All  

Iraq Banner Desktop

Store Banner Mobile

Latest News

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

News

The Golfers by Charles Lee

Ancient Pedigree of the Open Championship: Golf’s Long History and Hidden Beginnings

The Open Championship may be the oldest tournament in golf, but it is a very recent addition to the sport’s long and colorful history. Golf is a sport with ancient origins that has endured into our...
Statue of Queen Ankhnes-meryre II and Her Son, Pepy II. (Brooklyn Museum) Background: Papyrus with ancient Egyptian writing.

Explorer Rushes Back to Collect Pygmy Prize After Child Pharaoh’s Golden Letter

Harkhuf the Explorer, while traveling through Nubia, received an urgent message from the Pharaoh himself. “Come to the Palace at once!” the king’s letter read. “Drop everything!” This was unusual...
3-dimensional model of the Shroud of Turin imprint

Investigators use a Volunteer and Real Blood in Forensic Testing of the Shroud of Turin

It is reported in several news outlets that another test has been conducted on the controversial Shroud of Turn which indicates that it is most likely a forgery. This shroud is believed by many to be...
Centaurs in the Forbidden Forest.

Ancient Mythology Informs Modern Series: The Fantastical Folktales of Harry Potter

Global, myth, folklore, and legends provided inspiration for the vast array of vivid creatures and fantastical elements that fill the pages and the silver screen of the enthralling, magical world of...
Barter, Bills and Banknotes: The 5,000 Year History of Money

From Barter to Bitcoins: The 5,000 Year History of Money

Money has come a long way in 5,000 years. While people once bartered for the items they desired, today people are buying and trading in cryptocurrencies like the bitcoin. In ancient times, people did...
The O’Brien Tower on the Cliffs of Moher, County Clare. Credit: Ioannis Syrigos

On the Cliffs of Moher Sits O’Brien’s Tower: A Land Where Legends Have Risen and Witches Have Fallen

The Cliffs of Moher are sea cliffs located in County Clare, in the southern Irish province of Munster. These cliffs cover a distance of about 8 km (5 miles), the highest point of which is marked by a...
Silbury Hill on the left, is the largest prehistoric mound in Europe.

The Mythologized Legacy of the North American Mounds

Ancient landscapes the world over were once encrusted with earthen mounds, variously called cairns, tumulus, barrows, burial mounds and kurgans. In England, Silbury Hill near Avebury in the English...
Colossal statue of Amenhotep III in the British Museum. (Public Domain) Background: Detail of Amarna letter: Royal Letter from Abi-milku of Tyre to the king of Egypt. (CC0)

To the King, My Sun, My God, the Breath of My Life… Amarna Letters Paint Remarkable Picture of Ancient Egyptian Rulership

“Your city weeps, and her tears are running, and there is no help for us. For 20 years we have been sending to our lord, the king, the king of Egypt, but there has not come to us a word from our lord...
The ‘Bird Man’, one of the mural paintings in Cacaxtla

Cacaxtla: Where the Rain Dies on Earth and Murals Tell Tales of Forgotten Lives

Warriors in jaguar skins stand over their defeated opponents dressed as quetzal birds, priests invoke the sacred avian and feline powers, and a merchant sets off on a journey with a pack full of...
One of the stone structures of the Shubayqa 1 site. The fireplace, where the bread was found, is in the middle.

14,400-year-old Bread Causes Major Re-think on the Birth of Agriculture

At an archaeological site in northeastern Jordan, researchers have discovered the charred remains of a flatbread baked by hunter-gatherers 14,400 years ago. It is the oldest direct evidence of bread...
The shipwreck found on Tankerton beach last year is now protected.

Authorities Give Protection to a Rare 16th Century Tudor Shipwreck Found on an English Beach

British experts have announced an amazing discovery on a beach in Kent. A group of amateur archaeologists has found a Tudor shipwreck that is up to five hundred years old. The find was totally...
L-R: Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan; Dr. Cliodhna Ni Lionain, Devenish’s lead archaeologist; Devenish executive chairman Owen Brennan; and his wife Prof. Alice Stanton and one of the decorated kerb stones.

