News about History

Olympics in 60 seconds: From Greek myth to modern-day mega-event

The Olympic Games began in ancient Greece in honour of the gods. In addition to an abundance of sports, the Olympics of today are money, politics and propaganda.

Ancient air bubbles speak to a much warmer Antarctica during the ice-age than once believed

Twenty thousand-year-old air bubbles have revealed that Antarctic temperatures during the last ice age were markedly different than what the leading science once suggested. This is according to new research in which the…

10,000-year-old bones reveal earliest goat herders’ practices

To trace the domestication of the goat, an international team of researchers have analysed 10,000 year-old goat bones from two sites in the Zagros Mountains in present-day western Iran. Using ancient DNA and…

Flint stone sounds suggest a Stone Age settlement in Copenhagen’s Svanemøllen Harbour

A new method has made it possible for University of Copenhagen researchers to register mysterious sounds from the sea at Svanemøllen Harbour, most likely originating from chipped-away flint tools of an unknown Stone Age…

Evolution researcher receives ERC Advanced Grant

Associate Professor Enrico Cappellini from the University of Copenhagen receives an ERC Advanced Grant of 2.5 million euros for his research project ‘BACKWARD’. Using palaeoproteomics, BACKWARD will explore the evolutio…

Ancient DNA hints at diverse Stone Age traditions of kinship

An international team of researchers have used ancient genomes, 22 new genomes from Aşıklı Höyük and Çatalhöyük, a UNESCO site, as well as published ones from Boncuklu Höyük and Barcın to study people whose burials are…

Ancient Egyptian manual reveals new details about mummification

Based on a manual recently discovered in a 3,500-year-old medical papyrus, University of Copenhagen Egyptologist Sofie Schiødt has been able to help reconstruct the embalming process used to prepare ancient Egyptians fo…

Danish research institutions join the leading European network of cultural heritage

Led by researchers from the University of Copenhagen, Danish research institutions and museums now join the European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science (E-RIHS).

The wars in Former Yugoslavia continue in the classroom

According to the Education Act, schools in the ethnically divided Bosnia and Herzegovina must teach students “democratic ideals in a multicultural society." But according to new research from the University of…

The struggle for recognition: The liberal world order is eroded from both within and without

New research conludes that replacing Donald Trump with Joe Biden does not take us back to the liberal international order that represented ideas and rules of democracy, equality, trade and economic prosperity.

New book provides rare insights into a Mesopotamian medical practitioner’s education

2,700 years ago, a man called Kisir-Ashur practiced medicine and magic in the Assyrian city of Assur in present-day Northern Iraq. In a new book, Assyriologist Troels Pank Arbøll traces the healer’s career from early…

Inks containing lead were likely used as drier on ancient Egyptian papyri

Analysing 12 ancient Egyptian papyri fragments with X-ray microscopy, University of Copenhagen researchers were surprised to find previously unknown lead compounds in both red and black inks and suggest they were used…

Inks containing lead were likely used as drier on ancient Egyptian papyri

Analysing 12 ancient Egyptian papyri fragments with X-ray microscopy, University of Copenhagen researchers were surprised to find previously unknown lead compounds in both red and black inks and suggest they were used…

Volcanic eruptions may explain Denmark’s giant mystery crystals

Researchers have long been stumped for an explanation of how tens of millions of years-old giant crystals known as glendonites came to be on the Danish islands of Fur and Mors. A recent study from the University of…

Spy satellites reveal: Marmots flee agricultural areas

Data from a Cold War-era satellite show that agricultural expansion has a negative impact on biodiversity and wildlife across many parts of the planet. For example, in The Eurasian Steppes, agriculture have destroyed th…

Alaskan volcano linked to mysterious period with extreme climate in ancient Rome

The cold, famine and unrest in ancient Rome and Egypt after the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE has long been shrouded in mystery. Now, an international team, including researchers from the University of…

Alaskan volcano linked to mysterious period with extreme climate in ancient Rome

An international team, including researchers from the University of Copenhagen, has found evidence suggesting that the megaeruption of an Alaskan volcano may be to blame.

Paper on early agriculture’s impact on human lifestyle awarded prestigious prize

Together with an international team of researchers, University of Copenhagen archaeologist Scott Haddow receives this year’s PNAS Cozzarelli Prize for co-authoring the best paper in the field of Social and Behavioral…

Terrestrial riddle solved: We now know where our oceans came from

One of planet Earth’s great riddles has been clarified. We now have proof of the origin of our oceans. The evidence is found in billions of years old rocks that were collected in Greenland by a Danish researcher from th…

Historical inequalities and uncertain land tenure systems create problems in protected areas of Patagonia

Systematic repression through harassment, violence and bureaucracy. This is how families experience everyday life in the hands of a powerful national park in the Argentine region of Patagonia. One hundred years ago, the…

Researcher discovers terrifying epilepsy demon on 2,700-year-old clay tablet

A 2,700-year-old cuneiform tablet from ancient Iraq describing medical treatments has suddenly revealed a secret – a hitherto overlooked drawing of the demon that the ancient Assyrians thought caused epilepsy. It is the…

Ancient “Chewing Gum” Yields Insights into People and Bacteria of the Past

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have succeeded in extracting a complete human genome from a thousands-of-years old “chewing gum”.

Rare find: human teeth used as jewellery in Turkey 8,500 years ago

At a prehistoric archaeological site in Turkey, researchers have discovered two 8,500-year-old human teeth, which had been used as pendants in a necklace or bracelet. Researchers have never documented this practice…

New research project will tell the entangled history of the Lesser Antilles

In history books, the islands of the eastern Caribbean, the Lesser Antilles, are described as small isolated societies controlled by European colonial powers. But the many small islands were in fact deeply dependent on…