Smart News History & Archaeology

Cool Finds

Now Available: The Ultimate Old-Timey Playlist

Listen to digitized recordings of wax cylinders, an obsolete technology that revives turn-of-the-century culture

A photo of the Hydrus before the ship sank in November, 1913

Cool Finds

Divers Discover 102-Year-Old Shipwreck in Lake Huron

The Hydrus and her crew were lost during the Great Storm of 1913

Cool Finds

The Mystery of a Titanic Telegram

Did the Titanic's owners know about its collision with an iceberg?

2,600 undelivered letters, 600 of them unopened, were found inside this postmaster's trunk.

Cool Finds

This Trunk Stuffed With 17th-Century Letters Is a Historian’s Dream

Recipients never read these letters, but their loss is history’s gain

Hedy Lamarr, mother of modern wifi.

Cool Finds

Happy Birthday Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood Star Turned Scientist

The beauty had brains—after all, she invented the tech behind Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS

Cool Finds

How the U.S. Census Defines Race

The history of America's racial identity, as told by 225 years of population data

The Russian Imperial Family, as photographed in 1911. The Russian Orthodox Church has not recognized the remains of Maria (second from left) and Alexei (second from right), despite DNA analysis.

Trending Today

Why Russia Is Digging Up The Bones of a 19th-Century Tsar

A new DNA analysis aims to end speculation about the last Romanovs—but hasn't the mystery already been solved?

Soldiers of the 44th Division at Fort Dix, New Jersey, in a gas mask drill. The experiments however, exposed troops to chemical weapons without such protection.

Trending Today

The Tragic Aftermath of Mustard Gas Experiments in World War II

An NPR investigation is looking for victims of the U.S. military tests

In the unregulated park, kids encountered alligators without fences, gates or grates.

Cool Finds

When Kids Played With Alligators in Los Angeles

Babies, dogs and onlookers mixed with snapping reptiles at California's Alligator Farm

Cool Finds

A 2,000-Year-Old Greek Fortress Has Been Unearthed in Jerusalem

The fort played a role in the Jewish revolts that inspired Hanukkah

Cool Finds

Hidden Poop Joke Found in 17th-Century Art Owned By Queen Elizabeth

The newly restored Dutch painting depicts a man relieving himself

Bonus points if you can find a cat in this picture.

Cool Finds

Someone Just Paid $826,000 for the Greatest Cat Painting of All Time

"My Wife's Lovers" pays tribute to the wealthiest cats of the 1890s

Detail from the cover of the 1948 Green Book, a guidebook for black travelers.

Cool Finds

A Black American's Guide to Travel In the Jim Crow Era

For decades, <i>The Green Book </i> was the black traveler's lifeline

Cool Finds

NASA is Helping Study These Massive Earthworks from Space

Could satellite photographs decipher the meaning behind Kazakhstan's mysterious geometric designs?

Trending Today

By Scanning Pyramids, Will Scientists Unravel Secrets of Ancient Egypt?

A new project uses thermal imaging to look for hidden chambers

A man walks by a family planning billboard portraying parents and one child in Beijing in 1983. China just announced it will reverse its controversial one-child policy.

Trending Today

China Says It Will End One-Child Policy

Under new rules, Chinese families can have two children

Six ivory combs were also excavated from the tomb.

Cool Finds

The Incredible Treasures Found Inside the 'Griffin Warrior' Tomb

Why was a Mycenaean soldier buried with so many riches?

Archeologists working at the Upward Sun River site in Alaska, where they found the 11,500-year-old remains of two infants

New Research

Ice Age Babies Buried in Alaska Reveals Early Genetic Diversity in North America

The infants’ DNA shows that humans may have stayed near the Bering Strait for thousands of years before moving farther south

A hiker is dwarfed by the landscape of the mountain plateau where the Viking sword was found

Cool Finds

Hiker Accidentally Discovers 1,200-Year-Old Viking Sword in Norway

The wrought iron weapon is an extraordinary find

Cool Finds

How Tourism Shaped Photography in 19th Century Japan

Westerners were obsessed with geisha, samurai and cherry blossoms

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