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All the latest news on finds, advancements, and research in archaeology and ancient history, from the No 1 Ancient History website in the world

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A caged pig. Source: Jasmine / Adobe Stock

Medieval Justice: Pig Was Tried in Court, Sentenced and Executed for Murder

In the Middle Ages, animals were put on trial just like human beings. A wide range of crimes could be committed by these animals including murder, being an accomplice in bestiality , and damage of...
The Chiapas cave sacrifice scene, where about 150 toothless skulls were found, as it was discovered in 2012.		Source: INAH

150 Toothless Skulls in Mexico ‘Crime Scene’ Cave are Ancient Sacrifice Victims

In 2012, a citizen alert brought the Mexican police to a cave on the Guatemalan border where a horrific cave sacrifice scene met their eyes. Some 150 skulls and other human skeletal remains lay piled...
The continuous use of lavender throughout history reveals its popularity. Source: asife / Adobe Stock

History’s Love of Lavender: From Mummies to Bathhouses and Beyond!

Lavender is one of the most well-known plants throughout the world. It is popular in gardening, baking, cleaning, and medicine. The soft purple flowers have been around for a few thousand years and...
Petra, Jordan and Jerusalem are both much older than Islam’s holiest site and some say the original location of Mecca lies elsewhere in the mists of history before the prophet Mohammed finally established “his Mecca” in Saudi Arabia.

Where Is the True Location of Mecca?

Most people will recognize Mecca as the name for the Holy City of Islam. Do you know where the Holy City is? Do you know where it should be? Did it get lost? Was it ever found? Believe it or not,...
Representational image of Achilles. Source: Warpedgalerie / Adobe Stock

Achilles: The Greatest Hero of Greek Mythology?

“Sing Goddess, the rage of Achilles” is the very first line of The Iliad , Homer’s epic poem, as he introduces its main hero. The Greek hero Achilles was believed to have been the strongest, bravest...
View of Stonehenge landscape at sunrise. Source: valeryegorov / Adobe Stock

Pre-Stonehenge Landscape Was Perfect for Hunter-Gatherers, Study Shows

A new study by a team of scientists from the Geography and Environmental Sciences Department at the University of Southampton has revealed the truth about what the land around Stonehenge was like...
A 3,000-year-old prosthetic big toe unearthed in Egypt. Source: Jacky Finch / University of Manchester

3,000-Year-Old Artificial Toe Reveals Ancient Origins of Prosthetics

Believe it or not, but the use of prosthetics is actually not a modern phenomenon. In fact, the creation of man-made devices to replace missing body parts was already in use several thousand years...
Whatever Happened to Blackbeard’s Silver-Plated Skull?

Whatever Happened to Blackbeard’s Silver-Plated Skull?

Blackbeard, an infamous pirate from the 1700s, was notoriously an excellent fighter and survivalist. He was so famous, in fact, that after his death his skull was rumored to have been plated 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...
Baron Samedi and his Voodoo powers over death continues to be a powerful force in the Caribbean region, especially in Haiti.

Baron Samedi And the Voodoo Loa of Haiti

Death is an inevitability that every person must face. It is the fate of all humans. However, to make death easier, each religion provides a guide that assists the transition from the human world to...
In the heart of Mithaka Country, in Queensland's Channel Country, traditional owners and archaeologists have unearthed what researchers have dubbed "Australia's Silk Road," dating back at least 2,100 years. The area's industrial-sized sandstone quarry sites are, to the best of the researchers' knowledge, the largest in the southern hemisphere, putting the trade systems of Australia's Aboriginals on a world scale.

Mithaka: Heart of Australia’s 2,100-year-old Aboriginal Silk Road

More than 2,100 years ago, Australia’s Aboriginal Mithaka people were likely domesticating plants and quarrying stones on an industrial scale to make seed-grinding implements. The Mithaka stone...
Stone Age friendship rings found in Finland, made from slate in Russia, broken or refashioned into pendants.	Source: Marja Ahola / University of Helsinki

Slate Stone Age ‘Friendship Rings’ Found in Finland

According to the latest research, Stone Age hunter-gatherers in northeast Europe expertly crafted slate friendship rings some 6,000 years ago. These were produced in copious numbers by many makers in...
Medieval battlefield. Source: Gorodenkoff / Adobe Stock

