Archaeology

An example of a pot used by the ancient Maya

Chocolate Week

What We Know About the Earliest History of Chocolate

We’ve learned things that could help today’s artisan chocolatiers improve their trade

History’s most impressive hoard of ancient Greek artifacts includes numerous amphoras, terra-cotta lamps, glass vessels, coins, jewelry and statues.

Exploring the Titanic of the Ancient World

Scientists search the wine-dark sea for the remains of a ship that sank 2,000 years ago—carrying what is believed to be the world’s first computer

A closeup of a Herculaneum papyrus scroll used in an international scanning project.

Ancient Scrolls Blackened by Vesuvius Are Readable at Last

X-ray scans can just tease out letters on the warped documents from a library at Herculaneum

Researchers exhumed the mummy of Cangrande della Scala in 2004 to perform a modern autopsy on the famous Italian autocrat.

Poison Hath Been This Italian Mummy's Untimely End

A lethal helping of foxglove seems to have triggered the downfall of a warlord of Verona

The Controversial Afterlife of King Tut

A frenzy of conflicting scientific analyses have made the famous pharaoh more mysterious than ever

This inscription, written in Old Khmer, reads “The Caka era reached year 605 on the fifth day of the waning moon.” The dot (at right) is now recognized as the oldest known version of our zero.

The Origin of the Number Zero

Deep in the jungle, an intrepid scholar locates a symbol of power and mystery

Archaeologists Ben Potter and Josh Reuther, both of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, excavate the burial pit at the Upward Sun River site.

Ice Age Babies Surrounded by Weapon Parts Found in Alaska

Unearthed at an ancient hunting camp in Alaska, the infant remains are offering clues to the burial rites of early Americans

Ten-year-old Noah Cordle visited the National Museum of Natural History on November 3 to donate a Clovis point he found in New Jersey. He and his parents (right) met with the museum's Dennis Stanford (left).

This Fifth Grader Found a 14,000-Year-Old Clovis Point, Likely Unearthed From Hurricane Sandy

Noah Cordle was boogie boarding in New Jersey when he came upon an ancient hunting tool

To be or not to be human? That's a question some scholars still feel is up for debate when it comes to Homo floresiensis.

Ten Years On, the Flores “Hobbit” Remains an Evolutionary Puzzle

Why was the 2004 unveiling of a small hominin dubbed <em>Homo floresiensis</em> such a big deal?

Some argue that the recent civil war in Syria was caused, at least in part, by droughts in the area, which led to greater social instability.

Anthropocene

Five Conflicts and Collapses That May Have Been Spurred by Climate Change

Earth's changing climate has been a spectre in centuries of civil conflict and, at times, the collapse of whole civilizations

America's answer to Lawrence of Arabia, Wendell Phillips explored the east and uncovered ancient treasures. An exhibition at the Sackler Gallery looks at his life and work.

Unearthing America’s Lawrence of Arabia, Wendell Phillips

Phillips uncovered millennia-old treasures beneath Arabian sand, got rich from oil and died relatively unknown

Ice Age humans left their footprints across what is now Willandra Lakes in southeastern Australia.

Anthropocene

How Climate Change May Have Shaped Human Evolution

Evidence is building that past climate change may have forged some of the defining traits of humanity

Khufu Pyramid at Giza.

Google Street View Brings Egypt's Pyramids To A Computer Near You

From ancient citadels to the Great Sphinx, you can now explore Egypt's wonders in the digital world

A closeup of jars, probably once filled with wine, at Tel Kabri in modern-day Israel.

New Research

Huge Wine Cellar Unearthed at a Biblical-Era Palace in Israel

Residue from jars at a Canaanite palace suggest the ruler preferred his red with hints of mint, honey and juniper

The hand-axe, reimagined.

Designers Remake Our Oldest Tool Using Our Newest Tool

More than a million years old, the hand axe is over due for an update

The Kennewick Man Finally Freed to Share His Secrets

He’s the most important human skeleton ever found in North America—and here, for the first time, is his story

What Lies Beneath Stonehenge?

A new Smithsonian Channel show reveals groundbreaking research that may explain what really went on there

Tiktaalik roseae had fish-like fins, a flattened skull (similar to a crocodile), and is thought to have lived in shallow water, using its fins to prop itself up.

Did the Evolution of Animal Intelligence Begin With Tiktaalik?

How one marvelously preserved fossil sheds light on how the vertebrate invasion of land took place

Google Street View is bringing Cambodia's hidden treasure to you.

For the First Time Ever, Explore Angkor Wat With Google Street View

With more than 90,000 panoramic images, you can see the stunning Cambodian ruins up close from anywhere in the world

The Remnants of Prehistoric Plant Pollen Reveal that Humans Shaped Forests 11,000 Years Ago

The discoveries could boost indigenous populations' claims to ancestral lands long thought to be untouched by human activity

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