Latest Articles
Fresh entries from across the site, presented with a clear lead story and supporting reads.
Palmyra: How 3D Models Rebuilt What ISIS Tried to Erase
After ISIS attacks at Palmyra, digital archaeology is rebuilding Palmyra in 3D from tourist photos, drone grids, and archives to document damage and guide…
Commodus and the Giraffe: Rome’s Hercules Sold a Kill
Commodus staged heroics as ‘Hercules’ in the arena—killing a giraffe and calling it a monster. How Rome turned a marvel into menace, and a…
Was a Viking King Too Fat to Escape His Burning Hall?
Was a Viking King Too Fat to Escape His Burning Hall the story of a Viking king too fat to escape a burning hall…
Did Romans Reach America Before Columbus?
Claims that Romans reached America keep resurfacing, usually built around pottery chemistry. Here is what the science shows, and why it falls short of…
Did Archaeologists Find the World’s Oldest Nursing Home?
Did Archaeologists Find the World’s Oldest Nursing Home a mosaic at Byzantine Hippos blesses “the elders” at a building entrance.
The Lock of Berenice: How Hair Became a Star
Catullus turned a Ptolemaic queen’s sacrificed hair into poetry and astronomy. The Lock of Berenice became a star in the night sky.
Hun Cheek Scarification: What Roman Sources Say
Ammianus and Jordanes both claimed the Huns scarred newborn boys’ cheeks at birth. The archaeology cannot confirm it, but it cannot rule it out.
Susanoo: The Storm God Who Killed a Dragon With Alcohol
The Kojiki account of Susanoo killing Yamata no Orochi involves perfect sake, an eightfold fence, and a sword buried inside the serpent’s last tail.
Did Aristarchus Discover Heliocentrism Before Copernicus?
Aristarchus of Samos proposed a Sun-centred universe eighteen centuries before Copernicus. Archimedes is the only reason we know he did.
Michelangelo’s David: Cross-Eyed on Purpose?
On 25 January 1504, a committee including Leonardo gathered to place a statue whose crooked eyes and enormous hand were built that way on…
Snorri Sturluson: Our Most Important Source for Norse Myth?
Snorri Sturluson wrote the Prose Edda two centuries after Iceland’s conversion. His handbook for poets is essential, but it is also a Christian rationalization.
Agincourt: Did French Knights Drown in Their Armor?
Agincourt became famous for mud, armor, and disaster. The evidence behind drowned French knights is stranger than the popular legend.