Smart News History & Archaeology

Smokey the bear being given a fire helmet by Washington Fire Departments’ deputy fire chief, M.H. Sutton in 1950

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The Real Smokey Bear Has A New Biography

It’s officially licensed by the Forest Service and written from Smokey’s point of view

A view of the dense Honduran rain forest.

Cool Finds

Amazing Ruins of a Long Lost City Discovered in Honduras

A scientific expedition into the depths of the Honduran rain forest discovered a lost city

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Germans Brace for the Re-Release of ‘Mein Kampf’

Is Hitler’s 90-year-old manifesto too dangerous to be on bookshelves?

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Impatient Scientists Used Paint-By-Numbers Technique to Create the First Image From Mars

Scientists used raw data to create their first image of the red planet

Hiram Rhodes Revels

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The First African American Senator Was Sworn in 145 Years Ago Today

Hiram R. Revels made history when, amid the tensions of Reconstruction, he became a senator from Mississippi

Mexico City's growth is similar in some ways to that of the 15th century Aztec capital that once stood there.

New Research

Modern Cities Grow the Same Way As Ancient Ones

Scientists find that despite time and location, the productivity of settlements grows faster than their populations

Animal furs on display at Grand Portage National Monument

New Research

The 18th Century Fur Trade Polluted Lake Superior's Shore With Mercury That's Never Gone Away

The area’s elevated mercury levels aren’t healthy for fish, birds or humans

Cool Finds

Found: One Lost Sherlock Holmes Story

It was in the attic, my dear Watson

Jackie Kennedy Onassis, New York Harbor in 1976

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For the Kennedys' Virginia Home, Jackie Had Ideas About Every Detail, Down to the Guest Room Ashtrays

She drew inspiration from French magazines and colors from Colonial America

A 19th century engraving of King John signing the Magna Carta

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Legend Says the Ankerwycke Yew Witnessed the Magna Carta's Signing

The tree on the bank of the River Thames may be 2,000 years old

New Research

Neanderthals Divvied Up Chores by Sex

New research on Neanderthal teeth shows differing gender roles

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Should You Speculate in Flower Bulbs?

Move over, real estate—there’s a new bubble in snowdrop bulbs

A lithograph depicting an ancient Egyptian physician treating a patient for lockjaw. In the village of Deir el-Medina, this man may have still been paid while missing work.

Cool Finds

Some Ancient Egyptians Had State-Sponsored Healthcare

Craftsmen who built royal tombs enjoyed sick days, designated physicians and rationed medicine—all paid by the state

Cool Finds

Get Ready for a Taste of the Byzantine Empire’s Favorite Wine

Scientists hope the discovery of 1,500-year-old grape seeds may help resurrect the historically famous “Wine of the Negev”

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'Presidents’ Day' Doesn't Actually Exist

Despite what furniture stores and car dealerships tell you, officially, we’re really just celebrating George Washington’s birthday

A slave cabin at Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate in Virginia.

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George Washington Used Legal Loopholes to Avoid Freeing His Slaves

One of his slaves fled to New Hampshire to escape becoming a wedding present

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Who’s Digging Up Hadrian’s Wall?

Rogue diggers with metal detectors are threatening a priceless archaeological site

Abraham Lincoln in the year of his death, 1865.

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The Group That’s Been Celebrating Lincoln’s Birth for Almost 150 Years

The Lincoln Association of Jersey City claims it has the longest record of celebrating Lincoln’s legacy

Cool Finds

Nothing Says 'I Love You' Like a Bit of Pocket Change

Victorians seduced their sweeties with "love tokens"

A member of the Ku Klux Klan holds a noose during attempts to suppress black voters in Miami, Fla., in 1939.

New Research

Lynchings Were Even More Common in the South Than Previously Thought

A group of criminal justice reformers find 700 more lynchings in the segregated South than previously recorded

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