Webinars

 

Roman London - An Archaeological Perspective
Saturday February 19, 2022 1:00pm EST
by Dr Dominic Perring
Roman London - An Archaeological Perspective

London was perhaps converted from a fort built at the time of the Roman conquest, where the emperor Claudius arrived to celebrate his victory in AD 43, to become the commanding city from which Rome supported its military occupation of Britain. London grew to support Rome's campaigning forces, and author and archaeologist Dr Dominic Perring explores the political and economic consequences of London's role as a supply base.

Dominic Perring has spent over 50 years leading archaeological research into Roman cities. In building his story of London, Perring also builds a story of Roman violence and Roman frailties.  Wars and plagues left their mark on London, and Perring’s exploration of this evidence helps us understand how Rome’s response to the epidemics of the past may have sowed the seeds of late antique change.  His ground-breaking study brings new information and arguments to our understanding of how Rome ruled, and how the empire failed, opening up a new debate over how archaeology might help us to understand the forces that can create and destroy cities and empires.

Dr Dominic PerringDr Dominic Perring is the Director of the University College Of London Centre for Applied Archaeology and the author of London in the Roman World. He has spent over 50 years leading archaeological research into Roman cities, including major programmes of research in London, Beirut, and Milan. Dominic is an occasional broadcaster and has authored nine books and over 100 academic papers addressing key themes in the management and interpretation of archaeological sites and landscapes. Dominic obtained his PhD from the University of Leicester. His research interests include the origins and nature of urban society, the archaeology of the Roman provinces, Cultural Resource Management in UK and Middle-East and the social and economic role of development-lead archaeology.


Become a member to view more OR login here
Heavenly Writing The Celestial Code Of Scripture
Saturday January 22, 2022 1:00pm EST
by John McHugh
Heavenly Writing The Celestial Code Of Scripture

While studying the relationship between celestial mythology and astronomical knowledge as a graduate student at Brigham Young University, John McHugh stumbled upon an arcane celestial code. According to this secret code the stars and constellations embodied divinities, and their titles and images depicted “Heavenly Writing.” Cryptic messages enciphered in this celestial script divulged monumental scenes that had once taken place on Earth. Elite astrologer-magicians—which included the magi who followed the star of Bethlehem to baby Jesus—translated these encoded communiqués into stories that became the Pagan, Judaic, Christian, and Islamic scriptures we know today. 

Although this astral code arose in Mesopotamia, it was eventually disseminated into other cultures throughout Syria-Palestine, Arabia, and Greece—including the monotheistic societies that would eventually produce the Hebrew Bible, the Christian New Testament, and the Qur’an. The code reveals the paradigm underlying the miraculous events recounted in those scriptures, and explained how those supernatural incidents came to be reported as hallowed history.

John McHugh shows precisely how this celestial cipher was used to produce many of the miraculous stories reported in Mesopotamian, Greco-Roman, Biblical, and Qur’anic religious mythology—narratives that include Gilgamesh’s epic battle with the zodiacal Bull, the story of an Eagle who carried a handsome shepherd-boy into heaven, the Garden of Eden and Noah’s Ark, Jonah’s three-day confinement in the belly of a sea-monster, Samson’s slaughter of a thousand Philistines with the mere jawbone of an ass, Jesus’ virgin birth and walk across the Sea of Galilee, as well as Muhammad’s preternatural encounter with the angel Gabriel.

