Although this collection is called “SFF Thought Starters”, most of the posts are SF-relevant. Here’s one that could prompt ideas for fantasy, though. 

Because we’re so aware of how much easier travel is in the modern era than in the past, we tend to overcorrect and think that trade over long distances used to be basically impossible in ancient times. Not at all; the Silk Road connected the Far East to the Middle East, and pigments made from lapis lazuli (at the time only obtainable from Afghanistan) were used in the Irish Book of Kells. Indonesia has legends about “Iskander” (Alexander the Great), and spices traveled from Southeast Asia to the courts of medieval Europe. There’s growing, though so far not conclusive, evidence of Roman, as well as Viking, landings in North America, and it’s pretty well accepted, I think, that Chinese explorers reached what’s now California. 

It seems there was also an “amber road” connecting ancient Scandinavia with Egypt – long before Viking mercenaries made their way down the great rivers to fight for the Byzantine Empire. 

http://io9.gizmodo.com/beads-found-in-ancient-danish-graves-match-glass-made-f-1669942793