Smart News History & Archaeology

Image: William Zeitler

Benjamin Franklin Invented a Glass Harp

Here you can hear a man play the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies on the armonica - which looks a lot like a man massaging a stack of plastic cups

Every Time You Curse, You're Participating in a Weirdly Complex Cultural History

The words we consider naughty are a reflection of how we see ourselves as a culture

Before Trivia Nights, Bars Had Turkey Raffles

There were lots of ways you could win the turkey at the bar. They all involved drinking

Lumbini in Nepal, identified as the Buddha’s birthplace

Archeologists Think They’ve Unearthed the Buddha’s Nativity Site

Legend has it that the Buddha's mother, Queen Maya Devi, birthed her son at Lumbini while clutching the branch of a tree at that temple's garden

George Mallory, far right in the back row, during an Everest expedition in 1921.

George Mallory’s Frozen Body May Have Been Discovered Decades Earlier on Everest

Frank Smythe may have spotted Mallory's body in 1936, but kept the news to himself out of respect for the fallen mountaineer

Ghost Hunters Burn Down Historic Mansion

In Old Arabi, Louisiana the historic LeBeau Plantation was burned down by men looking for ghosts, according to local news reports

Protesters really in Tahrir Square in 2011

Egypt’s Government Bans Public Protests

A new law bans gatherings of more than 10 people

St Peter’s square, as seen from St Peter’s Basilica

Are These the Bones of Saint Peter?

On Sunday, Pope Francis displayed the remains of what is thought to be Saint Peter

Why Is Squash Called Squash?

It's an adapted version of a Narragansett Native American word that translates to "eaten raw or uncooked"

Archeologists Discovered a Stash of 3,700-Year-Old Psychotropic Wine

Archeologists working one the site say it is the largest and oldest wine cellar ever discovered in the Near East

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Egyptians Mummified The Beef Ribs And Sliced Goat Meat They Sent on With Their Rulers to the Afterlife

They basted the meat in fat and resin in order to preserve it forever.

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There Are 58 Versions of Little Red Riding Hood, Some 1,000 Years Older Than the Brothers Grimm’s

Brothers Grimm may have popularized the tale but they certainly didn't win any prizes for originality

Conrad Heyer, a Revolutionary War Veteran, Was the Earliest-Born American To Ever Be Photographed

Conrad Heyer fought with Washington in the Revolutionary War

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Kraft’s New Natural Cheese Dyes Were the Key Ingredient in a 17th Century Scam

Kraft's new orange dye was used in the 17th century to trick people into thinking cheese was better than it was

Karl Marx Is the World’s Most Influential Scholar

When compared on equal footing, Marx stands out above the crowd

New Theory: King Tut Died in a Chariot Crash

A new examination of Tut's remains reveals that he was killed in a horrific chariot accident

The Oseberg ship

The Vikings Had a Taste for Fine Persian Silk

Silk wasn't the only thing that Vikings got from Eastern lands.

A poster for the Degenerate Art exhibit that ran in Munich’s Residenz in 1937

A Billion Dollars of Modernist Art, Stolen by Nazis, Was Just Recovered in Munich

As many as 1,500 pieces of modernist art were just found in a Munich apartment

Damming and dredging a California river for gold

The Gold Rush Left Behind Mercury That’s Still Contaminating California

Leftover mercury will continue to flush through the environment, eventually making its way into the San Francisco bay, for the next 10,000 years

World Series Game 6

The Last Time the Red Sox Won a World Series in Boston Was 1918. What Was That Like?

Red Sox fans are partying like it's 1918.

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