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HISTORY OF WRITING The invention of "writing" was around 3300 BC. Richard Overy, editor of The Times Complete History of the World, stated in "The 50 Key Dates of World History" (October 19, 2007): "No date appears before the start of human civilizations about 5,500 years ago and the beginning of a written or pictorial history." Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson stated in the Cosmos TV series (2014, natgeotv.com, episode 10, "The Immortals"): "It was the people who once lived here, around 5,000 years ago, who first started chopping up time into smaller bite-size portions of hours and minutes. They call...

If you think that the world's greatest inventions came from the fevered minds of solitary geniuses, think again. As you scan this list of the 10 inventions that changed the world, note how many of them perfected workable designs. 10. Plow Compared to some of the gleaming, electronic inventions that fill our lives today, the plow doesn't seem very exciting. It's a simple cutting tool used to carve a furrow into the soil, churning it up to expose nutrients and prepare it for planting. Yet the plow is probably the one invention that made all others possible. No one knows...

Dr Karel Fraaije travels back in time to explore a hidden treasure from the English Middle Ages: the Hereford World Map. This enormous artwork shows what thirteenth-century scholars from England thought our planet looks like.The document is dotted with ancient legends, biblical sites, and a great number of presumptions about strange and distant places. The mapmakers even proposed that some people on the edges of the known world had faces in their chests.The video concludes with debunking a common myth about the middle ages: contrary to modern popular opinion, medieval mapmakers did not believe that the world was flat. This...

thought to be minted in the Spanish colonies of Bolivia, Mexico and Peru were uncovered this summer off Florida's Atlantic coast, 1715 Fleet – Queens Jewels LLC announced this week. It's not the first time the site has yielded a trove of, well, treasure. Centuries ago, a fleet of Spanish ships laden with gold, silver and jewels taken from the New World was sailing back to Spain when a hurricane wrecked the flotilla on July 31, 1715, spilling the treasures into the sea, according to the 1715 Fleet Society. Over the years, millions of dollars in gold coins from the...

Silver of the Iceni The traditional image is of backward, hostile, bluepainted hordes led by a red-haired fury. Unlike the Celtic sophisticates of the South East, with their wheel-thrown tablewares and imported wines, the Norfolk Iceni were rural primitives. Or were they? Megan Dennis, specialist min Late Iron Age metalwork, pays tribute to the high culture of Boudica’s people. The Iceni are famous forn two things – Boudica and gold. Little else is known of this society that existed in the shadow-lands between the Iron Age and the Roman periods in Norfolk, Suffolk, and north-east Cambridgeshire. Archaeological evidence seems to...

A hoard of Roman treasure believed to have been hidden from Boudicca in the first century has been discovered by archaeologists in Colchester. The collection, including fine gold and silver jewellery, had been buried for safekeeping during the early stages of Boudicca's Revolt, Colchester Archaeological Trust said. It represents the first hoard of precious metals ever found in Colchester town centre and is thought to have belonged to a wealthy Roman woman, who stashed the treasure under her house when she heard the vengeful queen's armies were approaching. The archaeologists said the hoard was found under the floor of a...

Recent excavations near the Turkish village of Kayalipinar, which has been identified as the ancient Hittite settlement of Samuha, unearthed 56 cuneiform tablets and 22 seal impressions that have provided new insight into Late Bronze Age political structures and religious rituals, according to a Türkiye Today report. Several of the clay tablets contain information concerning bird divination, a practice in which priests were consulted and would make prophecies based on the behavior and flight patterns of birds. The texts record inquiries that were made to these interpreters, called lumushen, regarding the fates of royal heirs such as the crown princes...

Zartonk Media reports that an international team of researchers conducted a comprehensive study of Armenia's "dragon stones" that has finally cracked the mystery surrounding these enigmatic ancient stone steles. Known as vishaps after the Armenia word for dragon, the monoliths can stand 18 feet high. They were typically decorated with animal imagery often depicting fish, and were erected in high altitude summer pastures. Archaeologists have been unsure exactly when or why they were created. Led by Vahe Gurzadyan and Arsen Bobokhyan of Yerevan State University, the team analyzed 115 known vishaps and determined they were often located near springs, streams,...

The country’s impending 250th birthday provides myriad opportunities for Americans to gather, ponder, and reflect on the nation’s history and the principles that have enabled American greatness. As part of that effort, the National Archives in Washington has, for the first time in that history, allowed ordinary Americans to read the entire original version of the nation’s founding document. For two weeks — from Sept. 16 through Oct. 1 — the entire Constitution is on public display. Visitors to our nation’s capital from across the country and around the world can view these priceless documents and, in doing so, hopefully...

Archaeologists found a 1,600-year-old coin hoard dating to the final Jewish revolt against Romans.Archaeologists have unearthed a rare hoard of 1,600-year-old copper coins in Galilee, and the coins may have been stashed there during the last known Jewish revolt against the Romans. Researchers found the 22 copper coins in a crevice within a tunnel complex deep underneath a settlement known as Hukok. The tunnels were used by Jews as a hiding place in two early rebellions against the Romans: the Great Revolt (A.D. 66 to 70) and the Bar-Kochba (also spelled Bar-Kokhba) Revolt (A.D. 132 to 135). However, the newfound...

