If Pope Joan — the infamous female pope of the 9th century – didn’t exist, you can see why someone would have had to invent her. For the Catholic Church, she became a story of why women should not be allowed to hold power; for the Protestants, she was aContinue Reading
Mysteries abound at the most famous archaeological site in the U.K. A medieval ship burial in England that is so impressive and mysterious that it’s been compared to the world of the Old English epic “Beowulf” is now captivating viewers of the Netflix drama “The Dig.” But who is actuallyContinue Reading
Samhain Halloween, also known as All Hallows’ Eve, can be traced back about 2,000 years to a pre-Christian Celtic festival held around Nov. 1 called Samhain (pronounced “sah-win”), loosely translates to “summer’s end” in Gaelic, according to the Indo-European Etymological Dictionaries. [13 Halloween Superstitions & Traditions Explained] Because ancient recordsContinue Reading
Sometime in the late 1600s, in the lush forests of Mauritius, the very last dodo took its last breath. After centuries of untroubled ferreting in the tropical undergrowth, this species met its untimely end at the hands of humans, who had arrived on the island less than 100 years before.Continue Reading
Since the end of September, hundreds of soldiers and civilians are thought to have been killed in a rapidly developing conflict between the rival Caucasus nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan. But why are they in conflict? It turns out that they’re fighting over the landlocked, mountainous and kidney shaped Nagorno-KarabakhContinue Reading
The remains of a 1,200-year-old pagan temple to the Old Norse gods such as Thor and Odin have been discovered in Norway — a rare relic of the Viking religion built a few centuries before Christianity became dominant there. Archaeologists say the large wooden building — about 45 feet (14Continue Reading
Newfound medieval cemetery in Germany holds riches. An early medieval cemetery unearthed in Germany may not contain “a harem for the hereafter,” as some news outlets reported; but it’s still a remarkable find, likely holding the remains of a wealthy aristocrat and about 80 other people, some buried with richesContinue Reading
The woman died shortly after the barbaric act. About 1,100 years ago in early medieval England, a teenage girl met a horrific end; her nose and lips were cut off with a sharp weapon, and she may have been scalped, according to a new analysis of her skull. No oneContinue Reading
A brutal attack on an Iron Age town in northern Spain during the mid-fourth or late third century B.C. left more than a dozen bodies — men, women and children — scattered and smoldering in the streets, as the town burned. Injuries inflicted upon the people who died were horrific.Continue Reading
It sank after being attacked by Japanese aircraft. Divers in Southeast Asia have located the lost wreck of what’s thought to be a U.S. Navy submarine that sank in 1943 after it was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The submarine wreck — almost certainly that of USS Grenadier — was foundContinue Reading