They also pioneered and improved several methods of...

Detail of the 1650-year-old Speyer wine bottle.

29 May, 2017 - 18:59 Theodoros Karasavvas

To Open or Not to Open The 1,650-Year-Old Speyer Wine Bottle?

Contemporary historians have been debating for a few years now if they should open the Speyer wine bottle, which is believed to be the world’s oldest bottle of wine. The Pfalz Historical Museum in...

3 May, 2017 - 22:59 Mark Miller

No One Questions that Vikings Drank; But Did They Make Wine?

Further evidence that the Vikings weren’t just beer-swilling, raping, and pillaging savages comes out of Denmark with the discovery of two grape seeds that may indicate the Norsemen didn’t just drink...

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Myths & Legends

The Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter

Easter is a festival and holiday celebrated by millions of people around the world who honor the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred three days...

The Story of the Scary Shtorka and the Revival of Croatian Mythology

Hermes: Messenger of the Gods and Patron of Traders, Travelers, and Thieves

Ragnar Lothbrok: A Real Viking Hero Whose Life Became Lost to Legend

Involuntary Initiation: Tales of Demonic Powers of Sorcery Transmitted to the Unsuspecting

Is the Island of Dolls Haunted? An Eerie Tribute to a Little Mexican Girl

Human Origins

Detail of ‘Ashkenazi Jews praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur. (1878 painting by Maurycy Gottlieb)

Where are Ashkenazi Jews from? Their Origins May Surprise You

Ashkenazi Jews are a Jewish ethnic group who have their earliest ancestors from the indigenous tribes of Israel…at least on one side of the family tree. A study published in 2013 in Nature Communications has shown their maternal lineage comes from a different, and possibly unexpected, source.

One Hundred Thousand Adams and Eves?

What and Where is Heaven? The Answers Are at the Heart of the Easter Story

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Rh-Negative Blood: An Exotic Bloodline or Random Mutation?

The Secret Life of an Ancient Concubine

Ancient Technology

Handle of one of the wooden tools from the Poggetti Vecchi site.

171,000-Year-Old Fire Forged Tool Discovered Beneath a Giant Elephant

171,000 years ago, in Tuscany, a set of ancient tools were crafted and forged with fire. Archaeologists in Florence, Italy, made an incredible discovery during construction work at Poggetti Vecchi. A paper published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

The ancient invention of the steam engine by the Hero of Alexandria

Norimitsu Odachi: Who Could Have Possibly Wielded This Enormous 15th Century Japanese Sword?

Common Tools or Ancient Advanced Technology? How Did the Egyptians Bore Through Granite?

Romans Mastered Nanotechnology and Used it for Eye Catching Decoration

The steam-powered pigeon of Archytas – the flying machine of antiquity

Ancient Places

The Mzora Stone Circle in Northern Morocco.

The Mzora Stone Circle: A Megalithic Mystery in Morocco

When people think of megalithic structures, there is a clear behemoth which undeniably dominates the history books – Stonehenge

3,000-Year-Old Ain Dara Temple in Syria Reduced to Rubble by Turkish Airstrikes

The Lost Tribe of Clover Hollow – Oldest Civilization in the World Found in Appalachian Mountains?

Ashurbanipal: The Oldest Surviving Royal Library in the World with Over 30,000 Clay Tablets

Roque Bentayga, Gran Canaria: Vestiges of the Mysterious Guanche People

Peel Castle: Centuries of History, a Mysterious Pagan Lady, and a Phantom Dog

Opinion

The astronomical ceiling at the Pronaos, Detail of the first Band west from the center. From left to right: two wind creatures (the winged ram with four heads personifies the south wind), the snake- and frog-headed eight goddesses and gods of the Ogdoad who ruled the cosmos before the creation of the world and Osiris seated on a throne sails across the sky as personification of the full moon accompanied by the seated goddesses Nephtys (left) and Isis on the right (Maat stands near the bow of the ship). Siri

Changing Colors and Scampering Across the Night Sky: What Did the Ancients Say about Sirius?

In Egypt, Sirius was the Star of Isis, Isis being the companion and rescuer of the god Osiris. In a very deep way, Osiris was Egypt.

Cracking the Code to Discover Ancient Tarot Symbolism and Forgotten Universal Knowledge

The Secret Strategic Plans of Darius the Great

The Secrets of the Kabbalists Garden

Alchemy and Generating Lifeforce —Global Temples Made in the Shape of Lingams: Shaivite Bull Cult Part II

From Green Man to Bull Son, The Universal Shaivite Bull Cult – Part I

Our Mission

At Ancient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. And while some people may seem content with the story as it stands, our view is that there exists countless mysteries, scientific anomalies and surprising artifacts that have yet to be discovered and explained.

The goal of Ancient Origins is to highlight recent archaeological discoveries, peer-reviewed academic research and evidence, as well as offering alternative viewpoints and explanations of science, archaeology, mythology, religion and history around the globe.

We’re the only Pop Archaeology site combining scientific research with out-of-the-box perspectives.

By bringing together top experts and authors, this archaeology website explores lost civilizations, examines sacred writings, tours ancient places, investigates ancient discoveries and questions mysterious happenings. Our open community is dedicated to digging into the origins of our species on planet earth, and question wherever the discoveries might take us. We seek to retell the story of our beginnings.