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Joanna Gillan's picture

Joanna Gillan

Joanna Gillan is a Co-Owner, Editor and Writer of Ancient Origins. 

Joanna completed a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) degree in Australia and published research in the field of Educational Psychology. She has a rich and varied career, ranging from teaching children with autism in an early intervention program, owning and operating an online English teaching business, working as a research and project officer in the office of TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall and assistant in the office of Prince William and Prince Harry, as well as co-owning a website design and development company.

Joanna co-founded Ancient Origins with Dr Ioannis Syrigos. Together they immersed themselves in their personal passion for ancient history, mythology and human origins.  She loves learning about and experiencing other cultures and has spent time living in Australia, UK, Greece, Ecuador and Ireland and travelling to hundreds of historic sites around the world.

Joanna has written over 1,000 articles for Ancient Origins, some of which have been mentioned in the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, The Guardian, Peru Weekly, International Business Times, Spiegel and The Daily Mail. She has contributed as a guest writer for other media organizations, including The Epoch Times and iSpectrum Magazine, and has been interviewed on historical subjects on ten radio shows, including the BBC in the UK, and Newstalk in Ireland. She has also appeared on Ireland’s national TV channel, RTE, on the Today Show

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Posts

Skull funerary mask, Bhutan (Wellcome Collection / CC by SA 4.0)

16 Bizarre, Impressive and Hilarious Funerary Masks of the Ancient World

Throughout history, many cultures and civilizations created funerary masks as part of their burial customs. The masks were used to represent a deceased individual, to honor them, and to cover their...
Historic illustration of execution by elephant. Source: Pixaterra / Adobe Stock

Execution by Elephant Was a Brutal Form of Capital Punishment For 2,000 Years

Elephants are one of the smartest and most powerful animals in the world. It is no wonder then that these magnificent beasts were exploited and trained to be brutal executioners. Death by elephant is...
Moche pottery depicting copulation. Museo Larco – Lima, Perú

The Moche Uncensored! 15 Surprising Erotic Ceramics of Peru

The Moche were a mysterious civilization who ruled the northern coast of Peru beginning 2,000 years ago. Little was known about the Moche civilization until the 1980s when archaeologists began...
A statue of a woman grieving the loss of a loved one at Staglieno Cemetery (mallorca78 / Adobe Stock)

12 Hauntingly Beautiful Headstones of Staglieno Cemetery

There may be no other cemetery on earth that captures the emotion of love, loss and grief around death like Staglieno Cemetery in the Italian city of Genoa. With its stunningly life-like sculptures...
A grotesque image of an ogre shooting an arrow into another creature’s rear from the Rutland Psalter, c. 1260. (British Library Royal MS 62925, f. 87v.)

20 Bizarre, Crude and Downright Weird Sketches in Medieval Manuscripts

Many medieval manuscripts are works of art with devotional passages written in careful calligraphy, accompanied by vivid illustrations and ornate, decorative borders. But equally captivating is the...
A terrifying Golden samurai helmet with a tiger mask (warmtail / Adobe Stock)

12 Jaw-Dropping Helmets from the Ancient World

Helmets of the ancient world could be dazzling, terrifying, intimidating or sometimes simply practical. Here we look at 12 incredible helmets from across the ancient world. A Japanese Samurai helmet...
The mythology of cultures around the world is filled with tales of underground cities and caves. Image of the underground city of Cappadocia in Turkey. Source: Wirestock Creators / Adobe Stock

Underground Cities Around the World – Myths and Reality

Underground structures, and sometimes even entire cities, have always been part of myths and religions around the world. While a few of these have been discovered, most of them have not. Alongside...
The Mummies of Qilakitsoq at the National Museum in Nuuk. Source: Kenny McFly / CC BY-SA 4.0

Ten Incredible Mummy Discoveries That Shocked the World

Mummies of humans and other animals have been found on every continent, both as a result of natural preservation through unique climatic conditions, and as intentionally preserved corpses for...
The autopsy of Xin Zhui, Lady of Dai. Source: Hunan Provincial Museum.

Lady of Dai Mummy is So Well Preserved That Blood Remains in Her Veins

The 2,200-year-old mummified body of a Chinese noblewoman known as Xin Zhui , or The Lady of Dai, is an anomaly. When her body was discovered, it was so incredibly well preserved that it equalled...
The Nimrud lens. Source: The British Museum / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Is the Assyrian Nimrud Lens the Oldest Telescope in the World?

The Nimrud lens is a 3,000-year-old piece of rock crystal unearthed by Sir John Layard in 1850 at the Assyrian palace of Nimrud, in modern-day Iraq. Since its discovery over a century ago, scientists...
Weld-Blundell Prism, a clay cuneiform inscribed with the Sumerian Kings List. Source: Public domain

The Sumerian King List Reveals the Origin of Mesopotamian Kingship

Out of the many incredible artifacts that have been recovered from sites in Iraq where flourishing Sumerian cities once stood, few have been more intriguing than the Sumerian King List. An ancient...
A group of Thuggees strangling a traveler on a highway in India in the early 19th century. Source: Public domain

Thuggees – The Cult Assassins of India

Thuggees, from the Sanskrit word meaning “concealment”, were an organized gang of professional assassins – sometimes described as the world's first mafia – who operated from the 13th to the 19th...
Tutankhamun’s condom.	Source: Cairo Museum, Egypt

Tutankhamun Used Condoms Made from Oil-Soaked Linen

When Tutankhamun’s tomb was first discovered in 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter was stunned by the astonishing array of grave goods – more than 5,000 artifacts were left for the boy king to use in...
Skull on medieval tombstone. Source: devnenski / Adobe Stock

Soul-Destroying Job of a Sin-Eater Was to Consume the Sins of the Deceased

The Middle Ages had its fair share of terrible jobs, from cesspit cleaners to rat catchers and even royal bottom-wipers , but few were as soul-destroying as the job of a sin-eater, who carried the...
Zeno was buried alive. Source: alswart / Adobe Stock

Emperor Zeno Was Accidentally Buried Alive and His Wife Refused to Save Him

Flavius Zeno was a 5th century Roman Emperor, whose reign was plagued by domestic revolts and religious dissention, and it appears that he was just as unlucky in death as he was in life! According to...
Flesh-eating sarcophagus, Assos, Turkey. Source: Häferlkaffee / Twitter

‘Meat Eater’ Sarcophagi in Turkey Turned Bodies to Skeletons in 40 Days

In the ancient city of Assos in Turkey there existed a bizarre phenomenon – the stone sarcophagi within the Assos necropolis could decompose bodies unusually fast. Instead of taking between 50 and...

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