Smart News History & Archaeology

Cool Finds

Europe Has Its Own Bison Species That Came Back From the Brink of Extinction

Bison were just reintroduced into a stretch of Romania where they haven't been found for two centuries

Cool Finds

DNA Proves Once And for All That a Supposed Titanic Survivor Was a Fraud

Loraine Allison, a two-year-old who was on board the Titanic, almost certainly drowned

Ghazali monastery

Cool Finds

These Archaeologists Were Looking for Tombs, But They Were Totally Psyched to Find Toilets

The discovery of toilets at a Sudanese monastery indicates that the site was an important one

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The 9/11 Memorial Museum Opens to the Public

So far, the 9/11 Memorial Museum has provoked a range of reactions. Now, you can come to your own verdict.

Organ Mountains at Sunset

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The Newest National Monument Is Twice as Big as Any Obama Has Created—And It's Beautiful

The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks region is the largest Obama has created, and has ruins, rocky mountains and astronaut-training sites

Cool Finds

Dracula’s Castle Is for Sale

Bran Castle can be yours for a rumored $80 million

Market in Hanoi, Vietnam

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Conflicts Around the World Are Creating Shortages in the U.S.—And Not Just of Limes

While American consumers are freaking out about lime and pepper shortages, Ukraine has to worry about its wheat crop

President James A. Garfield

Trending Today

Spoons Stolen from President Garfield's Tomb

Something's rotten in Cleveland

Christopher Columbus' flagship, the Santa Maria, and his companion ships Pinta and the Nina approaching land. Undated Woodcut.

New Research

Wreckage of Christopher Columbus' Santa Maria Found off Haitian Coast (Maybe)

The Santa Maria ran aground off Haiti in 1492

Berlin Children Cheering Airlift Plane

Trending Today

65 Years Ago Today, the Soviet Blockade of Berlin Ended

The first real showdown between the Soviet Union and the West ended 65 years ago today

Gino Bartali

Cool Finds

This Italian Cyclist Defied Fascists and Saved Lives

The world didn’t learn about the heroism of Gino Bartali during WWII until after he died in 2000

A small ivory statuette previously found in a different tomb in Hierakonpolis.  The Daily Mail has photos of objects found at the new site.

New Research

Archaeologists Just Found a 5,600-Year-Old Pre-Dynastic Egyptian Tomb

This newly discovered Egyptian tomb is even older than hierogylphs

Cool Finds

Someone Had to Build the Terracotta Army—Archaeologists Just Found Their Humbler Grave Sites

Forty-five grave sites were found only kilometers from the emperor's tomb

Saint Sebastian Interceding for the Plague Stricken by Josse Lieferinxe

New Research

The Black Death Actually Improved Public Health

Analysis of skeletons from before and after the height of the epidemic yields surprising results

Far View House, Mesa Verde

Cool Finds

This "Lake" at Mesa Verde Is Actually a Ceremonial Structure

The old theory, that it was a reservoir, didn’t hold water

Cool Finds

The Area Around Stonehenge Has Been Inhabited for More Than 10,000 Years

That makes this area the oldest inhabited place in England

The Great Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza (Egypt). Ca. 1845. Lithography by David Roberts.

New Research

A Simple Trick May Have Helped the Egyptians Build the Pyramids

No ancient aliens needed: A little bit of water reduces friction when dragging a sled over sand

Cool Finds

These Cold War Satellite Images Revealed 10,000 Undiscovered Archaeological Sites

Images of the Middle East from the 1960s showed thousands of archaeological sites—some of which have already been destroyed

Monument to Cervantes in Madrid

Cool Finds

Spain Begins to Search for Cervantes’ Bones

Experts use ground-penetrating radar to search for the author’s bones

Cool Finds

Women Fought in the Civil War Disguised As Men (And So Do Today's Re-enactors)

Some women dressed up as their husbands, or even fought alongside them

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