The rediscovery of this secret celestial code would not have been possible without the accumulated archaeological and linguistic research of more than a century of world-class scholars. Ironically, a tacit century-old proscription against investigating the relationship between Mesopotamian astronomical knowledge and Biblical and Qur’anic religious mythology has prevented modern scholars from seeing that this stellar cipher was the basis for the Biblical and Qur’anic miracle narratives.  Until now

John McHughJohn McHugh earned a Master’s degree from Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah, USA) with a dual emphasis on Near Eastern and Native American Archaeology (1999). He has extensive archaeological excavation and survey experience throughout Syria, Jordan, and the American Southwest. He specializes in Near Eastern and Native American archaeoastronomy as well as American Indian rock art and possesses reading knowledge of Sumerian, Akkadian, Ugaritic, Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Qur’anic Arabic. John is the lead archaeologist for the Utah Cultural Astronomy Project, which is committed to exposing and celebrated the wealth of scientific wisdom embedded in the religious cosmologies of Ancestral Puebloan peoples and their modern Puebloan descendants.  He is the author of  The Celestial Code of Scriptures


Become a member to view more OR login here
Ancient DNA Origins - From Adam to Jesus
Saturday December 18, 2021 1:00pm EST
by Dr. Eran Elhaik
Ancient DNA Origins

For the past decade, Ancient Origins saw its mission in making science freely accessible to the public, particularly the fields of science related to the human past. It is only appropriate that Ancient Origins would also be the first to provide Ancient DNA Origins Tests – the next generation of DNA tests. Contemporary DNA tests that report ancestry in relation to modern populations.

However, studying the ancient past is an entirely different story. Because populations change over time, studying ancient people, like Biblical Israelites, can only be done via their DNA. The next generation of DNA tests focuses on ancient DNA to identify ancient people and bring them back to life (figuratively speaking, of course) using advanced machine learning algorithms.

Our first line of tests includes some of the most fascinating populations that ever lived: The Biblical Israelite Tribes, Medieval Iceland Vikings, Ptolemaic Egyptians, and Paleo American Indians. Our Ancient DNA Origins Tests available at ancientoriginsdna.com tell the story of every group and every individual. Ancient DNA Origins Tests were designed to tell you whether you descend from the people who wrote the Bible, the Edda, the great civilization hidden beneath the Egyptian desert, or the Paleo American people that once roamed the American continent.

Together with lead geneticist Dr. Eran Elhaik, who brings to Ancient Origins his wealth of experience in genetics, leading past projects like the Geographic Geno 2.0 and GPS Origins, we are proud to spearhead this next generation of genetic tests. Check out our ancient DNA tests available at ancientoriginsdna.com. We hope that you will enjoy and benefit from them too. “Study the past, if you would divine the future,” as Confucius wrote, and we now have the actual means to do so.

Dr Eran ElhaikDr. Eran Elhaik completed a Ph.D. in Molecular Evolution at the University of Houston with Prof. Dan Graur, where he studied the evolution of mammalian genomes. He then completed two post-docs at Johns Hopkins University, working with Prof. Aravinda Chakravarti on population genetics and with Prof. Zandi working on mental disorders. Dr. Elhaik was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Bioinformatics Hub of the University of Sheffield, England. He focused on population genetics and complex disorders that he links via personalized medicine. In 2019, he became an Associate Professor at the University of Lund, Sweden. Dr. Elhaik’s research typically employs complex computational, statistical, epidemiological, and mathematical approaches to interdisciplinary fields like complex disorders, population genetics, personalized medicine, molecular evolution, genomics, paleogenomics, and epigenetics covering various organisms from ants to humans. Due to his innovative and breakthrough work, Dr. Elhaik is one of the most renowned scientists.

Dr. Elhaik’s work received much interest over the years from scholars and the public alike. We are proud to say that we covered all his research that falls within our domain. These studies include dating the most ancient human Y chromosome, “Y chromosomal Adam,” and developing a genomic GPS tool that identifies the geographic origin of modern people with extreme accuracy. A commercial version of this test is offered on our website. His extensive studies on Druze and Ashkenazic Jews traced their origins from over 1000 years ago and uncovered “Ancient Ashkenaz,” where Ashkenazic Jews formed their unique genomic signature alongside the ancestors of Druze. Elhaik’s group was the first and only group that developed the technology that identifies ancient Ancestry Informative Markers, which are used to infer the ancient ancestry in modern people accurately. This is one of the critical components underlining our new line of Ancient DNA Origins Tests.


