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Writer Fuel: All About the Teutonic Knights

Teutonic Knights - Deposit Photos

The Teutonic Knights were one of the great chivalric orders that emerged from the Crusades, alongside the Hospitallers and Templars, but while those other knights made their names in the Holy Land, the Teutonic Knights fought their greatest battles in Europe. In the latest issue of All About History (opens in new tab), on sale … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Were These Roman Dodecahedrons Used for Magic?

Roman Dodecahedron

A metal detectorist in Belgium has unearthed a fragment of a mysterious bronze artifact known as a Roman dodecahedron that is thought to be more than 1,600 years old. More than a hundred of the puzzling objects — hollow, 12-sided geometric shells of cast metal about the size of baseballs, with large holes in each … Read more

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Writer Fuel: The Ten Most Notorious Pirates in History

Pirate Flag - Deposit Photos

The world’s most notorious pirates terrorized the seven seas and amassed huge riches between the 16th and 19th centuries. Many of these ship plunderers remain famous to this day, but they were very different from the often-friendly pirates seen in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie franchise. Many of history’s most famous pirates began as … Read more

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Writer Fuel: “Replica” Sword Turns Out to Be Real, and 3,000 Years Old

3000 year old sword

A “replica” sword that has been part of the collection at the Field Museum in Chicago for nearly a century is actually a 3,000-year-old artifact from the Bronze Age. Curators made the shocking discovery while preparing for an upcoming exhibition called “First Kings of Europe.” The 3-foot-long (91 centimeters) bronze sword had been in storage … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Lasers Reveal Remains of Mighty Mayan Nation in Guatemalan Jungle

complex of Maya pyramids in Guatemala as seen via lidar

Geologists in northern Guatemala have discovered a massive Maya site that stretches approximately 650 square miles (1,700 square kilometers) and dates to the Middle and Late Preclassic period (roughly 1000 B.C. to 250 B.C.). The findings were the result of an aerial survey that researchers conducted via airplane using lidar (light detection and ranging), in … Read more

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Writer Fuel: What Are “Bog Bodies”?

bogs - deposit photos

A new look at more than 1,000 “bog bodies” — human remains preserved in low-oxygen places with wet and spongy soils — reveals that the tradition of leaving bodies in European mires spans millennia, from the Stone Age to modern times, and that these individuals often met violent ends. However, all of these bodies didn’t … Read more

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Review: The Emperor’s Aeronaut – R.E. Scott and Shelley Adina

The Emperor’s Aeronaut - R.E. Scott and Shelley Adina

Genre: Alt History, Steampunk, Historical Fantasy Reviewer: Jay Get It On Amazon About The Book In 1819, France is surrounded by armies. With Russia in the north, the Karlsruhe Confederacy in the east, and a pirate kingdom in the south, Napoleon cannot break out, nor can the English Navy seem to break in. Europe teeters … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Who Was the World’s First Known Author?

cuniform writing - deposit photos

The oldest known writing dates back more than 5,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia, in what is now mostly present-day Iraq. But who was the first author known by name? Archaeological discoveries have revealed the earliest known writing was invented about 3400 B.C. in an ancient Mesopotamian area known as Sumer, near the Persian Gulf, according … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Where Did the Water Come From?

ancient meteorite

An ancient meteorite that crash-landed on a U.K. driveway may have solved the mystery of where Earth’s water came from. The 4.6 billion-year-old space rock, which landed in front of a family home in the English town of Winchcombe in February 2021, contains water that closely resembles the chemical composition of water found on Earth … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Why Does the Devil Have Horns and Hooves?

the devil - deposit photos

Satan is often shown in popular depictions with horns on its head, furry legs and cloven hooves of a goat. But just why is the devil depicted with horns and hooves? It turns out that historians don’t agree on when this depiction of the devil became popular and where it came from. The devil’s appearance … Read more