Ancient World
Hallstatt Culture: Salt, Iron and Early Celtic Europe
The Hallstatt culture spread iron working and a wealthy elite society across central Europe and was followed by the La Tène culture.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Ancient World
El Mirador: The Lost Preclassic Maya Metropolis of Petén
El Mirador was largely abandoned around AD 150, centuries before the Classic Maya cities reached their height.
Ancient World
Qu Yuan (c. 340-278 BC): Poet of Chu and the Dragon Boat Story
Qu Yuan died by drowning in the Miluo River around 278 BC; his poems founded the Chu Ci tradition and he became linked with the Dragon Boat Festival.
Ancient World
Bimbisara and the Rise of Magadha in the Buddha's Lifetime
Bimbisara made Magadha the leading power of the eastern Ganges plain, preparing the way for its later empires.
Ancient World
Siege of Saguntum (219 BC): Hannibal Provokes War With Rome
Hannibal captured and sacked Saguntum; Rome declared war on Carthage in 218 BC, beginning the Second Punic War.
Ancient World
Messenian Wars (c. 743 BC): Sparta's Conquest and the Helots
Sparta annexed Messenia and reduced most of its population to helots, a subjugation that lasted until 369 BC.
Ancient World
Karnak Temple Complex: Two Thousand Years of Building at Thebes
Karnak became the largest temple complex of ancient Egypt and the religious centre of the state god Amun-Ra for some two thousand years.
Ancient World
Mari Royal Archives: Zimri-Lim's Palace on the Euphrates
Hammurabi conquered and destroyed Mari, but the buried palace preserved one of the largest royal archives of the ancient Near East.
Prehistory
Carnac Stones: Brittany's Neolithic Stone Rows and Their Mystery
The largest concentration of standing stones in the world, recognised in 2025 as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Prehistory
Cucuteni-Trypillia Culture: Europe's Neolithic Mega-Settlements
A long-lived farming culture that built the largest settlements in Europe of its time before breaking up into regional groups around 3000 BC.
Prehistory
Venus of Dolní Věstonice: One of the Oldest Ceramic Figures
The figurine showed that Ice Age people fired clay roughly 10,000 years before the earliest known pottery vessels.
Prehistory
Homo naledi: The Rising Star Cave Discovery in South Africa
More than 1,500 fossils from at least 15 individuals were named Homo naledi in 2015; dating in 2017 showed the small-brained species was surprisingly young.