Become a member to view more OR login here
A History of Time - From Sundials to Atomic Time
Saturday October 2, 2021 1:00pm EST
by Tim Fisher
A History of Time - From Sundials to Atomic Time

Time. We never seem to have enough of it. Where did time measurement come from? How was it decided how long one second is? How do quartz and automatic movement watches work? Horologist Tim Fisher answers these questions in 60 minutes.

The ancient Egyptians measured time by sundails and water clocks which were later adopted by the Babylonians, the Greeks and the Chinese. Medieval Islamic water clocks were unrivalled in their sophistication until the mid-14th century. The hourglass, one of the few reliable methods of measuring time at sea, was a European invention and does not seem to have been used in China before the mid-16th century. Mechanical clocks were designed by the Middle Ages, the most famous by Henry de Vick in 1360. The invention of the mainspring in the early 15th century allowed small clocks to be built for the first time.

By the 18th century, a succession of innovations and inventions led to timekeeping devices becoming increasingly accurate. The electric clock was invented in 1840, and used to control the most accurate pendulum clocks until the 1940s, when quartz timers became the basis for the precise measurement of time and frequency. During the 20th century the non-magnetic wristwatch, battery-driven watches, the quartz wristwatch, and transistors and plastic parts were all invented. The most accurate timekeeping devices in practical use today are atomic clocks, which can be accurate to within a few billionths of a second per year. They are used to calibrate other clocks and timekeeping instruments.

Tim FisherQualifying as a materials technician, Tim Fisher’s passion for micro mechanics first had him specialize in repairing photographic equipment. With the demise of mechanical cameras, he branched out into watchmaking. He joined the British Horological Society and he qualified in 2010 with Breitling Switzerland and became their official authorized repair agent. He has been practicing as a horologist for many years, working on some of the world’s leading timepieces and is the owner of Right Time Watchmakers


Become a member to view more OR login here
Challenging Leonidas: Shattering the Myth of Spartan Warrior Supremacy
Saturday September 25, 2021 12:30pm EST
by Myke Cole
Challenging Leonidas: Shattering the Myth of Spartan Warrior Supremacy

The last stand at Thermopylae made the Spartans legends in their own time, famous for their toughness, stoicism and martial prowess. But was this reputation earned? The Spartan hoplite enjoys unquestioned currency as history’s greatest fighting man, but is this simply down to the success of a propaganda machine that began working long before the battle at the Hot Gates? Covering Sparta’s full classical history from the foundation of the city-state through to its final overthrow by Rome in the 1st century BC, author Myke Cole challenges the long-held myths about this ancient Greek society and depicts a very different view of Spartan warfare – one punctuated by frequent and heavy losses. Looking at the major battles, with a special focus on previously under-publicized Spartan reverses that have been left largely unexamined, it reveals why Spartan society became dedicated to militarism, and examines the men who lived under its brutal rule.

Myke Cole

Myke Cole has had a colorful and varied career, with service in war and crisis response with the CIA, the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency), and the ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence). He commanded the reserve at US Coast Guard Station New York, where he was responsible for maritime law enforcement and search-and-rescue operations around the island of Manhattan. He went on to work for the NYPD in cyber threat intelligence, and continues that work in the private sector. Most recently he has taken up firefighting in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Myke’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Daily Beast, The New Republic, and Foreign Policy. He is the author of Legion versus Phalanx: The Epic Struggle for Infantry Supremacy in the Ancient World and The Bronze Lie Shattering the Myth of Spartan Warrior Supremacy. Myke is also a popular fantasy and science fiction novelist with several major imprints. He appeared on CBS’ hit TV show Hunted, where he joined a team of elite investigators pursuing fugitives across the south-eastern United States, and later starred on Discovery Channel’s Contact alongside fellow Osprey author Dr. Michael Livingston.

