Meilan Solly

Meilan Solly

 

Meilan Solly is Smithsonian magazine's associate digital editor, history.

The ghost of a bagpiper is rumored to haunt the caves below Culzean Castle

Hidden Medieval Door Leading to Smugglers’ Caves Discovered Underneath Scottish Castle

Culzean Castle, a towering fortress overlooking the cliffs of Ayrshire, sits atop a labyrinthine network allegedly used by smugglers, ghosts and fugitives

Domed skylights offer tantalizing glimpses into the Amos Rex museum's sprawling underground galleries.

Helsinki's New Subterranean Art Museum Opens Its Doors

The Amos Rex Museum is located beneath Lasipalatsi, a 1930s shopping center known as the ‘Glass Palace’

The project will also feature the world premiere of a controversial Ilya Khrzhanovsky film, produced from 2009 to 2011 on another simulated set.

An Immersive Art Installation Will Temporarily Resurrect the Berlin Wall

This fall, event organizers plan on constructing a pseudo-city within a block of Berlin in order to emulate life in an unfamiliar country

Monks likely used the disc-shaped gaming board to play Hnefatafl, a Norse strategy game that pits a king and his defenders against two dozen attackers, during the 7th or 8th century

Archaeologists Unearth Medieval Game Board During Search for Lost Monastery

Scotland's oldest surviving manuscript, the Book of Deer, was written by monks living in the Aberdeenshire monastery

Egon Schiele, "Woman Hiding Her Face," 1912

63 Works By Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele Are at the Center of the Latest Nazi-Looted Art Dispute

The German Lost Art Foundation removed the artworks from its database, suggesting they were saved by a collector's relatives rather than seized by Nazis

The Franklin Expedition hoped to find a northwest passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific

Lead Poisoning Wasn't a Major Factor in the Mysterious Demise of the Franklin Expedition

Researchers argue that lead exposure occurred prior to the start of the voyage, not during the stranded crew's battle for survival

In July 1942, the "Lost Squadron," a unit consisting of two B-17 bomber planes and six P-38 fighters, landed on a remote Greenlandic glacier

The Wreck of a WWII Fighter Plane Will Be Unearthed from a Greenland Glacier

The P-38 fighter is a member of the famed Lost Squadron, which landed on ice caps after running afoul of poor weather in July 1942

Chihuahuas were one of the top three breeds represented in the study's sample of more than 900 shelter dogs

Genetic Testing Shows Animal Shelters Often Misidentify Dogs' Breeds

Shelter staff correctly identified a pup's primary or secondary breed just 67 percent of the time

Artist's rendering of "Orbital Reflector," a reflective space sculpture set to be launched into space this October

Astronomers Say This Reflective Space Sculpture Will Cause Unneeded Light Pollution. The Artist Argues Otherwise

‘Orbital Reflector,’ a 100-foot long, diamond-shaped balloon, aims to inspire humans to gaze up at the night sky with a renewed sense of wonder

This 1685 map of Pisa shows the city's connection to the Arno River, which spills into an arm of the Mediterranean

Like a Reverse Atlantis, This Legendary Harbor Ended When Its Sea Route Dried Up

Researchers believe the changing environment doomed ‘Portus Pisanus,’ a harbor once considered lost to time

The NYPL's Insta Novels are available via Instagram.

Fall Down the Rabbit Hole With the New York Public Library's Instagram Version of Classic Tales

Featured texts include ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,’ ‘The Metamorphosis’ and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper'

The tiny arm or leg fragment belonged to Denisova 11, a 13-year-old hybrid hominin

Meet Denisova 11: First Known Hybrid Hominin

The 13-year-old girl’s mother was a Neanderthal while her father was a Denisovan

Archaeologists unearthed the rotting teeth during construction of a new metro line in Melbourne, Australia

Archaeological Dig at Australian Metro Station Unearths 1,000 Human Teeth

A local dentist probably flushed the molars down the toilet or discarded them with his trash

Upturned under mysterious circumstances, the flagship vessel sank to its undersea grave with roughly 500 innocents—and one ship dog, a mutt dubbed Hatch—trapped within

New Nanotech Returns Henry VIII's Favorite Warship to Its Former Glory

Researchers used tiny magnetic particles to remove the iron ions responsible for the wooden vessel’s decay

Obvious' "Portrait of Edmond Belamy" exceeded expectations at Thursday's sale

Christie's Will Be the First Auction House to Sell Art Made by Artificial Intelligence

Christie's will sell the work from Paris-based art collective Obvious, which created ‘Portrait of Edmond Belamy’ with the machine-learning algorithm GAN

If you stick to a diet of kale, brussels sprouts and similarly leafy greens, your salivary proteins will eventually adapt to their bitter taste

There’s a Scientific Explanation for Why Adults Are More Likely to Tolerate Leafy Greens

Just eat your veggies: Salivary proteins adapt to bitter tastes, making them more palatable over time

The restored horse head is on view for the first time since its discovery in 2009

A 2,000-Year-Old Golden Horse Head Suggests Romans Actually Got Along Wth German 'Barbarians'

The sculpture fragment suggests Romans lived peacefully alongside Germans until a decisive defeat at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest

In August 2016, a lightning strike killed more than 300 reindeers. Now, their decaying carcasses are spurring the landscape's revitalization

What the Deaths of More Than 300 Reindeer Teach Us About the Circle of Life

In an isolated corner of Norwegian plateau, carcasses of reindeer felled by lightning are spawning new plant life

An artist's rendition of Sheffield Castle

Archaeologists Are Excavating Sheffield Castle, One-Time Prison of Mary, Queen of Scots

The Scottish queen spent 14 years imprisoned at the medieval stronghold

Michaelina Wautier, "The Triumph of Bacchus," ca. 1643-59

'Baroque's Leading Lady' Artist Michaelina Wautier Finally Gets Retrospective

The 17th-century painter mastered an array of genres at a time when most female artists were consigned to painting flowers

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