Shows / The Ancient Origins News Desk
The Ancient Origins News Desk
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 .
Episodes
The Ancient Origins News DeskDid Medieval People Believe the Earth Was Flat Until Columbus? | Ancient Origins
Did medieval people think the Earth was flat until Columbus? Bede, Sacrobosco, Lactantius, Irving and Russell weighed. Verdict: Unverified.
The Ancient Origins News Desk165 Skulls in a Chiapas Cave: INAH Study Finds Slightly More Women Than Men in a Maya Tzompantli | Ancient Origins
INAH counts 83 women, 79 men and 15 children among 165 skulls in the Frontera Comalapa cave tzompantli in Chiapas, dated AD 900 to 1200.
The Ancient Origins News DeskIraq Is Turning a 4,000-Year-Old City From Hammurabi's Age Into a Park in Baghdad | Ancient Origins
Walls, gates, kilns and burials from the age of Hammurabi at Tell Muhammad in Baghdad, where Iraq and Italy are building an archaeological park.
The Ancient Origins News DeskWere the Giza Pyramids Built by Slaves? What Their Builders Left Behind | Ancient Origins
Were the Giza pyramids built by slaves? We weigh the workers' town, the builders' tombs, gang graffiti, the Merer papyri and Herodotus.
The Ancient Origins News DeskCompanion or Passerby? A Dog's 4,000-Year-Old Paw Prints at Tavşanlı Höyük | Ancient Origins
A dog stepped on a wet mudbrick at Tavşanlı Höyük, Türkiye, about 4,000 years ago. Here is what the excavators say the prints reveal, and what they cannot.
The Ancient Origins News DeskWere the Nazca Lines Made by Aliens or for Them to See? | Ancient Origins
Were the Nazca Lines made by or for aliens? UNESCO, the 2024 PNAS AI survey and Joe Nickell's 1982 full-size condor weighed. Verdict: Fringe.
The Ancient Origins News DeskCharred Seeds of Wild Flowers in Bronze Age Cyprus Tombs Hint at Burned Offerings | Ancient Origins
Charred grain and wild flower seeds in Bronze Age tombs at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, may be burned bouquet offerings and meals for the dead, a study suggests.
The Ancient Origins News DeskA Sealed Cupboard in Pompeii Held Childhood Amulets and 38 Coins That Were Never Collected | Ancient Origins
A sealed cupboard in a Pompeii house held a beauty kit, a necklace of at least 24 childhood amulets called crepundia, and 38 bronze coins.
The Ancient Origins News DeskWas a 2,000-Year-Old Manuscript Recording Jesus Rising From the Dead Just Identified? | Ancient Origins
A Fact Check on the Daily Mail headline about Josephus, the Resurrection and a "2,000-year-old manuscript", and what the new study found.
The Ancient Origins News DeskA 3,000-Year-Old Copper Mine in Spain May Have Supplied Bronze to Scandinavia | Ancient Origins
Las Minillas, a Late Bronze Age copper mine in Badajoz, Spain, has ore consistent with 11 Scandinavian bronzes, a new Antiquity study reports.
The Ancient Origins News DeskPriest or Legend: The Hyperborean Said to Ride Apollo's Golden Arrow | Ancient Origins
Abaris the Hyperborean, a priest of Apollo said to ride a golden arrow and meet Pythagoras. What Herodotus, Plato and later writers said of him.
The Ancient Origins News DeskThe Merneptah Stele Named Israel Around 1208 BCE. Does It Confirm the Bible? | Ancient Origins
A viral X post says the Merneptah Stele confirms the Bible. It is a genuinely important early witness that names Israel as a people in Canaan around 1208 BCE…
The Ancient Origins News DeskMuseum Dates Gródek Flint Cache to 6,000 Years Ago as a Vast Ditch Emerges | Ancient Origins
A flint cache the local museum dates to about 6,000 years ago and a large undated defensive ditch push a Goth and Slav site at Gródek, Poland, back to the…
The Ancient Origins News DeskHalloween's Name Is Christian, and Its Samhain Roots Remain Disputed | Ancient Origins
Samhain was real and important in medieval Ireland. Hutton traces the pagan New Year and festival of the dead to scholars writing over a century ago, while…
The Ancient Origins News DeskA Sealed Roman Sarcophagus in Romania Held a Child's Clay Rooster That Still Rattles | Ancient Origins
An intact Roman sarcophagus from ancient Tomis in Constanța, Romania, held a very young child, flower garlands, bullae and two painted clay toys.
