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The History Channel is going to air a new historical series entitled DECISIVE BATTLES including some classic wars between ancient Persian armies and Roman and Greek ones. The History Channel goes on location to the actual battlefields and integrates cutting-edge videogame technology to bring history and imagination together in the new series DECISIVE BATTLES. The half-hour series DECISIVE BATTLES premieres Friday, July 23 at 9-9:30pm ET/PT. The series is hosted by Matthew Settle (Band of Brothers) on location at the ancient battlefields and features expert commentary from the world©s foremost historians. DECISIVE BATTLES is unlike any series The History Channel...

Secrets of an ancient Persian armada sunk off the coast of Greece 2500 years ago are being dredged up by modern archaeologists. A team from Greece, Canada and the United States has just completed a second expedition to retrieve artefacts from 300 ships of the Persian King Darius that were wrecked in a storm off the Mt Athos Peninsula, northern Greece, in 492BC or 493BC. Aucklanders will be among the first to hear the results today when three of the expedition leaders present their findings in a free public lecture at Auckland University. In two trips so far, last October...

According to a statement released by Flinders University, underwater archaeologists working with the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation rangers and divers have identified sites off the northwestern coast of Australia where First Peoples lived more than 9,000 years ago, when sea levels rose and reshaped the coastline. The submerged area covers some 772,000 square miles. One of the identified sites includes a freshwater spring and stone tools, which were made using material obtained from an island about 14 miles away. Another site featured a rocky hill overlooking a river channel. "The Ngarda-Ngarli people have cared for Murujuga for at least 50,000 years,"...

Who were the Phoenicians, really? Let’s look at the civilization behind the ancient Mediterranean’s most mysterious seafaring culture. The Phoenicians Were Stranger Than You Think (No AI) | 41:12 Nils | 47.6K subscribers | 353,198 views | September 21, 2026

According to the message of Titus Calpurnius Siculus, a Roman poet from the 3rd century CE, in ancient Rome, in the arenas of amphitheatres, bears were supposed to appear hunting for seals. The writer specifically mentions here an event during the reign of Emperor Nero (54-68 CE). The author does not specifically mention a polar bear or a bear living in a cold climate. As we know, however, only polar bears hunt seals. If this was true, it would confirm how far the Roman merchants could reach or how far they cooperated. Finally, let us not forget that the Romans...

Three Unfinished Roman Megaprojects | 12:20 toldinstone | 648K subscribers | 13,841 views | September 12, 2026

The earliest confirmed archaeological layers at Andriake date to the 3rd century BCE, though many researchers believe the harbor served Myra as early as the Classical period. The synagogue is currently dated to the 5th–6th century CE based on inscriptions and architectural context; further publication of the excavation is ongoing. This documentary follows current archaeological interpretations and distinguishes established evidence from open academic questions. Andriake: Lost Roman Harbor Almost Untouched for 2,000 Years | 21:47 Rumiseus | Lost Civilizations | 1.44K subscribers | 31,173 views | August 29, 2026

The Phoenicians had almost no land, no vast armies and no great empire. Yet they shaped the ancient world in ways that still affect us today. So what did they understand that everyone else missed? The Phoenicians Knew Something They Shouldn't Have | 18:07 Michael Button | Patterns of History / Michael Button | 36,207 views | August 20, 2026

Around 8,500 years ago, Mesolithic hunter-gatherers were living on the tiny islands of Malta -- thousands of years after the islands had become separated from Sicily. The shortest sea crossing was around 80 kilometres. So how did these prehistoric seafarers get there, and how could such a small population survive on Malta for around a thousand years? The Forgotten Seafarers of the Ancient Mediterranean | 12:41 MegalithHunter | 24.7K subscribers | 267 views | August 18, 2026

Painting depicting Odysseus and his crew at their ship (Odysseus tied to the mast), while Sirens are around them. John William Waterhouse, Ulysses and the Sirens (1891). Did this voyage take Odysseus to America? Credit: Public Domain For centuries, scholars and enthusiasts have debated where Odysseus truly traveled during his legendary journey back to Ithaca. Among the most intriguing theories is the notion that the hero ventured beyond the Mediterranean, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and reached the shores of what is now known as America. But what evidence supports this extraordinary claim, and does it truly align with Homer’s descriptions...

It's believed to be a first — and it certainly came as a surprise: Ancient Roman coins have been found in the ruins of a castle in Okinawa, Japan, that dates to the 12th and 15th centuries. The copper coins were found in 2013; X-ray analysis shows that they bear an image of Constantine the Great. The four Roman coins were found at the Katsuren Castle — a World Heritage Site in Japan's southwestern city of Uruma. The excavation was carried out by the local board of education, which says the find hints at the region's wide trade ties.

