Smart News History & Archaeology

Chechnya, Dagestan, and the North Caucasus: A Very Brief History

Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hails from Dagestan, a war-torn Russian region in the North Caucasus.

In 1794, troops armed by the 1792 Militia Act partook in suppressing Pennsylvania’s Whiskey Rebellion.

A Georgia Town Is Requiring Gun Ownership. So Did the Founding Fathers.

A Georgia town may have just mandated gun ownership, but early Americans had the same idea back in 1792

Maybe Cleopatra Didn’t Commit Suicide

Her murder, one author thinks, was covered up behind a veil of propaganda and lies put forth by the Roman Empire

A map of the Mississippi Territory c. 1817

After 195 Years, Georgia Is Still Complaining About Its Border With Tennessee

Georgia, again, wants to move its border a mile to the north

Mussolini and Hitler in Munich in 1940.

Italian Dictator Mussolini’s Secret Bunker Unearthed

Hidden beneath the Palazzo Venezia, Benito Mussolini's World War II bunker

Workers clean the salvaged F-1 engine

An Apollo Rocket Engine Was Just Saved from the Bottom of the Atlantic

These booster rockets sent Apollo astronauts blasting to the Moon

Manet, Chez Tortoni, among one of the items stolen

After Twenty-Three Years, FBI Says It Finally Knows Who’s Responsible for the Largest Unsolved Art Heist Ever

Twenty three years ago today, thieves pulled off one of the greatest art heists in history - and the FBI might have just finally caught them

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Black Plague Death Pit Dug Up in London

Dug up during London construction, the bodies of those killed by the black plague

Albania Has No Idea What to Do With All of These Leftover War Bunkers

Albania's 700,000 war bunkers aren't going anywhere soon, so locals are turning them into hostels, animal sheds and make-out spots

Cannibals of the Past Had Plenty of Reasons to Eat People

For a long time cannibalism was a survival technique, a cultural practice, and a legitimate source of protein

Centuries Ago, a Cat Walked Across This Medieval Manuscript

While pawing through a stack of medieval manuscripts from Dubrovnik, Croatia, a student stumbled upon a familiar set of splotches marring the book's pages

Cut spending, be immortalized on the nickel

How Would Thomas Jefferson Solve the Fiscal Crisis?

Jefferson managed to cut military spending by nearly half, end the whiskey tax and buy a third of North America

An international group of artists was brought in to paint what is now the East Berlin Gallery, a 1300 meter stretch of the remnant Berlin Wall.

Luxury Home Developer Wants to Tear Down Part of the Berlin Wall’s Remains

Cultural preservation met urban development over the weekend with protests to save the Berlin Wall

Suffragettes march, complete with cloth banners, across the intersection of Pennsylvania Ave. and 11th St. in Washington, D.C. Photo: Library of Congress

Inauguration History

More Than One Hundred Years Ago, 5,000 Suffragettes Paraded Down Pennsylvania Avenue

On the eve of Woodrow Wilson's inauguration, suffragists descended upon Washington

Aphrodite rescuing her son Aeneas, wounded in fight, scene from The Iliad. Work on display in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen.

Geneticists Try to Figure Out When the Illiad Was Published

When was The Iliad actually written? To answer that question, you might turn to a historian or a literary scholar. But geneticists wanted a crack at it

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Don’t Believe the Guy Who Claims He’s Descended From Vikings

You can probably claim Viking or whatever other heritage of choice you prefer and have a good chance of hitting the mark—without forking over $200

Mississippi Officially Ratifies Amendment to Ban Slavery, 148 Years Late

The movie Lincoln helped kick Mississippi into action on finally ratifying the 13th Amendment

Fifty Years After Sylvia Plath’s Death, Critics Are Just Starting to Understand Her Life

Cultural fascination with the author and poet continues to burn brightly despite - or perhaps because of - Plath's premature departure from this world

In the Entire History of the Catholic Church, Only a Handful of Popes Have Resigned

Today, Pope Benedict XVI told the world that he would resign

Chinese relics in disrepair and the study authors’ proposed fix for the terracotta soldiers.

China’s Terracotta Warrior Army Is Deteriorating

If China doesn't take steps to better preserve the relics, they may eventually turn into dust

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