Author: ancient-origins

Why Ghosts Haunt England at Christmas but Steer Clear of America A few years ago, the Downton Abbey Christmas special featured a ouija board which communicated a message from a dead character.

Healing, Purification and Holiness: How Ancient Cultures Used Olive Oil Tamara Lewit/The Conversation Today, olive oil is often hailed as helping to protect against disease, but beliefs in its medicinal or even

Archaeologists Uncover How Ritual Ceremonies Helped Pave the Way for Chinese Unification Archaeologists have excavated three c. 3,000–2,400-year-old ritual structures in Shandong Province, China, indicating that the origins of a

  Clare Downham/The Conversation The reign of Æthelstan (924 to 939) has excited a significant amount of study in recent years. In 2004 there was The Age of Athelstan, by Paul

In the recent top stories; A sunken Maya city, Costa Rica’s stone spheres, Mungo Man makes it home, a Jewish-style Alexander the Great, all Roswell’s witnesses, Anglesey Druid slaughter, Jesus

In last week’s top stories; Sheriff of Nottingham ring, an egg producing mountain, Occultist Aleister Crowley’s House, Egyptian beer mega-factory, and hopeful treasure hunters. Gold Ring that Belonged to Real

A sphinx is a monstrous being, a mythical creature with the face of a man, the body of lion, and an eagle’s wings. According to the Greek mythology, the sphinx was sent

The cherubim are a somewhat mysterious topic that occurs numerous times in the Hebrew Bible, but is never truly explained. We are given only brief glimpses into their role and

Have you ever thought about eating insects? Do cricket cookies, chocolate covered silkworms, or smoke cured mopper moth caterpillars make you froth at the mouth? This certainly was the case

It was in 1819 when John Smith, a British army officer in pursuit of a tiger came across a cave near Ajanta village in India. More than thirty caves carved inside