Ancient History

Ancestral ties to the Kabayan ‘fire’ mummies is driving research to save them thumbnail image

Arts & Culture

Ancestral ties to the Kabayan ‘fire’ mummies is driving research to save them

An unexpected family link to the Philippines’ Kabayan mummies inspired research into environmental changes in the mountain caves that house them

Happy ancient Roman Mother’s Day thumbnail image

Arts & Culture

Happy ancient Roman Mother’s Day

No breakfast in bed and a bouquet, on Roman Mother’s Day, women served their slaves and offered flowers to a goddess

Think you know your Ancient History? thumbnail image

Arts & Culture

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Quiz

Think you know your Ancient History?

Can you tell Minoan from Mycenaean? Or recall Nero’s dying words? Test yourself in our Classics quiz

What was it like to be a child in the Roman Empire? thumbnail image

Arts & Culture

What was it like to be a child in the Roman Empire?

As the researcher for a new children’s novel set in Ancient Roman times, archaeologist Tamara Lewit found herself hunting for answers to questions she’d never considered

Laos jars are slowly revealing their secrets thumbnail image

Sciences & Technology

Laos jars are slowly revealing their secrets

New dating techniques find that Laos’ stone jars may be at least 3,000 years old, but the sites remained significant for rituals until just 700 years ago

How plague helped make Rome a superpower thumbnail image

Arts & Culture

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Q&A

How plague helped make Rome a superpower

Epidemics haunt history, but at a time of COVID-19 it pays to remember they shape history too, as happened in 212 BC at Syracuse

Out of ancient marshes thumbnail image

Arts & Culture

Out of ancient marshes

Archaeology at the site of the former Pontine Marshes has uncovered a massive but forgotten feat of ancient land reclamation revealing the early determination of the Romans to bend the world to their will

How do you crack the code to a lost ancient script? thumbnail image

Arts & Culture

How do you crack the code to a lost ancient script?

The decipherment of Linear B, the earliest form of Greek, was a history changing achievement, but decoding the older Linear A would open a new window on the origins of European culture

Bringing ancient Rome to life thumbnail image

Arts & Culture

Bringing ancient Rome to life

Filmmakers just love the vivid drama of Ancient Rome. But which screen visions of the ancient superpower do our history experts rate the best?

Saving the secrets of the jars of Laos thumbnail image

Sciences & Technology

Saving the secrets of the jars of Laos

The mysterious Plain of Jars in Laos, which is giving archaeologists clues to an ancient civilisation, has just joined the list of UNESCO World Heritage protected sites

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