Smart News History & Archaeology

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How the Journalist Who Broke the News of World War II Got Her Scoop

Somebody needs to make a movie about Clare Hollingworth

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These Brave Playwrights Want to Rewrite Shakespeare

“They have been at a great feast of languages, and stol’n the scraps.”

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A Woman Bought a House For $100,000, Then Learned Frank Lloyd Wright Built It

She had no idea her Madison, Wisconsin, home was part of the famous architect's affordable housing project

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The Only Eyewitness Painting of Lincoln's Assassination Is Finally Being Restored

How a forgotten portrait of the president's dying hours was saved

New Research

Ancient Romans in Pompeii Had 'Perfect Teeth'

A new study reveals what life was like in Pompeii — and how it ended when Mount Vesuvius erupted

Gilgamesh statue at Sydney University

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Iraqi Museum Discovers Missing Lines From the Epic of Gilgamesh

One of the world's first great stories just got a new chapter

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ISIS Demolished Yet Another Priceless Syrian Monument

The 1,800-year-old Arch of Triumph was destroyed on Sunday

Sears sweater models...or government agents?

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In Vietnam, the C.I.A. Paid Spies With Stuff From Sears

Nothing says "clandestine espionage" like a mail-order catalog

The dining room on the Titanic

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A Lunch Menu From the Titanic Just Sold for $88,000

The "unsinkable" ship served corned beef, mutton chops and custard pudding

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The Card Catalog Is Officially Dead

Long live the card catalog

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It Will Take Nine Years to Clean the Taj Majal

“Mudpack therapy” will help the iconic monument clean up its act

A newspaper report of Leoti Blaker, who stabbed a man with a hatpin when he would not leave her alone.

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American Women in the 1900s Called Street Harassers 'Mashers' and Stabbed Them With Hatpins

These are the turn-of-the-century women who fought back when men tried to grab them

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The Nazis Wanted to Beat the British With Exploding Chocolate Bars

Sweet, but scary

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Americans Used to Eat Four Meals a Day

Rest in peace, “second supper”

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Volunteers are Struggling to Maintain New Orleans’ Iconic Tombs

Many cemetery vaults are crumbling due to weather, vandalism and disrepair

A statue of goddess Durga in Kolkata — India was the location of the first recorded nose job

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The Nose Job Dates Back to the 6th Century B.C.

But for a long time, the nose was built up instead of shaved down

New Research

Early Australians May Have Lived With Giant Lizards

Researchers discover early Australians shared the continent with enormous lizards

New Research

Scientists Discover 9,000-Year-Old Case of Decapitation in the Americas

Off with their head and hands

Stonehenge after the 2008 restoration

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A Man Once Bought Stonehenge for his Wife, and She Was not Pleased

Or at least, so the story goes of a British barrister’s decision to purchase the neolithic site for the equivalent of about $1 million

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A Letter About Darwin’s Belief in God Just Sold for Nearly $200,000

Just 41 words long, it provides a missing link for historians who have long wondered what the naturalist thought about religion

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