The Muslim world often gets away with things that would send shockwaves through the international community if anyone else did them. On May 29, reports surfaced that Egypt was preparing to seize and potentially shut down the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. Catherine — the oldest continuously functioning Christian monastery in the world, nestled right at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Built by Emperor Justinian I around 550 AD on Mount Sinai, it has stood for nearly 1,500 years—making it centuries older than Islam.

At the foot of Mount Sinai -- where Moses is believed to have heard the voice of God -- stands one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world. For nearly 1,500 years, the monks of St. Catherine’s Monastery have kept watch over sacred ground, stewarding the faith through centuries of empire, conquest, and modern upheaval. Their presence a living testimony, not just to history, but to holiness. Now, that sacred presence is under threat. On May 28, 2025, an Egyptian court ruled to transfer ownership of St. Catherine’s Monastery and its assets to the state. Though the government claims...

An archaeological mission excavating at Tell el-Farma in the Northern Sinai have uncovered a temple dedicated to Zeus.Zeus is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion who ruled from his seat in Mount Olympus. Zeus is often depicted as an older man with a beard and is represented by symbols such as the lightning bolt and the eagle.Archaeologists were conducting excavations at Tell el-Farma, known by its ancient name of Pelusium which dates back to the late Pharaonic period. The site remained occupied from Greco-Roman times through to the Byzantine and early Islamic periods.Pelusium was first excavated during...

Considered one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world still in operation, the Monastery of Saint Catherine in Sinai is home to more than two centuries of history — and more than that of legend. Tradition claims, for example, that the main altar of the monastery is built on the spot where the Burning Bush first addressed Moses. But the monastery, declared a world heritage site by UNESCO, also holds other seats of honor. For example, it accommodates the oldest continuously operating active library in the world.From the day it was founded in the sixth century (between 548 and...

Dr. Mamdouh El Damaty announced the discovery of the remains of the eastern gate of Tharw fortres in Sinai which served as the Egyptian army headquarters in the New Kingdom. The discovery was made by the Egyptian team working at Tell Habwa in the east bank of the Suez Canal. The discovery also include mid brick royal warehouse belong to "Ramses II and Thotmoses III" and 26th Dynasty cemetery most of the graves are mud brick and group tombs of contains human remains showing battles injuries. The discovered part of the eastern gate of Tharw fortress are 3 fragments of...

Left-handedness common in Ice Age By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor A right-hand print signifys left-handedness The fraction of left-handed people today is about the same as it was during the Ice Age, according to data from prehistoric handprints. They were found in caves painted during the Upper Palaeolithic period, between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago. Left-handedness may have conferred prehistoric man advantages, such as in combat, say the researchers. The research is published in the February issue of the journal Biology Letters. Evolutionary advantages When Stone Age man produced their remarkable cave paintings they often left...

An ancient Egyptian manuscript may prove the biblical 10 plagues described in the Book of Exodus. Known as the Ipuwer Papyrus, the document takes the form of a poetic lament attributed to a scribe named Ipuwer. It recounts widespread catastrophes and societal upheaval in ancient Egypt, describing famine, mass death and environmental disasters.... The text also echoes the biblical plagues' attacks on Egypt's gods, with the river of blood, frogs, and darkness recalling Hapi, Heqet, and Ra. It references slavery and wealth, noting precious metals and stones fastened on female slaves, reflecting the Israelites' bondage ....

Albanian archaeologists made a surprising discovery near the city of Bulqiza after locals notified authorities about an unusual pile of stone blocks, Reuters reports. When a team from the Institute of Archaeology arrived to investigate the site in the village of Strikçan near the North Macedonia border, they identified the remains of a monumental Roman tomb, the only one ever uncovered in the Balkan country. Measuring 29 feet by 19 feet, the subterranean burial chamber is thought to date to the third or fourth century a.d., when the region was part of the Roman province of Illyricum. Once archaeologists entered...

Greek City Times reports that archaeologists renewed excavations at Mieza in northern Greece, a site connected with the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle. According to Greek historians, it was in the ancient Macedonian city that Aristotle tutored the young Alexander the Great between 343 and 340 b.c. Recent work there centered on investigation and conservation of the monumental gymnasium, a space dedicated to both physical and intellectual training. New dating confirmed that it was built around the middle of the fourth century b.c., strengthening the site's ties to Aristotle, Alexander, and his father Phillip II. The enormous complex was planned and...

This carved relief from Nimrud, a major city of the ancient Assyrian Empire in present-day Iraq, regularly drifts around the internet as purported evidence for scuba diving nearly 3,000 years ago. But the wall panel actually depicts an army crossing a river, and soldiers are navigating the waves with the help of ancient flotation devices.The gypsum panel is one of several excavated in the 1840s from the Northwest Palace, which was built on the Tigris River around 865 B.C. on the orders of King Ashurnasirpal II. Originally located around the interior walls of the throne room and royal apartments, the...