Smart News History & Archaeology

Tourists visiting the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt, earlier this week

Cool Finds

Hidden Chamber Revealed Inside Great Pyramid of Giza

Researchers used cosmic-ray imaging to uncover the 30-foot-long corridor

This cross-section view shows the Lincoln Memorial atop the undercroft, part of which will house a new museum.

The Lincoln Memorial Is Getting a New Underground Museum

Crews are starting work on the $69 million project this month and hope to finish by 2026

An anchor is still attached on the bow of the sunken schooner barge Ironton, lost in a collision in 1894. 

129-Year-Old Vessel Still Tethered to Lifeboat Found on Floor of Lake Huron

The 'Ironton' has been perfectly preserved since the day it sank in 'Shipwreck Alley'

The comb measures roughly two inches and has nearly a dozen teeth.

Ancient Comb Made From Human Skull Unearthed in England

The Iron Age artifact may have been used as an amulet rather than a hairstyling tool

For the first time, researchers have discovered remnants of Roman-era wooden spikes meant to deter attackers.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Wooden Spikes Described by Julius Caesar

Until recently, no traces of the military technology had ever been found

Moai statues on Easter Island 

Cool Finds

Dried Lake Reveals New Statue on Easter Island

The stone monolith is one of the famous moai sculptures scattered across the landscape

First discovered in 1992, the phallus is 6.3 inches long and made of ash wood.

Is This Wooden Artifact an Ancient Roman Phallus?

Thirty years ago, researchers thought that the 2,000-year-old object was a darning tool

Members of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition raise the Australian flag over Heard Island on December 26, 1947.

See Rare Images of Early 20th-Century Antarctic Expeditions

For the first time, hundreds of photos, lantern slides and glass plate negatives are available to the public

Archaeologists created replica stone points, then experimented with them by firing them at a goat carcass using different methods.

Cool Finds

Archery May Have Arrived in Europe Thousands of Years Earlier Than Thought

New archaeological research suggests Homo sapiens used bows and arrows 54,000 years ago in present-day France

Yemeni artifacts on display during a ceremony to celebrate their repatriation

The Smithsonian Will Temporarily House 77 Repatriated Artifacts Amid Unrest in Yemen

Until the items can be returned, the National Museum of Asian Art will keep them safe

One of the pieces of Cambodian jewelry returned by the estate of antiquities dealer Douglas Latchford

Looted Gold Jewelry Returns to Cambodia

Now back in Phnom Penh, the 77 items may have been worn by Angkorian royalty

Chichén Itzá is home to famous Maya structures such as El Castillo.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Find Elite Residences at Mexico's Chichén Itzá

The housing complex is the first discovery of its kind in the ruined Maya city

Harley-Davidson made just 450 motorcycles in 1908.

Rare 1908 Harley-Davidson Becomes Most Expensive Motorcycle Sold at Auction

The restored bike, which a collector discovered in a Wisconsin barn, still has many of its original parts

Crews carefully relocated the building to Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum roughly half a mile away.

Oldest Schoolhouse for Black Children Moves to Colonial Williamsburg

The school educated free and enslaved Black children between 1760 and 1774

The Codex Sassoon, which measures 12 by 14 inches, dates to the late ninth or early tenth century.

World's Oldest Near-Complete Hebrew Bible Goes to Auction

The Codex Sassoon could break auction records, becoming the most valuable historical document ever sold

The items were found at Thompson Farm, were Harriet Tubman was born into slvery.

Artifacts Unearthed Near Harriet Tubman's Birthplace

Archaeologists identified a West African spirit cache, a collection of items used to protect a home's occupants

Murnau mit Kirche II (1910), a roughly 38- by 42-inch painting by Wassily Kandinsky

Kandinsky Painting Returned to Heirs of Jewish Collectors Could Sell for $45 Million

The masterpiece once belonged to Johanna Margarete Stern, who died at Auschwitz in 1944

Portholes on the wreck of the Titanic

Watch Rare New Footage of the Titanic Wreck

A team of oceanographers filmed the video in 1986 during the first detailed study of the sunken ship

An artist's representation of the dinosaur that left the footprint

Cool Finds

Squatting Dinosaur Left Behind a Huge Footprint in England

An archaeologist accidentally came across the fossil that was preserved for 166 million years

A reconstruction of a painted fresco depicting the Battle of Kadesh between the Egyptian Empire and the Hittite Empire.

Severe Drought May Have Contributed to the Decline of the Hittites

The empire abruptly vanished around 1200 B.C.E., and ancient tree rings suggest climate played a role

Page 46 of 294