(Photo: © Karsten Moran)


Become a member to view more OR login here
The Bible’s Bedeviling Bad Girls
Saturday August 21, 2021 1:00pm EST
by Mary Naples
The Bible’s Bedeviling Bad Girls

It should come as no surprise to the modern reader that the androcentric biblical writers were unfair to the gentler sex. After all, ever since Eve bit into the forbidden apple, the good book had long been obsessed with the notion of bad girls. But perhaps more surprisingly, subsequent generations have been no kinder. Over the millennia, the stories of these temptresses have been used by both religious disciplinarians and secular moralists alike in an effort to guide young women on how not to behave. This obsession with feminine transgression, turned the vices of these vixens into the stuff of legends--far surpassing their very worst excesses. This webinar will focus on three of the Bible’s most bedeviling of bad girls: Delilah, Jezebel and Salome. Using artwork these femme fatales have inspired over the ages, we will explore the stories behind each of these women as we peel back the layers of legend in an effort to find some semblance of the truth. Surely they were bold, at times they were downright brazen but were they really so bad?

Mary Naples With an emphasis in Women’s Studies, Mary Naples earned an M.A. in Humanities from Dominican University of California in 2013. Her master’s thesis: “Demeter’s Daughter’s: How the Myth of the Captured Bride Helped Spur Feminine Consciousness in Ancient Greece,” examines how female participants found empowerment in a feminine fertility festival. Her deep love of the classical world is reflected in her writing which explores women’s narratives ranging from the ancient Greek and Roman worlds into the Byzantine era and even into ancient Israel and Judea. After a career in high-tech, Mary lives in Sausalito, California with her husband and cat, Maddie. There she has a collection of books on the classical world and a garden with a Cretan-styled labyrinth. Visit Mary’s website: www.femminaclassica.com


Become a member to view more OR login here
The Legacy of the Sumerian Uruk Period
Saturday July 24, 2021 2:00pm EST
by Dr Willem McLoud
The Legacy of the Sumerian Uruk Period

The first civilization in world history in the marshlands of southern Mesopotamia was founded by the Sumerians. The greatest epoch in Sumerian history flourished during the Uruk Period, when mighty and powerful rulers ruled and governed the land. As phonetic script was only developed towards the end of the Uruk Period, no texts going back to that time are available to us. We do, however, have access to a powerful oral tradition handed down through the ages.

The Urukite rulers were remembered as the greatest heroes of all ages in the epic tales of poets, court bards and storytellers who began composing oral lays of ancient Uruk soon after their lifetimes. Eventually the glorious deeds of heroes like Enmerkar, Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh, were remembered in stories written down in later times as well as in notes attached to their names in the Sumerian King List.

In this webinar Dr Willem McLoud correlates the tradition about this heroic epoch, as found in the Sumerian King List, with the available archaeological data. The information about these rulers will be discussed in the context of a reconstruction of the Uruk Period in Sumerian history. Moreover, it will be shown how that tradition had been handed down through the ages and how it found its way into other traditions such as the ancient Egyptian, the Hebrew, the Persian and the Indian traditions.

Dr Willem McLoud

Dr Willem McLoud is an independent South African scholar whose main interests are ancient Middle Eastern and Mediterranean studies, Kantian philosophy and philosophy of science. He has a PhD in Nuclear Physics (Nuclear Fusion) from the University of Natal, a MA in Philosophy of Science from the University of Cape Town as well as a MBL from UNISA. His work has been published in peer-review journals and he is the author of various books, one focusing on the origins of the Mesopotamian material in the primeval history in the Book of Genesis. Willem’s main areas of study regarding the ancient Middle East are the Sumerian, Akkadian and early Egyptian civilizations, with special focus on the Uruk and Akkadian Periods in Mesopotamian history as well as the Old Kingdom Period in Egyptian history. He also has a keen interest in the civilizations which formed in the eastern Mediterranean region during the early second millennium BC. Another passion of his is the legends and myths associated with the great heroic ages of the ancient Middle East.

