Mysteries

New research posits that Johannes Vermeer painted View of Delft in September 1659 or 1658.

Astronomy Offers Fresh Look at Vermeer's 'View of Delft'

Analysis of sunlight and shadows suggests the Dutch masterpiece portrays the city around 8 a.m. in early September 1659 or 1658

Curators at the Science and Industry Museum are unsure what purpose this object, crudely cast with a copper-based alloy, served.

Can You Help Identify This Museum's Mystery Artifacts?

A Manchester-based science institution has a backlog of unusual objects in need of classification

Researchers say the Iron Age man—found facedown with his hands bound together near the waist—was likely murdered or executed.

Iron Age Murder Victim's Skeleton Found in England

The man was buried with his hands bound together at the waist

Coming Home, a 1947 painting purportedly by Gertrude Abercrombie, is one of the works now suspected to be a forgery.

FBI Raids Northern Michigan Home Linked to Suspected Art Forgery Ring

Paintings formerly attributed to Gertrude Abercrombie, Ralston Crawford and George Ault are now thought to be fakes

Frida Kahlo, circa 1950

Why Scholars Are Skeptical of Claimed Rediscovery of Lost Frida Kahlo Masterpiece

"The Wounded Table," a 1940 work by the Mexican painter, disappeared 65 years ago

The game's art dealer, a cunning fox named Redd, sells Arnold Böcklin's Island of the Dead under the name Mysterious Painting.

Can You Spot Animal Crossing's Art Forgeries?

Gamers are brushing up on their art history knowledge to spot Redd's counterfeit creations

A composite image combines ten new scans of Johannes Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl Earring.

Researchers Reveal Hidden Details in Vermeer's 'Girl With a Pearl Earring'

New scans revealed the figure's now-faded eyelashes and green backdrop, but her identity remains a mystery

Submissions included a plague mask, a Feejee "mermaid" and a peapod pincushion.

Museums Challenged to Showcase 'Creepiest Objects' Deliver Stuff of Nightmares

We’re really, really sorry

A chemical analysis of the stone slab has led a modern team of researchers to argue for a far less biblical origin story.

New Analysis Refutes Nazareth Inscription's Ties to Jesus' Death

The marble slab appears to be Greek in origin and may have been written in response to the death of a tyrant on the island of Kos

A part-human, part-insect glyph found in Iran

Possible Half-Human, Half-Praying-Mantis Carving Found on Ancient Rocks

The puzzling glyph, which bears some resemblance to the "squatting man" motif, suggests that insects have long held a place in human lore

Fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, considered one of the greatest archeological discoveries of the 20th century, are displayed 18 June 2003 at Montreal's Pointe-a-Callieres Archeological Museum

All of the Museum of the Bible's Dead Sea Scrolls Are Fake, Report Finds

The new findings raises questions about the authenticity of a collection of texts known as the "post-2002" scrolls

The manuscript features an array of gilded designs and illustrations.

Stolen Collection of Persian Poetry Found With Help of 'Indiana Jones of the Art World' Goes on Auction

The 15th-century edition of Hafez's "Divan" will be sold at Sotheby's next month

The "knapsack problem" is a widespread computing challenge—and no, it doesn't have to do just with literal backpacks.

How the Mathematical Conundrum Called the 'Knapsack Problem' Is All Around Us

A litany of issues in business, finance, container ship loading and aircraft loading derive from this one simple dilemma

Two winners split the Plougastel-Daoulas contest's grand prize of €2,000.

Has This Boulder's Mysterious, Centuries-Old Inscription Finally Been Deciphered?

Two newly publicized translations suggest the message is a memorial to a man who died in the 1700s

Three-Room Dwelling (detail) by Frances Glessner Lee, about 1944-46

Home Is Where the Corpse Is—at Least in These Dollhouse Crime Scenes

Frances Glessner Lee's "Nutshell Studies" exemplify the intersection of forensic science and craft

The scales on Fragment C divide the year by days and signs of the zodiac.

Decoding the Antikythera Mechanism, the First Computer

Hidden inscriptions offer new clues to the origins of a mysterious astronomical mechanism

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