Smart News History & Archaeology

New Research

Before He Died, Richard III Lived Large

Bone chemistry sheds light on the monarch's shifting diet throughout his brief life

August 19, 2014

Cool Finds

200-Year-Old Alcohol Found in Shipwreck Is Still Drinkable

Researchers found the liquid, originally thought to be mineral water, was actually over-aged booze

August 18, 2014

Cool Finds

How an American Missionary Helped Capture the First Panda Given to the U.S.

"Missionaries sometimes have to tackle strange and unusual jobs," David Graham wrote.

August 18, 2014

Cool Finds

America’s Tumbleweeds Are Actually Russian Invaders

Some say the tumbleweed's takeover of the American West was the most aggressive weed invasion in our country's history

August 15, 2014

New Research

The First Ancient Egyptian Mummies Might Have Appeared 1,500 Years Earlier Than Egyptologists Thought

Egyptians were embalming their dead as far back as 4,100 B.C.

August 14, 2014

Cool Finds

Watch How the Cultural Hubs of Civilization Have Shifted Over Centuries

A study follows the births and deaths of notable people

August 11, 2014

New Research

Evidence Shows Neanderthals Ate Birds

Squab was apparently on the neanderthal menu for over 40,000 years in Gibraltar

August 8, 2014

Trending Today

Irbil, the Iraqi City the US Is Now Defending, Is One of the Oldest Continuously Inhabited Places in the World

Irbil, Iraq, has a long, long, long history

August 8, 2014

New Research

Humanity’s Legacy Might Be The Holes We Leave Behind

The last remnants of human civilizations might be the holes we carve into the earth

August 6, 2014

New Research

The Flores "Hobbit" Might Not Be a New Species at All

A long-standing debate on the original findings has been reignited

August 5, 2014

Cool Finds

These Diaries, of Poet Siegfried Sassoon, Capture the Chaos of WWI

Siegfried Sassoon's poems captured life in the trenches of WWI

August 4, 2014

New Research

Mummies From Around the World Had Hardened Arteries

Mummies from cultures across the globe have one thing in common—plaque in their arteries

August 1, 2014

Cool Finds

How Big Were Romans' Feet?

A bioarchaeologist proposes one method to answer that question

August 1, 2014

Cool Finds

In 1665, a British Warship Mysteriously Blew Up—And Soon We Might Know Why

349 years ago, the warship The London exploded in the Thames Estuary. Now archaeologists are trying to figure out why

July 30, 2014

Trending Today

The Last Crew Member Who Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima Died

Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk said he never regretted his involvement in the bombing

July 30, 2014

Natural Chocolate Is Actually a Reddish Color

Chocolate didn't turn brown until chemists got their hands on it

July 30, 2014

Cool Finds

Pollution Beat People to the South Pole

Before people ever made it to the South Pole, a pollutant had beaten us there

July 28, 2014

Cool Finds

Don't Worry Mr. Nixon, the National Zoo's Pandas Figured Out How to Have Sex

President Nixon wanted to make sure Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing had enough time to "learn the ropes"

July 28, 2014

Cool Finds

This Guy Simultaneously Raised a Chimp and a Baby in Exactly the Same Way to See What Would Happen

When treated as a human, the baby chimp acted like one—until her physiology and development held her back

July 28, 2014

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Are Excavating the Battleground that Inspired 'The Last of the Mohicans'

For these students, archaeology field school is taking place on a very famous battlefield

July 23, 2014