Smart News History & Archaeology

Exterior view of the "Chicago Defender" building in the 1950s.

The 'Chicago Defender,' an Iconic Black Newspaper, to Release Its Last Print Issue

The publication will shift its focus to online content

Drone shot of the dig

Cool Finds

'Seditious' Pressed Glass Jewel Found in 18th-Century North Carolina Tavern

The bead is imprinted with 'Wilkes and Liberty 45,' a code for those who opposed the policies of George III

The nine sculpted heads were recovered at Heathrow Airport in 2002

Hundreds of Artifacts Looted From Iraq and Afghanistan to Be Repatriated

The trove, currently stored at the British Museum for safekeeping, includes 4th-century Buddhist sculpture fragments and 154 Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets

View of the rebuilt walls of Babylon, a kingdom in ancient Mesopotamia, now located in the modern-day city of Hillah. The site of Babylon has been selected to be inscribed as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Ancient City of Babylon Among New Unesco World Heritage Sites

Other additions include ancient metallurgy sites in Burkina Faso, Iceland’s Vatnajökull National Park and eight buildings designed by Frank LLoyd Wright

The original 3,000-year-old lion sculpture was destroyed during the razing of Baghdad's Mosul Museum

Lion of Mosul Statue Brought Back Through 3-D Printed Replica

The resurrected sculpture is featured in the Imperial War Museum’s 'Culture Under Attack' exhibition

President Amin at Buvuma Island, October 1971

Thousands of Newly Unearthed Photographs Document Ugandans’ Life Under Idi Amin

Around 150 of the images are now on view at the Uganda Museum in Kampala

Modified skulls (seen on the left in each box) versus unmodified skulls

Cool Finds

Ancient Chinese Graves Reveal Evidence of Early Skull Reshaping

Humans may have compressed infants’ soft heads with their hands, bound them between boards or wrapped them tightly in cloth

Giambattista Tiepolo, "Perseus and Andromeda," ca. 1730–31

The Frick Revives 18th-Century Frescoes Destroyed During World War II

A new exhibition unites preparatory paintings, drawings and photographs of Tiepolo’s Palazzo Archinto frescoes

Engraving by George Graham. From a drawing by William Beastall, which was based on a painting by Joseph Stone.

Women Who Shaped History

Diary Sheds Light on Deborah Sampson, Who Fought in the Revolutionary War

Historians agree that Sampson dressed as a man and enlisted in the military, but many details of her extraordinary life remain unclear

The ruins of the Grey family's ancestral seat, Bradgate House

Is This the Childhood Home of Lady Jane Grey, England’s Nine-Day Queen?

Stone structures unearthed below the brick ruins of Bradgate House may date to the Tudor period

Cool Finds

Drought Reveals Ancient Palace in Iraqi Reservoir

A team of Iraqi and German archaeologists excavated the rare Mittani structure before it was swallowed by water once more

The Cooper beech tree during its removal at Sagamore Hill.

A Copper Beech Tree Planted by Theodore Roosevelt Is Being Cut Down

But it will not disappear from Sagamore Hill, the president’s beloved family estate

Ancient shipwreck in the sea off Protaras, Cyprus.

Found: An ‘Undisturbed’ Roman Ship Near Cyprus

The vessel is still packed with amphorae, and may testify to Cyprus’ importance in ancient maritime trade routes

Hansel Mieth, photograph from “International Ladies’ Garment Workers: How a Great Union Works Inside and Out"

Women Who Shaped History

‘Life’ Magazine’s Earliest Women Photojournalists Step Into Spotlight

A new exhibition highlights images by Margaret Bourke-White, Marie Hansen, Martha Holmes, Lisa Larsen, Nina Leen and Hansel Mieth

Trending Today

Remains of 30 Service Members Killed in WWII Unearthed at Tarawa

The non-profit History Flight discovered the Marines and sailors as part of its decade-long mission to find the 500 men buried on the atoll

Catching some shut eye at Woodstock.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Are Finding Woodstock Really Did Take On Life of Its Own

If it seems weird to survey a site that’s only 50 years old, it is. But it's not as unusual as you’d think

Robert Friend photographed in 2016 in Los Angeles, California.

Robert Friend, Tuskegee Airman Who Flew in 142 Combat Missions, Dies at 99

The World War II veteran also led Project Blue Book, a classified Air Force investigation of unidentified flying objects, between 1958 and 1963

Cool Finds

Fear of Foreign Food May Have Led to the Death of This Crusader King

A new analysis shows France's Louis IX and much of his army suffered from advanced scurvy during the Eighth Crusade in Tunisia

L to R: The statue of St. George prior to 2018 restoration attempt, statue post-restoration, and statue following recent "unrestoration"

Statue of St. George Undergoes ‘Unrestoration’ to Salvage Botched Paint Job

A 2018 restoration attempt left the 16th-century statue looking like a cartoon character

This geoglyph, previously identified as a hummingbird, actually depicts a hermit, a subgroup of hummingbird known to live in the forested regions of northern and eastern Peru

Scientists Identify Exotic Birds Depicted in Peru’s Mysterious Nazca Lines

The researchers argue that the non-native birds’ presence must be closely related to the etchings’ overall purpose

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