The skull of a man who was beheaded in the 15th century was at the center of a mystery until experts revealed the cranium was harvested to be used as medicine. – See more at: http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/ancient-skull-was-drilled-and-harvested-medicine-18th-century-002666#sthash.xU2Nmeoc.dpuf
About 8,000 years ago, Stone Age people built a large number of what seem to be ancestor and fertility cult sites in the Negev Desert in Israel. A new archaeological survey of 95 sites has turned up stones arranged to… Continue Reading
Well it is Valentines Day. Be sure to read Berenger of the Long Arse for a good laugh. http://www.medievalists.net/2013/02/14/sex-in-the-middle-ages/
Neanderthals on speed 60,000 years ago; Paleolithic art inspired by psilocybin or Amanita muscaria mushroom trips; and alcohol-fueled religious worship all over the world down through the ages – these are just some of the drug-taking behaviors reported in a… Continue Reading
360fied is new website that allows the web travel 360 degree access to ancient Egyptian sites. They only have 3 sites currently but promise to get all of them eventually. If you can’t afford to travel to Egypt, this is… Continue Reading
The results of a 50 year project to find every word used in the English language for the past 1000 years is now available online. For example: How many words are there for being drunk? Answer – 193, including whittled,… Continue Reading
A text that may be the oldest copy of a gospel known to exist — a fragment of the Gospel of Mark that was written during the first century, before the year 90 — is set to be published. http://www.livescience.com/49489-oldest-known-gospel-mummy-mask.html… Continue Reading
Imagine that every copy of William Shakespeare’s First Folio had been destroyed some 350 years ago. We might have heard tell of how great “Macbeth” once was on stage, but we couldn’t perform it ourselves. Without the First Folio, we’d… Continue Reading
Opium, “magic” mushrooms and other psychoactive substances have been used since prehistoric times all over the world, according to a new review of archaeological findings. http://www.livescience.com/49666-prehistoric-humans-psychoactive-drugs.html
A 1,500-year-old book that contains a previously unknown gospel has been deciphered. The ancient manuscript may have been used to provide guidance or encouragement to people seeking help for their problems, according to a researcher who has studied the text.… Continue Reading