Startling new find of a 5500-year-old Megalithic Passage Tomb in Ireland is, “The Most Important Find for Half a Century”

It has been an exciting time for Irish archaeology as many ancient finds have been uncovered in recent months. The latest discovery is one of the most thrilling of all according to local experts...
Goujian: The Ancient Chinese Sword

Goujian: The Ancient Chinese Sword that Defied Time

Fifty years ago, a rare and unusual sword was found in a tomb in China. Despite being well over 2,000 years old, the sword, known as the Goujian, did not have a single trace of rust. The blade drew...
The Temple of Kukulkan, Mayapan.

An Ancient Maya City Founded by a God and Conquered by a Death Cheating Despot

Mayapan is a Maya site located in the modern Mexican state of Yucatan , about 55 km (34 miles) to the southeast of Merida, the state’s capital. This reconstruction of the site’s history poses a...
Amiternum funerary procession relief.

Mimes, Paid Grievers, and Masks: The Insane Theatrics of Ancient Roman Funerals

Two thousand years ago, funerals weren’t the quiet, somber affairs we have today. They were loud, boisterous shows that started with a massive procession of people parading down the streets, pounding...
Eritrean Grand Canyon, East African rift valley.

Rethinking Homo sapiens? The story of our origins gets dizzyingly complicated

By Darren Curnoe / The Conversation You might say it’s the ultimate prize of science, to discover when, where and why humans evolved. For a long time, the evidence has been overwhelming that Homo...
Scilly’s Northern Islands

The Ancient Trackways of Britain’s Ley-Lines Steered Bronze Age Tin Miners

The Great St Michael and St Mary Alignment (or ‘corridor of incidence’) is probably the most famous ley-line in Britain, if not the world. Running for 350-miles across the country in a north-east to...
Ellora, cave 16, Kailasa Temple.

Kailasa Temple Was Carved Out of One Rock from the Top Down!

The Kailasa Temple is number 16 out of 32 cave temples and monasteries collectively known as the Ellora Caves in Maharashtra, India. However, it is considered to be one of the greatest and most...
False Doors: The Gateways to the Egyptian Underworld

False Doors: The Gateways to the Egyptian Underworld

As the name would suggest, a false door is an imitation door usually found in mortuary temples and tombs across ancient Egypt. Facing west, these doors served as an imaginary passage between the...
Representational image – does not depict artifacts recovered in Operation Demetra. Coins stolen by the Nazis, Jewish Museum of Greece (Athens)

Illegal Artifact Smuggling and Forgery Ring Smashed in Europe-Wide Police Swoop

After a hunt lasting several decades, a team of almost 250 top European criminal investigators and highly-trained police officers have busted a 24-man strong, ring of international illegal artifact...
The Tomb of Humayun

The Tomb of Humayun: The Garden Tomb that Inspired the Taj Mahal

The first garden-tomb that was constructed in India was the spectacular Tomb of Humayun devoted to the second Mughal Emperor. So magnificent was the monument, that it came to inspire major...
The Ancient Roots of Doomsday Prophecies

How it Ends: The Ancient Roots of Doomsday Prophecies and End of the World Beliefs

Hollywood’s obsession with the End of Times is not over yet – Armageddon, Deep Impact, Doomsday, Legion, Thor: Ragnarok and 28 Days Later, are just a few of the blockbusters, out of hundreds, that...
 Bone found in Namsky district with runic writing.

Boy, 11, Finds 1,000-Year-Old-Message Written in Runes on Pendant Made of Mammoth Bone

A fifth-grade student has discovered a piece of ‘jewellery’ decorated with ancient Turkic runic inscriptions. Pavel Yakovlev made the ‘great scientific discovery’ near his village in Yakutia. The...
The silver facemask gilded with gold found on the face of the mummy.

2,000-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy Workshop and Goldmine of Treasures Unearthed in Saqqara

A team of Egyptian-German Archeologists announced to the world’s media yesterday that their recent dig in Saqqara, Egypt, led to the unearthing of “a rare mummification workshop containing mummies...

Pages