The Ancient Origins News DeskSalem Witch Trials Examined Through an Accuser's Descendant: An Interview with Greg Houle | Ancient Origins
Greg Houle, a descendant of Thomas and Ann Putnam, discusses the family’s role in the Salem witch trials and what the 1692 crisis reveals about fear and blame.
The Ancient Origins News Desk1.4 Volts From a Replica Cannot Show the Baghdad Battery Was Used | Ancient Origins
The Baghdad Battery, a Parthian-era clay jar with a copper cylinder and iron rod, will produce about half a volt when filled with an acid, and a 2026 replica…
The Ancient Origins News DeskA 2002 Study of 25 People at Tutankhamun's Tomb Openings Found No Evidence of a Curse | Ancient Origins
Nature's 1923 obituary gives Carnarvon's cause of death as pneumonia after erysipelas and blood poisoning from an insect bite. Cox (Lancet 2003) notes Carter's…
The Ancient Origins News DeskGrief or Statecraft: 131 Hittite Tablets Reveal a Royal Court Under Strain | Ancient Origins
A newly enlarged royal archive from Kayalıpınar in central Türkiye records a fever moving from city to city, the illness and death of a baby princess, and…
The Ancient Origins News Desk30,000-Year-Old Genome From a French Cave Hints at Ice Age Mixing Between East and West | Ancient Origins
A woman whose bone lay in Isturitz Cave carried ancestry from central and eastern Europe, and human DNA from cave dirt in Spain fills a gap with no bones. The…
The Ancient Origins News DeskSaqqara Tomb Reveals Two Wooden Figures and an Official's Puzzling Bronze Tools | Ancient Origins
A Saqqara tomb near Merenre's pyramid held bronze tools that may be medical, yet none of its owner Weni's titles call him a physician.
The Ancient Origins News Desk3 Pyramids, 3 Stars: Why the Orion's Belt Match at Giza Is Unverified | Ancient Origins
Legon (Discussions in Egyptology 33, 1995) showed the Orion correlation requires Orion to be inverted, that the Belt diverged by more than 30 degrees from the…
The Ancient Origins News DeskCan Carbon-14 Tests on the Durupinar Wood Show It Was Noah's Ark? | Ancient Origins
A viral X post says wood from the Durupinar 'Noah's Ark' site is in the lab for carbon-14 dating. The project head did announce burnt wood out for testing in…
The Ancient Origins News Desk500 Years On, Bosch's Butt Song From Hell Is Still a Guess | Ancient Origins
A viral X post says Bosch painted a playable song on a sinner's backside in Hell. The notes are in the painting and a student recorded a version in 2014, but…
The Ancient Origins News Desk30 Surviving Gears Show the Antikythera Mechanism Was an Ancient Analog Computer | Ancient Origins
X-ray tomography (Freeth et al., Nature 2006, Scientific Reports 2021) shows the Antikythera mechanism, recovered in 1901 from a shipwreck dated to about 60…
The Ancient Origins News Desk32,000-Year-Old Mammoth Bones in Germany Reopen an Ice Age Hunting Question | Ancient Origins
Dense piles of mammoth bone, tusk and worked ivory have surfaced at Breitenbach for the first time since 1927. The finds are real. Whether the people who…
The Ancient Origins News DeskRoman Arches in a Galician Village Church: Built for an Asturian King? | Ancient Origins
A plain parish church outside Lugo in northwest Spain holds two Roman arches, Roman marble columns and a carved Visigothic stone. A new study argues that it…
The Ancient Origins News DeskModern Invention or Ancient Habit: How Old Are Team Sports, Really? | Ancient Origins
Football, rugby and lacrosse all received their first agreed rulebooks in the 19th century, which can make team sports look like a modern invention. The…
The Ancient Origins News DeskMatmata's Pit Houses: Ancient Wonder or a Younger Amazigh Achievement? | Ancient Origins
Matmata's sunken homes are often taken to be thousands of years old. The published research points to a younger and more interesting story about Amazigh…
The Ancient Origins News DeskAbu Simbel Golden Sunbeam Draws Tourists Before Dawn | Ancient Origins
Tourists gathered at Abu Simbel for a 20-minute solar alignment that lights Ramesses II’s sanctuary twice a year.
