The claim that Christianity borrowed the Egyptian ankh symbol is everywhere online — but how much of it holds up? The ankh was an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph meaning “life,” used for thousands of ...

AD PRO members enjoy exclusive benefits. Get a year of unlimited access for $25 $20 per month. The mania had actually swept Europe the century before, after Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of Egypt, during ...

Last year, a series of ancient hieroglyphs were discovered in the jungle of Mexico. Now, they have been decoded, revealing the identity of a previously unknown Mayan ruler. INAH Ancient hieroglyphics ...

Mayan language experts have decoded the name of a previously unknown Maya queen on a stone inscription discovered last year. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate ...

History has seen many waves of Egyptomania but, until the 19th century, scholars remained baffled by the many repeated symbols and motifs wrapped around every new find, from majestic monuments to ...

Did you know that Detroit has a psychedelic mushroom church? In 2021 Detroit voters approved Proposal E, which decriminalized entheogenic plants and fungi in the city. Detroit’s Per Ankh Entheogenic ...

Linguists and language pedants generally say no. In “Face With Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji,” Keith Houston, weighing the evidence, concurs. He asserts, however, that there is “a richness ...

The heaps of khipus emerged from garbage bags in the back of the tiny, one-room museum—clumps of tangled ropes the size of beach balls. Sabine Hyland smiled as she gazed down at them and said, “Qué ...

Like many city dwellers who felt cooped up during the pandemic, Jean-Guillaume Olette-Pelletier took to strolling around his local neighborhood to unwind. Olette-Pelletier is an Egyptologist and, by ...

A researcher discovered hidden messages called hieroglyphic cryptographies on the Luxor Obelisk in France. Some of the hidden messages were propaganda asserting Ramses II’s power. Messages on one side ...

Russell has a PhD in the history of medicine, violence, and colonialism. His research has explored topics including ethics, science governance, and medical involvement in violent contexts. Russell has ...