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Articles

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner came across this hominin tibia in Kenya’s Nairobi National Museum. The magnified area shows cut marks.

Our Human Relatives Butchered and Ate Each Other 1.45 Million Years Ago

Telltale marks on a bone from an early human’s leg could be the earliest evidence of cannibalism

Apparatus for administering nitrous oxide and other anesthetic gases

These Objects Tell the Story of Human-Driven Climate Change

Smithsonian curators dig into the collections to find artifacts that illustrate how we arrived at this moment

A bandicoot uses its nose to sniff out subterranean insects, leaving behind shallow holes known as “snout pokes.”

The Unlikely Survival Story of Australia’s Bandicoots

The defenseless marsupial was nearly wiped out by invasive species. Now rescuers are pinning hopes on a remnant island population

Analyzing DNA found in the water off Greenland, researchers have found the signs of species on the move.

The Atlantification of the Arctic Ocean is Underway

The discovery of a tiny fish far from its normal range is a poignant reminder of the changes that are already happening

George Washington used the light of this brass candle stand while laboring over his farewell address in 1796.

How George Washington Wrote His Farewell Address

A candle stand used by the first president illuminates his extraordinary last days in office

Algae collected by the artist while free diving off Point La Jolla, California

Stunning Seaweed Prints Capture Life Underwater

Free diver Oriana Poindexter creates cyanotypes of kelp collected off the California coast

A 1658 map of Iceland, reprinted from Abraham Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, includes a sea monster known for catching its fish through cunning.

What Medieval Manuscripts Reveal About the Hidden History of Whales

A clever cetacean feeding trick may have launched a legend

Sunrise near the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie. Cather “made the outside world know Nebraska as no one else has done,” Sinclair Lewis once said.

Women Who Shaped History

Explore the World of Willa Cather in Her Nebraska Hometown

Maybe the author of “O Pioneers!” is no longer the height of literary chic. But a century later she’s still a superstar in her small prairie community

Engravings discovered in La Roche-Cotard cave

Oldest Known Neanderthal Engravings Were Sealed in a Cave for 57,000 Years

The art was created long before modern humans inhabited France’s Loire Valley

The crew of the USS Kearsarge, photographed shortly after battle with the CSS Alabama

Untold Stories of American History

Was This Civil War Hero the First Medal of Honor Recipient Born in Africa?

Recent research suggests Joachim Pease, a sailor recognized for his role in sinking a Confederate raider, was from Cape Verde

Paula Rego drew inspiration for her triptych Crivelli’s Garden (top) from a 1490s altarpiece, La Madonna della Rondine (above), by Carlo Crivelli. She said of her fanciful, figure-packed work: “The whole thing is full of stories, it’s just story after story after story.”

The Inspiration Behind a Monumental Display of Biblical Women

An artist conjures a whimsical new version of a magnificent 15th-century mural

Natufian artworks, such as this figurine, became common around 15,000 years ago. Few artworks predating that period have been found in the Levant.

When Did Humans Start Settling Down?

In Israel, new discoveries at one of the world’s oldest villages are upending the debate about when we stopped wandering

Crowds gather for the summer solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England.

Nine Ways People Celebrate the Summer Solstice Around the World

Across the Northern Hemisphere, worshippers of the longest day of the year build bonfires, plunge into the ocean and visit prehistoric monuments

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Women Who Shaped History

How an 1800s Midwife Solved a Poisonous Mystery

For decades before Doctor Anna’s discovery, “milk sickness” terrorized the Midwest, killing thousands of Americans on the frontier

Rhoda Goodridge in a 2 ¾-by-3 ¼-inch ambrotype made by her husband, the pioneering photographer Glenalvin Goodridge.

A Massive Archive Tells the Story of Early African American Photographers

Arresting portraits, now a part of the Smithsonian collections, illuminate the little-known role these artists played in chronicling 19th-century life

Mount Etna erupts in July 2021.

Secrets Still Smolder at One of the World’s Most Active Volcanoes

A century after one of Mount Etna’s many notable eruptions, scientists are more eager than ever to study the peak’s frequent bursts of fiery fury

Illustration by Nina Goldman / Images via Smithsonian Folkways Records

Celebrating 75 Years of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

The vast, eclectic public archive of American music—and other sounds—is featured on a new episode of the Sidedoor podcast

An illustration of Anthony Comstock, published in Puck magazine in 1906

History of Now

The 150-Year-Old Comstock Act Could Transform the Abortion Debate

Once considered a relic of moral panics past, the 1873 law criminalized sending “obscene, lewd or lascivious” materials through the mail

The European spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana, is an important launch site for rockets.

How a Jungle Prison Became a Famous Spaceport

An anthropologist explains how the South American launch site for the James Webb Space Telescope evolved

An observation point at Meteor Crater in Arizona

Seven Ways to Explore Space Without Leaving Earth

From astronaut training sites to working spaceports, these spots across the United States put a terrestrial spin on space travel

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