The Ancient Origins News DeskDid Stonehenge's stones really come from Wales and Scotland? Fact check | Ancient Origins
Where Stonehenge's stones came from is largely measured. Many bluestones match Preseli outcrops in west Wales and the Altar Stone matches the Orcadian Basin of…
The Ancient Origins News Desk2,800-Year-Old Bone Flute Becomes Troy's First Instrument, but Is It Homer's? | Ancient Origins
Troy has yielded its first musical instrument, a 2,800-year-old bone flute. Headlines tie it to Homer, but the excavators have been more careful.
The Ancient Origins News DeskFive-Thousand-Year-Old Liangzhu Cemetery May Hide a Ritual Hall | Ancient Origins
Archaeologists reconstructed three 5,000-year-old buildings beside China’s Fanshan cemetery, possibly revealing a Liangzhu ritual hall.
The Ancient Origins News DeskDid a comet end the Ice Age and wipe out a civilization? Fact check | Ancient Origins
The Younger Dryas cold spell, dated by counted Greenland ice layers, and the platinum spike at its start are Established. Whether a comet caused the cooling…
The Ancient Origins News DeskDenisovan Face Emerges from Ancient Fossils and Proteins | Ancient Origins
Ancient proteins identify Chinese fossils as Denisovans, revealing the low skull, heavy brow and flat face of this mysterious human lineage.
The Ancient Origins News DeskRoman Iberia DNA Shows Rome Changed Population More Than Goths | Ancient Origins
Ancient DNA from 243 Iberian genomes shows Rome reshaped Iberia more than later Germanic arrivals, while revealing migrant siblings and unexpected elite…
The Ancient Origins News DeskDid aliens build the pyramids? Fact check | Ancient Origins
Aliens as the builders of the Giza pyramids is Fringe, and a lost civilization is Unverified. Inspector Merer's logbooks, the builders' town at Heit el-Ghurab…
The Ancient Origins News DeskVoynich Manuscript Was Bound in the Wrong Order, New Study Finds | Ancient Origins
A new study suggests the Voynich manuscript was misbound in the 15th century, putting its mysterious pages in the wrong order.
The Ancient Origins News Desk54-Meter Stone Monument Reveals 4,400-Year-Old Sahara Burial | Ancient Origins
A 54.5-meter antennae tumulus in Western Sahara sealed a 4,400-year-old burial, giving archaeologists the first firm date for this tomb type.
The Ancient Origins News DeskWas Atlantis a real place? Fact check | Ancient Origins
Plato is the only ancient source for Atlantis, and no geological or archaeological evidence for a sunken land has been found, so a real Atlantis is Unverified…
The Ancient Origins News Desk2,000-Year-Old Face Shows Man Buried Among Roman Scotland's Decapitated Dead | Ancient Origins
National Museums Scotland has revealed the face of a man buried at Roman Inveresk, where four of six adult men were decapitated after death. He was no soldier.
The Ancient Origins News Desk3,800-Year-Old Priest's Coffin Leaves Display as Glasgow Weighs Consent for the Dead | Ancient Origins
Glasgow's Kelvingrove museum has removed ancient Egyptian remains from display under an unpublished draft consent policy, including a priest in a child-sized…
The Ancient Origins News DeskMalta’s Mysterious Cart Ruts May Be Roman, Not Prehistoric | Ancient Origins
A survey of 2,628 ancient Maltese cart ruts finds most likely date to the Classical era, challenging long-held claims that they were prehistoric.
The Ancient Origins News DeskMystery of Westminster Abbey Skeleton in Roman Sarcophagus May Be Solved | Ancient Origins
A new study suggests the skeleton in Westminster Abbey’s Roman sarcophagus may be the remains of a medieval abbot buried around AD 1020.
