Smart News History & Archaeology

The project will also feature the world premiere of a controversial Ilya Khrzhanovsky film, produced from 2009 to 2011 on another simulated set.

An Immersive Art Installation Will Temporarily Resurrect the Berlin Wall

This fall, event organizers plan on constructing a pseudo-city within a block of Berlin in order to emulate life in an unfamiliar country

The precious piece sold for $57,500.

Sold: A Pocket Watch From the Titanic, Adorned with Hebrew Letters

The watch belonged to Sinai Kantor, a Russian immigrant who died when the ship went down

Monks likely used the disc-shaped gaming board to play Hnefatafl, a Norse strategy game that pits a king and his defenders against two dozen attackers, during the 7th or 8th century

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Medieval Game Board During Search for Lost Monastery

Scotland's oldest surviving manuscript, the Book of Deer, was written by monks living in the Aberdeenshire monastery

Palmyra's Temple of Baalshamin, which was targeted by ISIS.

Ancient City of Palmyra, Gravely Damaged by ISIS, May Reopen Next Year

Between 2015 and 2017, militants wreaked havoc on the site’s ancient treasures

Egon Schiele, "Woman Hiding Her Face," 1912

63 Works By Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele Are at the Center of the Latest Nazi-Looted Art Dispute

The German Lost Art Foundation removed the artworks from its database, suggesting they were saved by a collector's relatives rather than seized by Nazis

The Franklin Expedition hoped to find a northwest passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific

Lead Poisoning Wasn't a Major Factor in the Mysterious Demise of the Franklin Expedition

Researchers argue that lead exposure occurred prior to the start of the voyage, not during the stranded crew's battle for survival

In July 1942, the "Lost Squadron," a unit consisting of two B-17 bomber planes and six P-38 fighters, landed on a remote Greenlandic glacier

Cool Finds

The Wreck of a WWII Fighter Plane Will Be Unearthed from a Greenland Glacier

The P-38 fighter is a member of the famed Lost Squadron, which landed on ice caps after running afoul of poor weather in July 1942

Pottery and mosaic tiles found at the Yorkshire site.

Cool Finds

Silver Coins Lead to One of the Earliest Roman Sites in Yorkshire

The dig site found by metal detectorists 3 years ago appears to be a high-status homestead that once had two villas

Hemp harvest at Mount Vernon

Trending Today

Hemp Makes a Return to George Washington's Farm

The first crop of industrial hemp grown in centuries was recently harvested at Mount Vernon

This 1685 map of Pisa shows the city's connection to the Arno River, which spills into an arm of the Mediterranean

Like a Reverse Atlantis, This Legendary Harbor Ended When Its Sea Route Dried Up

Researchers believe the changing environment doomed ‘Portus Pisanus,’ a harbor once considered lost to time

Engravings on a 'hunger stone' have been revealed in the Elbe River in the Czech Republic due to drought.

'Hunger Stones' With Ominous Messages Emerge in Drought-Parched Czech River

The stones recorded low water levels dating back to the 1600s and warn of impending hardships

The NYPL's Insta Novels are available via Instagram.

Fall Down the Rabbit Hole With the New York Public Library's Instagram Version of Classic Tales

Featured texts include ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,’ ‘The Metamorphosis’ and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper'

The tiny arm or leg fragment belonged to Denisova 11, a 13-year-old hybrid hominin

Cool Finds

Meet Denisova 11: First Known Hybrid Hominin

The 13-year-old girl’s mother was a Neanderthal while her father was a Denisovan

Trending Today

Suspected Nazi Camp Guard Deported to Germany

Fourteen years after being stripped of his citizenship, Germany finally takes in Jakiw Palij, who was trained by the SS at Trawniki

Archaeologists unearthed the rotting teeth during construction of a new metro line in Melbourne, Australia

Cool Finds

Archaeological Dig at Australian Metro Station Unearths 1,000 Human Teeth

A local dentist probably flushed the molars down the toilet or discarded them with his trash

Upturned under mysterious circumstances, the flagship vessel sank to its undersea grave with roughly 500 innocents—and one ship dog, a mutt dubbed Hatch—trapped within

New Nanotech Returns Henry VIII's Favorite Warship to Its Former Glory

Researchers used tiny magnetic particles to remove the iron ions responsible for the wooden vessel’s decay

Obvious' "Portrait of Edmond Belamy" exceeded expectations at Thursday's sale

Art Meets Science

Christie's Will Be the First Auction House to Sell Art Made by Artificial Intelligence

Christie's will sell the work from Paris-based art collective Obvious, which created ‘Portrait of Edmond Belamy’ with the machine-learning algorithm GAN

Cool Finds

Scientists Begin Unveiling the Secrets of the Mummies in the Alexandria 'Dark Sarcophagus'

The massives stone coffin found in July contains a woman and two men, including one who survived brain surgery

Poster for Cinématographe Lumière (1896)

Poster From One of the Earliest Public Movie Screenings Is Heading to Auction

The artwork advertised the Lumière brothers’ pioneering Cinématographe

Found: A Forgotten Stretch of the Berlin Wall

It formed an outer defensive barrier that stopped East Germans from getting close to the main wall

Page 160 of 294