Smart News History & Archaeology

An Illustrated Map of Chicago, Youthful City of the Big Shoulders, Restless, Ingenious, Wilful, Violent, Proud to be Alive! by Charles Turzak, Boston, 1931. A whimsical map of the city including parks, planes, and even Lake Michigan sea monsters

Cool Finds

Eight Awesome Maps From Stanford's New David Rumsey Map Center

A collection of 150,000 historic maps merges paper and digital images in new ways

For the first time in hundreds of years, some seders might include rice and beans.

Trending Today

For the First Time in 800 Years, Rice and Beans Are Kosher for Passover

The Jewish Conservative movement relaxes a 13th-century ban on rice, corn and beans during Passover

Trending Today

It's Official: Harriet Tubman Will Grace the $20 Bill

The famed Underground Railroad Conductor will appear on the front of the $20 bill, among other changes to U.S. currency

An artist's rendering of the 3-D Triumphal Arch in London

Trending Today

Palmyra Arch Destroyed by ISIS Rises Again in Central London

Using 3-D photos and computer guided stonecutters, researchers recreated the Triumphal Arch destroyed by the terrorist group last year

A 400-year-old dress was recovered from a 17th-century shipwreck off the Dutch coast.

Cool Finds

Dutch Divers Found a 17th-Century Dress Buried Under the Sea

The 400-year-old gown was remarkably well-preserved

Basta Ya! (Enough!) was a community bilingual newspaper published in San Francisco, California from 1969 to about 1973.

Cool Finds

Read Almost 150 Years' Worth of Mexican-American Journalism

History is in the headlines at the Historic Mexican and Mexican American Press Collection

What the villa discovered in Wiltshire, England, would have looked like 1800 years ago

Cool Finds

Massive Roman Villa Found in British Backyard

One of the largest and best-preserved Roman homes ever found in Britain was discovered after a family decided they wanted to play ping-pong in their barn

Some of the shackled skeletons found at Phalaeron outside Athens

Cool Finds

Shackled Skeletons Unearthed in Greece Could Be Remains of Slaughtered Rebels

Three dozen skeletons in shackles may be the followers of Cylon, an Olympic champion who tried to take over Athens in 632 B.C.

The Grand Entrance Hall to the Thames Tunnel has been restored and reopened to the public.

Cool Finds

Historic Sites of the London Underground Will Soon Open for Visitors

See Churchill’s blitz bunker and the first underwater tunnel ever built

Cool Finds

Historians Identify 35 Descendants of Leonardo da Vinci

Using historical documents and genealogical detective work, researchers have reconstructed 15 generations of Leonardo's family tree

"Prague, Czechia" has a ring to it, doesn't it?

Trending Today

The Czech Republic Wants to Change Its Name

Welcome to “Czechia”

The tomb was discovered by construction workers near one of Mexico's largest cathedrals.

Cool Finds

A Construction Crew Uncovered the Grave of One of Mexico’s First Catholic Priests

The 16th-century grave was found at the site of an Aztec temple

Cool Finds

Five Fascinating Places to Visit This Obscura Day

<i>Atlas Obscura</i> celebrates all things weird and wonderful worldwide this Saturday

The leaders of the March on Washington link arms.

Trending Today

Lawyers Who Made the Birthday Song Public Domain Take Aim at Civil Rights Anthem

A group of filmmakers want to remove the copyright from "We Shall Overcome"

Drawing of a rhinoceros species, now extinct in Europe, in the Caverne du Pont d'Arc near Vallon, France, a replica of Chauvet Cave.

New Research

New Timeline Zeros in on the Creation of the Chauvet Cave Paintings

Radiocarbon dates help reconstruct the cave's long history

The newly named Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument was ground zero for women's rights during the 20th century.

Trending Today

The U.S. Finally Has a National Monument That Honors Women’s History

144 Constitution Avenue is now one of the women’s movement’s most significant sites

New Research

Machine Learning May Help Determine When the Old Testament Was Written

Using computer algorithms to analyze handwriting, researchers discover citizens of ancient Judah were much more literate than previously thought

During World War II, Anne O’Hare McCormick wrote an editorial in the New York Times that urged people to pay attention to Hungary's Jews.

Trending Today

New Project Uncovers What Americans Knew About the Holocaust

You can help historians learn how newspapers in the U.S. documented the persecution of European Jews

This Booker T. Washington stamp was part of a series depicting influential educators.

Cool Finds

How Booker T. Washington Became the First African-American on a U.S. Postage Stamp

At the time, postage stamps usually depicted white men

Cool Finds

Researchers Crack Open the Mysterious Plain of Jars

After 80 years, archeologists get the chance to explore the Laotian plateau dotted with giant stone jars

Page 242 of 294