Clik here to view.
The American Tradition of Thanksgiving: A Harvest Festival with Roots in the...
As the leaves turn beautiful golden and fiery red hues, and the weather gets colder and people prepare for the oncoming winter in the Northern Hemisphere, Americans enjoy the annual celebration of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The White Lotus Society and the Demise of Mongol Rule in China
The White Lotus Society / Sect (written in Chinese as 白莲教, and Romanised as ‘Bai Lian Jiao’) was a millenarian movement that existed in imperial China. As a religious movement, the teachings of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Norte Chico Civilization: Ancient Peruvian Civilization or Complex Society?
The Norte Chico Civilization was an ancient civilization / complex society belonging to the Pre-Columbian era. This civilization flourished in Peru about 5000 years ago, and hence has been considered...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rock Art Rituals: Namib Desert Engravings Provide Fascinating Insight into...
When it is carefully examined, rock art in the Namib Desert may shine light on forgotten rituals and practices from thousands of years ago. One particularly interesting feature appears to show ancient...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Study Questions Archaic Views on Gender Roles, Showing Women as Cultural...
Saying that someone with archaic views on gender roles lives in the Stone Age may not work anymore. A new study suggests that men and women in Lechtal, Germany during the Stone and Bronze Ages probably...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Sunghir Burial Site: Were these Two Children Sacrificed in a Form of...
One of the clearest signs of behavioral modernity in the archaeological record is the appearance of art and religion. Once we see indications of creative and speculative minds at work trying to depict...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Neolithic Bones Reveal Socio-economic and Cultural Differences are Nothing...
The researcher Teresa Fernández-Crespo, lead author of this study, had in a previous piece of work found demographic differences between the people buried in dolmens and those buried in caves: while...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Icelander Sagas May Have More Truth to Them than You Think
Myths and legends – purely the creation of creative and imaginative minds, right? Not necessarily. Numerous stories, sagas, and texts from the ancient past have been proven to hold facts. For example,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Did He Create a Blissful Utopia or a Tyrannical Communist Nightmare? Plato’s...
Perhaps surprisingly to some, classical Greek philosopher Plato was a social engineer; and he was the first of many “planners” to come. In essence, Plato, who laid the foundations of Western philosophy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Peruvian Oracles Threw Stones and Clubs at Commoners in Acts of Ritual Violence
Healed over fractured skulls and limbs and a dislocated elbow – these are signs that archaeologists are interpreting as evidence of ritual violence having taken place in Peru about 3,200 years ago.Read...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hwarang, The ‘Flowering Knights’ of Korea: Deadly Warriors That Looked and...
The Hwarang were an extraordinary group of ancient knights from Silla – one of 3 kingdoms in the region of the Korean peninsula. They were an elite sect, chosen from high society families whilst still...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Were Mexico’s Circular Pyramids Really Made for a Flying Ceremony?
Guachimontones (known alternatively as Huachimontones) is an archaeological site located in the western Mexican state of Jalisco. This is an important site of the Teuchitlan tradition, which was a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mammoth Tears of Compassion Sealed A 34,000-Year-Old Children’s Grave
About 34,000 years ago, two physically challenged boys were buried head to head, with tens of thousands of animal bone offerings, according to a Cambridge Journal of Antiquity paper published last...
View ArticleClik here to view.
From Hunters to Settlers: How the Neolithic Revolution Changed the World
The archaeological understanding of the Neolithic Revolution (or First Agricultural Revolution) has changed significantly since research on the subject first began in the early 20th century. This...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Massive Monumental Cemetery in Eastern Africa Challenges Ideas of Monumentality
Megaliths, stone circles, and cairns flank the 30 meter (100 foot) platform mound; its mortuary cavity contains an estimated several hundred individuals, tightly arranged. Most burials had highly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Uncovering the Truth Behind Matriarchal Societies in the Ancient World
A theme common amongst the mythology of ancient cultures is a belief in the existence of a Golden Age, when humans lived uncorrupted, in peace and harmony, experiencing prosperity and societal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Oxen Plowed the Way for Social Inequality
Inequality became rooted in ancient societies with the rise of ox-drawn plows. Ancient societies across Eurasia as far back as 7000 years ago experienced the rise of an upper class.Read moreSection:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Dark Life of a Medieval Executioner – A Cut Away from the Rest
It is no surprise that the medieval period was filled with all kinds of undesirable jobs. There were leech collectors, cesspool cleaners, serfs, and gong farmers, to name a few. But one vocation that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Puzzling Family Structure Revealed in Bronze Age Households
Archaeogenetic analyses have provided new insights into social structures of Bronze age households in ‘Europe’ 4000 years ago. Nuclear families lived together with foreign women and unrelated...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Global Guides Animate the Past in Penn Museum’s New Galleries
The new Penn Museum will include six new 'Global Guides’ from Africa, Mexico, and Central America. Our technology driven world allows us instant access to documentaries, blogs, and Twitter feeds from...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Caught Red-Handed! Law and Order in Medieval England
In medieval societies, it was always quite important to preserve law and order, and to rightfully dispense justice. A just ruler secured himself an obedient populace, and often enough, justice was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Bad was Life in Medieval Europe Really?
When we think about the life in medieval Europe, we tend to conjure up grim and dismal images of war, poverty, sickness, and the Dark Ages. But was it truly so dark? Is there more to it, or are we...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Vagaries of Trade in Ancient Egypt
Along with a lust for building enigmatic and long lasting structures, trade was an important feature of Ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians traded with many lands that bordered their country,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Signs of Dynastic Incest at Newgrange Reveal Secrets Behind Irish Megaliths
The European Neolithic era was a time of change. The first agricultural revolution saw people take a stronger interest in farming, small-scale communities grew, polished stone axes cleared forests, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Honorable Death: Samurai and Seppuku in Feudal Japan
While martial suicide is a practice found in a lot of cultures, the act of seppuku, or ritual self-disembowelment, is peculiar to Japan. The earliest known acts of seppuku were the deaths of samurai...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Catastrophic Collapse: When Historic Good Governments Turned Bad
A new anthropological study provides a strong message about what happens when social contracts are broken by a previously good government – the government and the society collapses – hard. Read...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Strict Rules Dividing Ancient Roman Social Classes
Ancient Rome was both a class-conscious state as well as strictly hierarchical. However, this did not rule out the opportunity for people to move between ancient Roman social classes. Read moreSection:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Achilles’ Shield: What’s the Meaning of the Iliad’s Most Symbolic Object?
The Iliad is one of the most famous epic poems created by the Greek poet Homer and the piece recounts the last weeks of the Trojan War. In book 18 of the series, Homer writes about Achilles’ shield -...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Hard and Dirty Life of a Medieval Peasant
The daily life of a medieval peasant in England and elsewhere was extremely difficult, long, and busy. They faced endless days of manual labor working on farmland starting as early as three in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Giant Elephant Hunt Reveals Emerging Neanderthal Society
New evidence has emerged that Neanderthals were more advanced hunters and gatherers than previously thought.Read moreSection: NewsEvolution & Human OriginsHuman OriginsScienceRead Later
View Article
