The world’s oldest temple was built along a grand geometric plan
Category History
This Week In History News, May 10 – 16
Japanese castle from the 1500s unearthed, 2,000-year-old Roman roads revealed by sinkhole, ancient Egyptian funeral home discovered.16th-Century Warlord’s Castle Unearthed In Japan Mainichi/Ai KawahiraWorkers excavate the stone wall of the Kyoto Shinjo castle. Few ever saw the Kyoto castle of…
When the Romans turned Jerusalem into a pagan city, Jews revolted and minted this coin
The bronze coin has the words “Year Two of the Freedom of Israel” with a cluster of grapes in the middle. Archaeologists in Israel have discovered a rare coin minted about 1,900 years ago, when the Jewish people revolted against…
‘Blank’ Dead Sea Scrolls have hidden letters on them
The Hebrew word “Shabbat” is visible in the upper right hand corner. A lamed (the letter “L” in Hebrew) is written on the left side of the fragment. Four Dead Sea Scroll fragments, previously thought to be blank, are anything…
Hidden underground chambers unearthed near Israel’s Western Wall
Co-director of the excavation Barak Monnickendam-Givon standing in the subterranean chambers. Archaeologists recently uncovered three ancient subterranean chambers carved in the bedrock beneath the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem. The 2,000-year-old chambers, consisting of an open courtyard and two rooms,…
Walter Raleigh’s bloody quest for El Dorado
Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite explorer was driven mad searching for the mythic ‘Golden Empire,’ otherwise known as El Dorado. Not many people have the distinction of putting a nonexistent place on the map, but Sir Walter Raleigh was one of…
Sinkhole opens near the Pantheon, revealing 2,000-year-old Roman paving stones
Archaeological investigations following the opening of a sinkhole in Piazza della Rotonda in front of the Pantheon in Rome have unearthed the ancient pavement of the imperial era. A sinkhole unexpectedly opened up in front of the Pantheon in Rome…
Amazing astronomical discoveries from ancient Greece
This is the largest piece of the 2,100-year-old Antikythera Mechanism, which is on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece. The Histories by Herodotus (484BC to 425BC) offers a remarkable window into the world as it was known to the ancient Greeks…
Two ‘warrior women’ from ancient Mongolia may have helped inspire the Ballad of Mulan
The remains of the older warrior woman (left) and her husband, which were excavated from the Airagiin Gozgor archaeological site, in the Orkhon province of northern Mongolia. Archaeologists in Mongolia have found the remains of two ancient women warriors, whose…
Sword fighting with Bronze Age weapons is really hard, scientists learn
Combatants wore protective gear that included fencing masks, steel gauntlets and padded jackets called gambesons. Hefty Bronze Age swords are an impressive sight, but scholars have long wondered if these swords were primarily ornamental or if they were used regularly…
UFO ‘invasion’ of NATO war games revealed in ‘Project Blue Book’ season finale
UFOlogist Dr. J. Allen Hynek (Aidan Gillen) ponders a UFO sighting during NATO war games, in the Season 2 finale of “Project Blue Book.” When a massive international war-games exercise known as Operation Mainbrace convened in the North Sea in…
Hidden atrocities of Nazis at concentration camp on British island finally come to light
Photograph of the Sylt concentration camp taken in 1945. A Nazi concentration camp on one of the British Channel Islands was the site of terrible atrocities that were downplayed in official reports after the end of World War II. Now,…