Smart News History & Archaeology

A 1997 photograph submitted by Andrea Ekins

See 150 Years of Stonehenge Family Photos

The collection offers a glimpse into humans' engagement with the monument

The blue monkey fresco at Akrotiri, an ancient settlement on the Aegean island of Thera, or modern-day Santorini

Cool Finds

Painted Bronze Age Monkeys Hint at the Interconnectedness of the Ancient World

The fascinating "tail" of how Indian monkeys might have ended up in a Minoan painting

The new attraction is the Dominican Republic's Living Museum of the Sea.

Trending Today

New 'Living Museum of the Sea' Established in Dominican Republic Waters

Based around an existing shipwreck, the museum will allow divers to explore cannons, anchors and coral reefs

The Wedding Dance by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1566

Art Meets Science

Detroit Exhibit Celebrates Bruegel's 'The Wedding Dance' and Its Controversial Codpieces

The painting’s frank depiction of drunk frivolity—and male anatomy—didn’t sit well with some viewers

Roman tweezers found during bridge construction

Cool Finds

Roman Ear Cleaner, Tweezers Unearthed in England

The ear cleaning tool looks similar to a modern Q-tip but is made entirely out of metal

Popular lore posits that Jimi Hendrix, or perhaps the crew of classic Hollywood film The African Queen, released the invasive species in the U.K., but a new study suggests otherwise.

Contrary to Popular Legend, Jimi Hendrix Did Not Introduce an Invasive Parakeet to the U.K.

A new study debunks several colorful theories about how ring-necked parakeets became the most abundant naturalized parrot across the pond

Six humanoid figures with animal features surround an anoa, a small type of buffalo, in a 44,000-year-old Indonesian cave mural.

Cool Finds

Newly Discovered Indonesian Cave Art May Represent World's Oldest Known Hunting Scene

The finding bolsters the idea that even 44,000 years ago, artistic ingenuity was shaping cultures across the Eurasian continent

New Research

Oceanographers Map Legacy of Nuclear Tests at Bikini Atoll

Sonar scans reveal undersea craters from atomic testing conducted between 1946 and 1958

The Elgin cast, seen on right, reveals sculptural details lost today.

New Research

3-D Imaging Reveals Toll of Parthenon Marbles' Deterioration

A new study of 19th-century plaster casts of the controversial sculptures highlight details lost over the past 200 years

In 2010, researchers excavating this young woman's grave discovered a waxy cone atop her head.

Cool Finds

Ancient Egyptian Head Cones Were Real, Grave Excavations Suggest

Once relegated to wall paintings, the curious headpieces have finally been found in physical form, but archaeologists remain unsure of their purpose

The shield was buried alongside a 2,000-year-old chariot drawn by two horses.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Celtic Warrior Grave Complete With Chariot, Elaborate Shield

One expert hailed the shield as "the most important British Celtic art object of the millennium"

The two cracked eggs emitted a "sulfurous aroma" during excavation.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Crack the Case of 1,700-Year-Old Roman Eggs

Two of the eggs broke open during excavation, but one remains intact

The stretcher bullet (mostly intact) and two fragments of the bullet that fatally wounded Kennedy, as seen from multiple perspectives

Bullets That Killed John F. Kennedy Immortalized as Digital Replicas

The originals remain at the National Archives, but new 3-D scans showcase the ballistics in vivid detail

An unknown photographer took this image of enslaved individuals on a cotton plantation around 1850.

This May Be the Earliest Known Image of Enslaved Individuals With Cotton

A remarkable daguerreotype was recently acquired by the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City

A sonar image of the S.M.S. Scharnhorst, which sank in the south Atlantic on December 8, 1914

Cool Finds

German Ship Sunk During WWI Found Off Falkland Islands

Archaeologists started searching for the "Scharnhorst" on the centenary of the 1914 battle

Photographer Charles Marville captured this snapshot of an open-air urinal with three stalls in 1865.

How Paris' Open-Air Urinals Changed a City—and Helped Dismantle the Nazi Regime

During World War II, the stalls served as rendezvous points for French Resistance fighters

More than 30 tattoos are scattered across this female mummy's skin.

Cool Finds

Infrared Reveals Egyptian Mummies' Hidden Tattoos

The mummies of seven women found at Egypt's Deir el-Medina site bear tattoos including crosses, baboons and hieroglyphics

Some soldiers (although not necessarily the ones pictured here) dyed their lighter locks to avoid appearing washed out in photographs.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Find Hair Dye Bottles Used by Self-Conscious Civil War Soldiers Posing for Portraits

Hair-do it for the gram

Indian Roller on Sandalwood Branch, by Shaikh Zain ud-Din, Impey Album, Calcutta, 1780.

Art Meets Science

London Exhibit Celebrates Indian Artists Who Captured Natural History for the East India Company

Paintings once anonymized as "company art" will finally be labeled with the names of their creators

A portrait (by Juan Carreño de Miranda) of Charles II, the last of the Spanish Habsburg kings, and his father, Philip IV (painted by Diego Velázquez, of whom the king was a patron). Both men had prominent jaws, which a new study concludes is most likely the result of the family's inbreeding.

The Distinctive ‘Habsburg Jaw’ Was Likely the Result of the Royal Family’s Inbreeding

New research finds correlation between how inbred rulers of a notoriously intermarrying dynasty were and the prominence of their jutting jaw

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