He has developed a new ancient Middle Eastern chronological model in which the Mesopotamian high chronology is correlated with the Egyptian low chronology. He is the author of Secrets and Enigmas of the Sumerians and Akkadians, available at https://www.whisperingtales.net/


Become a member to view more OR login here
To Touch the Sky: Myth and Astronomy in the Oral World
Saturday June 26, 2021 1:00pm EST
by Dr John Lundwall
To Touch the Sky: Myth and Astronomy in the Oral World

In the ancient world, ritual was not separated from the space in which it was performed. The sacred space is the point from which true transformation takes place, and according to Mircea Eliade, it is the point of orientation that founds the sacred world. The sacred was the power of transformation that was manifest from the eternal world into this one. Seeing a seed germinate, sprout, bear fruit, and die, all in accordance with the movements of the Sun, Moon, and stars, was the revelation of reality to oral peoples astutely observing the universe. This life-cycle echoed throughout all biological rhythms in the world, from agriculture to the seasons, from animal migrations to the tides and winds. More important, this cycle was seen as a reflection of the moving celestial luminaries that rose, set, and turned, and appeared to be the source of all of nature’s processes on earth. As such, life was mirrored in the cosmogony.

Join Dr. John Knight Lundwall as he explores the connections between ancient, oral cosmology, astronomy, and mythology within his own fieldwork amongst the ancient Fremont peoples (Southwestern Native American, 300 to 1300 AD.). Dr. Lundwall will show how an ancient petroglyph created by the Fremont mirrors the cosmos, was used as a site to preserve and enhance the sacred, and mimic solar and stellar cycles in Fremont culture. Using this as a springboard, Dr. Lundwall will explore other Native American expressions of this sacred cosmovision and will show parallels in cultures across the globe.

Dr John LundwallJohn Lundwall holds a doctorate in comparative myth and religion from the Joseph Campbell school of myth studies, Pacifica Graduate Institute, out of California. He is a researcher, lecturer, a published author, and has served as an editor on several academic publications. His primary interests are oriented towards orality and the origins of myth and religion.

Dr Lundwall is a founding board member of the Utah Valley Astronomy Club (501 (c)(3)), a non-profit organization that partners with State and National Parks within Utah in the United States to help run their astronomy and science programs.

Dr Lundwall is also the Project Leader of the Utah Cultural Astronomy Project. Lundwall and his team are investigating the cultural astronomy of the ancient Fremont Indian, a Native American culture group associated with the American Southwest that inhabited the land of present-day Utah between 300 and 1300 AD. So far, the team has made several remarkable and original discoveries.

 

Dr Lundwall is the author of Mythos and Cosmos: Mind and Meaning in the Oral Age

 


Become a member to view more OR login here
Easter Island, Those Powerful Ancestors
Saturday May 22, 2021 1:00pm EST
by Georges Fery
Easter Island, Those Powerful Ancestors

The history of Easter Island is a dramatic example of the clash between faith and

demographics. Throughout humankind’s history, communities mitigated or, as in our case, worsened their environment, and destroyed their food chain. On a large landmass people move with the seasons, weather conditions or away from neighbors’ hostility. Inversely, island migrations are dependent on available land and food collection zones, extended offshore. Observations that may apply to Easter Island, but are insufficient to answer its riddle. The island’s name in the local language, the Rapanui, is Rapa Nui.  

Ancient nonliterate cultures recorded their histories as myths and folklore, while their beliefs were dependent on what was perceived as an “Otherworld” of ancestors and “mind-made” deities. This spiritual perception was inherited from the Lapita trailblazers of the Pacific and successive cultures, thousands of years in the past. The mythological past traditionally short on facts, leaves many grey areas in the Rapa Nui ethnological record. The origin of the historical group that settled on the island, points to Mangareva in the Tuamotu archipelago. The easternmost points of human settlement in the Pacific island triangle, however, will be Hawaii and Rapa Nui (900 AD) and New Zealand (1200 AD).

 In Rapa Nui, climate, animal migrations from birds to fish, food crops’ success or failure, water supply and other life sustaining needs, were believed to be the exclusive dominion of Make-make. The paramount god was the sole master of mana’s powers, granted or withheld at will to Rapa Nui’s ancestors who, in turn, granted mana to their living family and communities’ heads.