The Ancient Origins News DeskIs Göbekli Tepe the world's oldest temple? Fact check | Ancient Origins
Göbekli Tepe's age, about 9600 to 8200 BCE, is Established. The idea of a temple with no settlement is Disputed, because the excavators themselves now report…
The Ancient Origins News Desk1,200-Year-Old Hairless Dogs Reveal Wari Life in Peru | Ancient Origins
Peruvian hairless dog remains found at a Wari burial site reveal ancient diets, breeding clues and complex human-animal relationships in Peru.
The Ancient Origins News DeskEnigmatic Bronze Mechanism Found in Thracian Temple | Ancient Origins
A four-hooked bronze mechanism found in a 2,500-year-old Thracian temple in Bulgaria has experts puzzling over its function.
The Ancient Origins News DeskAncient Fingerprints Rewrite Who Crafted China’s Terracotta Army | Ancient Origins
Ancient fingerprints suggest women and children helped build China’s Terracotta Army, challenging the belief that only men made the 2,200-year-old figures.
The Ancient Origins News DeskWas the Sphinx built 10,000 years ago? Fact check | Ancient Origins
A 10,000-year-old Sphinx is Fringe: its quarry, temple blocks and Khafre's causeway place it in the Old Kingdom around 2500 BCE. Only which Fourth Dynasty king…
The Ancient Origins News DeskNeanderthal DNA Preserved in 46,000-Year-Old Hand Bones | Ancient Origins
Six hand-bone fragments from Spain’s Abauntz Cave preserve Neanderthal DNA and direct dates, opening a window on the species’ final millennia.
The Ancient Origins News DeskJapan’s Ancient Eruption Had Uneven Human Costs | Ancient Origins
A new study reveals how Japan’s 7,300-year-old Kikai-Akahoya eruption caused collapse in some regions but population growth in others.
The Ancient Origins News DeskAncient Inequality Took Root in China Before the First States | Ancient Origins
A study of 2,316 burials shows how ancient inequality took root in China before states through social networks, portable wealth and conflict.
The Ancient Origins News Desk13,800-Year-Old Beringian Base Camp Reveals Ice Age Life | Ancient Origins
A 13,800-year-old Beringian base camp in Alaska reveals Ice Age hunting, cooking, toolmaking and links across the former land bridge.
The Ancient Origins News DeskEarly Medieval Palace Complex Found on French Hilltop | Ancient Origins
Archaeologists uncover an early medieval palace complex near Dijon, with a church, Roman hypocaust heating and elite glass finds.
The Ancient Origins News DeskIs this Stone the Oldest Anchor Ever Found? | Ancient Origins
A grooved stone from a Norwegian Stone Age quarry may be the world’s oldest anchor, offering clues to prehistoric boats and seafaring.
The Ancient Origins News DeskNeanderthal in Iraq May Bear Oldest Spear-Kill Wound | Ancient Origins
A 75,000-year-old shoulder wound from Shanidar Cave may be the oldest evidence of a Neanderthal killed by a wooden spear.
The Ancient Origins News DeskHuge Prehistoric Snake in India May Have Rivaled Titanoboa | Ancient Origins
A 47-million-year-old fossil snake from India may have reached 50 feet, rivaling Titanoboa and revealing a lost world of giant Eocene predators.
The Ancient Origins News Desk2,500-Year-Old Solar Observatory Confirmed in Mexico | Ancient Origins
Archaeologists confirm a 2,500-year-old solar observatory in Puebla, Mexico, built to track the agricultural calendar beyond the Maya region.
The Ancient Origins News DeskColosales estatuas de Ramsés II descubiertas en el delta del Nilo en Egipto | Ancient Origins
Two colossal statues linked to Ramesses II have been found at Behbeit El-Hagar, revealing a possible earlier monument beneath Egypt’s Temple of Isis.
The Ancient Origins News Desk4,700-Year-Old Shipwreck Found Off Turkey Could Be ‘World’s Oldest’ | Ancient Origins
A 4,700-year-old ancient shipwreck near Turkey’s Kekova Island could be the oldest ever found, and reveals amphorae, trade links and clues to Early Bronze Age…