Aeons of Battle: The 5 Longest Wars in History

In the annals of humanity there is one phenomenon that has consistently weaved and threaded itself through the fabric of time. It is, of course, war, which from the very earliest times until the...
Ayodhya seer was denied access to the Taj Mahal. Source: Wit.Siri / Adobe Stock

Weapon-Holding Ayodhya Seer Blocked from Taj Mahal Sparks Protests

This week, security guards at the Taj Mahal, the enormous 17th century white marble mausoleum built in Agra by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan , forbade entry to Ayodhya-based Hindu seer, Jagadguru...
The ancient Chinese made sticky rice mortar by using sticky rice for construction. Source: Atstock Productions / Adobe Stock

Sticky Rice Mortar Used in Ancient Chinese Architecture

Ancient Chinese culture has made great contributions to humanity. The so-called Four Great Inventions of China – the compass , gunpowder , paper , and printing – are still being used extensively...
In a recent breakthrough study, scientists have proven that meteorites carry all the building blocks of life, which is to say every chemical necessary for the formation of DNA and RNA. This photo is of the world famous Perseid Meteor Shower that occurs annually in Utah, US.		Source: UtahHome

New Study Proves ALL the Building Blocks of Life Found in Meteorites!

So where exactly did the building blocks for life (DNA and its chemical precursors) come from? This is a question that has both puzzled and fascinated scientists for decades, and a couple of possible...
Vaccination poster image. The story of inoculation is far older than you might think. Source: bakhtiarzein / Adobe Stock

Just a Poke: The Origins of Inoculation

With the recent pandemic and the still-spreading Covid-19 virus, inoculation has become a hot topic throughout several areas of the world. Regardless of what side you’re on, the history of...
The Borgund Viking village museum basement has drawers upon drawers with remains of textiles from perhaps a thousand years ago. They can tell us more about what kind of clothes people in Norway wore during the Viking Age and the Middle Ages.	Source: Bård Amundsen / sciencenorway.no

‘Lost’ Viking Village Artifacts Emerge From Norwegian Basement Archive

It isn’t rare for a once prosperous medieval town to be abandoned and slowly get side-lined in the annals of history. Nothing exemplifies this statement better than the lost Viking village of Borgund...
Pieter Bruegel's The Tower of Babel depicts a traditional Nimrod inspecting stonemasons. (1563) (Public Domain)

Babelse Verwarring: The Confusion Around The Tower Of Babel Finally Solved

The Tower of Babel is one of the most well-known stories in the Bible. Many proposals as to the historical or literary origins of this narrative have been made over the years. A remarkably good case...
A fragment of the sphero-conical vessel that was identified as containing a possibly explosive material to make an ancient hand grenade.	Source: Robert Mason, Royal Ontario Museum. Griffith University

Crusaders Were Attacked With These Ancient Hand Grenades in Jerusalem

Archaeologists have for a long time unearthed clay pots in medieval Jerusalem. But now, a new study shows that some of them were likely ‘ancient hand grenades’. Residues sampled from inside a...
Large stone disc recently discovered in Russia. Source: Bloknot-Volgograd

More Than a Dozen Mysterious Carved Discs Found Near Volgograd, Russia

A team of investigators in Russia found more than a dozen stone discs in the Volgograd region of Russia. At the time of the discovery back in 2015, the team claimed that the discs contain tungsten, a...
Portrait heads of Indians of California by Louis Choris	.	Source: 	Public Domain

Genetic Study Reveals Deep California Roots of Muwekma Ohlone Tribe

Geneticists have found that DNA retrieved from skeletal remains at two San Francisco Bay Area, California archaeological sites matches genetic samples taken from modern-day members of the Muwekma...
The Goddess Anat head recently discovered by a farmer in the Gaza Strip.	Source: WAFA

4500-year-old Limestone Head of Canaanite Goddess Anat Found in Gaza

While cultivating his fields in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip, a farmer discovered a rare 4500-year-old sculpture, according to the WAFA News Agency . The stone head was found...
Archaeologists excavating a large, engraved granite block at the Zeus Kasios temple at Tell el-Farma, Egypt.	Source: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

Ancient Zeus Kasios Temple Unearthed In Egypt

Archaeologists in Egypt have excavated a vast temple built by members of the mysterious cult of Zeus Kasios . The Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities Ministry announced on Monday that archaeologists...

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