No success or failure, from nature’s reward to joy or sadness, wellbeing or deprivation could happen in this world without mana. The belief in an “Otherworld” as a wellspring of ancestral powers for individuals and families, was then common to most cultures of the Pacific. With this mythological perception of life and the support from their ancestors, the Rapanui could not possibly understand the cumulative cause and effect of their actions, nor their failures. Did Make-make turn his back and withheld mana from the ancestors?

Georges Fery

Georges Fery is a tri-lingual freelance writer and photographer based in Dallas, Texas. He has travelled extensively over the last 35 years from Europe to Africa and the Americas. His website  www.georgefery.com  focuses on the history of the Americas up to the arrival of the Europeans. His articles are dedicated to research and papers about the Maya, past and present, as well as other Mesoamerican cultures and those of the South American continent. He is a fellow of the Institute of Maya Studies  www.instituteofmayastudies.org, Miami, FL, the Royal Geographical Society  www.rbg.org , London, UK and also a member in good standing of the Maya Exploration Center  www.mayaexploration.org.  He is a member of the NFAA-Non Fiction Authors Association, nonfictionamericanwritersassociation.com

Austin, TX and the Archaeological Institute of America  www.archaeological.org , Boston, MA.

 


Become a member to view more OR login here
El Draque - Master Of the Seas: Sir Francis Drake
Saturday March 13, 2021 1:00pm EST
by Laurence Bergreen
El Draque - Master Of the Seas: Sir Francis Drake

Before he was secretly dispatched by Queen Elizabeth to circumnavigate the globe, or was called upon to save England from the Spanish Armada, Francis Drake was perhaps the most wanted–and successful–pirate ever to sail. Nicknamed "El Draque" by the Spaniards who placed a bounty on his head, the notorious red-haired, hot-tempered Drake pillaged galleons laden with New World gold and silver, stealing a vast fortune for his queen – and himself. For Elizabeth, Drake made the impossible real, serving as a crucial and brilliantly adaptable instrument of her ambitions to transform England from a third-rate island kingdom into a global imperial power.

In 1580, sailing on Elizabeth's covert orders, Drake became the first captain to circumnavigate the earth successfully. (Ferdinand Magellan had died in his attempt.) Part exploring expedition, part raiding mission, Drake's audacious around-the-world journey in the Golden Hind reached Patagonia, the Pacific Coast of present-day California and Oregon, the Spice Islands, Java, and Africa. Almost a decade later, Elizabeth called upon Drake again. As the devil-may-care vice admiral of the English fleet, Drake dramatically defeated the once-invincible Spanish Armada, spurring the British Empire’s ascent and permanently wounding its greatest rival.

The relationship between Drake and Elizabeth is the missing link in our understanding of the rise of the British Empire, and its importance has not been fully described or appreciated. Historian and author Laurence Bergreen colours in the missing pieces of this puzzle and delivers a narrative entwining epic historical themes with intimate passions.

Laurence BergreenLaurence Bergreen is an award-winning biographer, historian, and chronicler of exploration. His books have been translated into over 25 languages worldwide. Each of his biographies is considered the definitive work on its subject: Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life, Capone: The Man and the Era, As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin, and Voyage to Mars: NASA's Search for Life Beyond Earth. His latest book is: In Search of a Kingdom: Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Perilous Birth of the British Empire.  

He has written for many national publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Esquire, Newsweek, The Chicago Tribune, and Military History Quarterly. A frequent lecturer at major universities and symposiums, and, on occasion, aboard cruise ships, he has served as a Featured Historian for the History Channel. Mr Bergreen graduated from Harvard University in 1972. He is a member of PEN American Center, The Explorers Club, the Authors Guild, and the Board of Trustees of the New York Society Library. He lives in New York City.


Become a member to view more OR login here

Pages

Ancient Origins Quotations