Named Rimrock Draw, the site - which was thought to have once been an ancient rock shelter - is now believed to date back a staggering 18,250 years. University of Oregon researchers working at the site unearthed two stone tools made from orange agate as well as extinct camel and bison teeth. By Radiocarbon dating the enamel from the teeth, it was possible to determine how old they were. "This early date aligns well with the oral histories of the tribal nations in the region, many of whom have stories about witnessing geological events like the Missoula floods, a series...

European prehistoric artifacts similar to ones in North America, such as Clovis points, have led some scholars to suggest that European prehistoric people crossed the Atlantic Ocean in boats, said Vrooman. And research in Siberia, where the Bering land bridge supposedly originated, reveals no solid evidence of Clovis points originating there, he said... A site in Brazil yields possible evidence of human habitation 37,000 years ago, long before the land bridge is believed to have existed, said Vrooman... Helena Forest archaeologist Carl Davis said it's also likely that early people walked down the frozen coast from Alaska to Baja thousands...

Excavators of Tel Hadid recently released the discovery of a unique seal stamp from the seventh century b.c.e., the time of Assyrian domination of the Levant. It is not the first find from this remarkable site that gives us a better understanding of the people who were moved into Israel during the Assyrian period...The first thing to stand out about the small oval seal (less than 2 centimeters at its widest) is its unique material. Made out of the inner shell of a nacreous mollusk, also known as mother-of-pearl because of its role in the creation of pearls, it is...

Archaeologists have uncovered six previously unknown Bronze Age mining sites in Extremadura in southwestern Spain. The discoveries were made during a February survey led by researchers from the Maritime Encounters program at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. These sites could help answer a long-standing question about where the metal used in Scandinavian Bronze Age artifacts originally came from.Fieldwork took place from February 9 to 16 in the region surrounding Cabeza del Buey in the province of Badajoz. The project was carried out in partnership with the Universidad de Sevilla and specialists from the Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Badajoz.Researchers documented...

Archaeologists uncovered the earliest known evidence of cereal harvesting in the Canary Islands, according to a report in La Brújula Verde. The discovery was made at the C008 cave complex at the Roque Bentayga rock formation on Gran Canaria. The site was likely used as a granary, for plant processing, and, later, as a burial ground by the ancient Canarians, a people of Amazigh, or Berber, origin, between the tenth and the thirteenth centuries. Excavations within the caves yielded over 200 lithic artifacts. Microscopic analyses of wear patterns on some of the objects, particularly a small basalt knife, determined that...

According to a statement released by the University of York, analysis of grape seeds recovered from mud at the bottom of wells carved into the rock at the Etruscan and Roman site of Cetamura del Chianti suggests that vintners there cloned vines that produced white berries. Oya Inanli of the University of York said that a majority of the seeds in the study were dated to between 300 B.C. and A.D. 300 and belonged to this single variety of grape. After the Romans conquered central Italy, new varieties of grapes were introduced to the site. The study also showed that...

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: * There are more than 1,000 moai statues on Easter Island, representing a key part of the region’s cultural and archeological past. * A new moai, smaller than most, was found in a dried-up lakebed. * The find raises the potential for additional moai finds in the future. ============================================================================== Just when experts thought they knew every moai on Rapa Nui, otherwise known as Easter Island, a dried-up lakebed kept them on their toes. These statues—largely made of a stone formed from volcanic ash and dust called tuff—pepper the island, with more...

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Cologne University have made an unexpected discovery in Israel's Negev Desert: carved figurines with apparent African origins.The figurines were uncovered during excavations at Tel Malhata, an elliptical-shaped mound located in the eastern sector of the Arad -- Beer-sheba Valley.The site is often identified as Moladah, the biblical town of Simeon, and one of the cities of Judah (although other identifications have been suggested). Previous excavations at the Tel have found occupational layers dating from the Middle Bronze Age to the Byzantine period.According to a study published in 'Atiqot -- Publications of the Israel...

A mysterious civilization that ruled Italy long before the Roman Empire. The Etruscans were masters of the sea, legendary traders who dominated the Mediterranean. Yet, for centuries, their maritime secrets remained hidden beneath the waves. In February 1999, a high-tech COMEX robot made a stunning discovery off the French coast: an intact Etruscan shipwreck resting 70 meters deep for over 2,500 years. Loaded with hundreds of amphorae, this "interrupted journey" offers archaeologists a unique window into the trade routes and lives of these forgotten pioneers. Follow the scientific investigation to solve the enigma of the masters of the ancient sea....