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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

The tree was discovered in two pieces on the morning of September 28, 2023.

England’s Beloved Sycamore Gap Tree Is Showing Signs of Life, Three Years After Vandals Chopped It Down

Numerous leafy shoots are now sprouting around the base of the tree’s stump, which is located near Hadrian’s Wall in northern England

A few of the ancient Roman artifacts found beneath the Bath Assembly Rooms

When Jane Austen Took a Turn About the Ballroom in Bath, Ancient Roman Artifacts Were Hiding Beneath Her Feet. Now, Archaeologists Have Finally Found Them

Recent excavations at the Bath Assembly Rooms in England revealed Roman-era coins, roof tiles, pottery, glassware, a network of ditches and a fragment of a military helmet

Jason Graziadei, editor in chief of the Nantucket Current, snapped this photo after getting a tip from a reader.

In 1884, Gale-Force Winds Ran a Ship Aground Near Cape Cod. Now, the Nor’easter Lashing the East Coast May Have Uncovered Part of It

The wreckage could belong to the “Warren Sawyer,” a three-masted cargo schooner that foundered more than 140 years ago

A display case featuring "Dolls as Designers," including Yves Saint Laurent (second from left) and Anna Sui (second from right)

Centuries Ago, Royals Dressed Up Their Dolls to Share the Latest Fashions. See How Barbies, Baby Dolls and Other Tiny Trendsetters Have Inspired Designers Ever Since

A new exhibition at the Museum at FIT in New York City showcases more than 170 objects that trace the often-unexpected relationship between dolls and fashion

This aerial image shows a portion of the ancient school where researchers believe Aristotle taught and Alexander learned.

Archaeologists Unearth the 2,400-Year-Old School Where Aristotle Taught Alexander to Be Great

The latest excavation at Aristotle’s gymnasium in ancient Mieza has revealed ornate, mosaic-covered halls where researchers believe Alexander the Great learned his formative lessons

The tomb of King Tutankhamun in Egypt

New Research

Mysterious ‘Anomalies’ Have Been Detected Beyond King Tut’s Tomb. Could They Be Secret Passageways Leading to the Long-Lost Remains of Queen Nefertiti?

Geophysical surveys provide new evidence for a theory that the Egyptian pharaoh was interred in the outer rooms of an existing burial complex. Researchers are trying to get approval to investigate for themselves

Hitler and his half-niece Geli Raubald photographed in 1930

Hitler Had an Intense, Mysterious Relationship With His Half-Niece. New Research Suggests His Alibi for Her Murder Might Not Hold Up

Recently uncovered documents about the timing of Geli Raubal’s death cast new doubt on the Nazi leader’s alibi, which had been considered reasonably sound for nearly a century

The wall is made of stone and wood; initial radiocarbon dating places its origin between 200 B.C.E. and 10 B.C.E.

Two Thousand Years Ago, Julius Caesar Conquered the Settlement That Eventually Became Paris. Archaeologists May Have Just Found It

While conducting excavations at a hospital on the Île de la Cité, in the Seine River, researchers discovered part of a wall that may have once protected Lutetia, the Gallic precursor to France’s capital

A bronze helmet with hammered decoration from Heraklion, Crete

Cool Finds

See a Stunning Collection of Stolen Greek Artifacts, Spanning 5,000 Years, That Were Just Returned to Greece

The antiquities were seized at the Metropolitan Museum of Art by investigators from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr.

The 3,000-year-old skeleton of an Egyptian horse, believed to have been used in battle, was unearthed from an archaeological site in the Nile River Delta.

A 3,000-Year-Old Warhorse Burial and a Ramses II Tablet, Among Other Relics, Have Been Discovered in an Ancient Egyptian Fortress

New excavations in the Nile Delta offer eye-opening clues about military and residential life in the New Kingdom era

Together the coins weigh nearly seven pounds.

A Metal Detectorist Exploring a Field in Germany Was Stunned to Discover a Massive Hoard of Roman Coins

Together, the 943 silver denarii span nearly 300 years of Roman history, from 148 B.C.E. to 124 or 125 C.E.

The fragment of a cuneiform tablet was found at the site of Hattusa, the ancient Hittite capital.

Cool Finds

Researchers in Turkey Have Unearthed an Ancient Fragment Inscribed With the World’s Oldest Peace Treaty

The piece of a clay tablet is marked with Akkadian cuneiform, and its text belongs to the Kadesh Peace Treaty, created by ancient Egyptians and Hittites in the 13th century B.C.E.

The woman was buried facedown, a position suggestive of punishment or discrimination.

This Woman Who Lived in 14th-Century China May Have Had Her Nose Cut Off as Punishment for Theft or Adultery

Researchers found signs of healing on her 700-year-old skull, which suggests that she survived the painful sanction—and may even have gone on to wear a prosthesis

The researchers discovered complete iron bars as well as fragments.

Workers Extracting Gravel From the Danube River Dredged Up a 2,200-Year-Old ‘Rusty Treasure’ That Could Have Equipped an Army

The cache comprises the remains of at least 500 iron bars, which were likely headed downstream to be forged into finished products

Pages from a manuscript of Nicholas Love's Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ

Cool Finds

Henry VIII Relied on This Courtier to Enforce His Orders During the English Reformation. Behind the Scenes, the Tudor Politician Defied His King by Secretly Saving a Catholic Text

A newly discovered fragment suggests that John Gage preserved a 15th-century religious manuscript, keeping it “safe when he was meant to destroy books precisely like this one”

The scythe is a less invasive tool for cutting grass than a lawnmower.

A Cutting-Edge English Initiative Replaces Lawnmowers With Scythes to Restore Wildflowers and Save the Bees

English Heritage has recruited volunteers to mow meadows the old-fashioned way at some of its historic sites

The front of the parchment fragment

Cool Finds

A Researcher Studying in a Dutch Library Was Amazed to Discover a Scrap of Parchment From a 1,700-Year-Old Copy of ‘The Odyssey’

The handwritten fragment contains Greek verses from Book 12 of Homer’s epic, in which King Odysseus recounts the fate of his doomed crew

The 2,500-year-old temple, photographed in 2009

New Research

Centuries Ago, an Architect Characterized the Parthenon’s Curves as a Clever Optical Illusion. Now, a Mathematician Begs to Differ

In the first century B.C.E., Vitruvius wrote that the Acropolis’ largest temple was horizontally bowed so that it didn’t seem to sag, and that explanation persisted for millennia. New research suggests a different reason

Scientists have traced the deadly sheep pox virus back 3,700 years.

The Ancient DNA of a Deadly Animal Virus Has Been Lurking in Medieval Manuscripts for Centuries, Researchers Find

A new analysis of teeth and parchment suggests that the devastating sheep pox virus has been infecting livestock for 3,700 years

Via Appia is considered the oldest great Roman road.

New Research

Researchers Have Analyzed the Roman Empire’s 190,000-Mile Network of Roads. Turns Out, Not All of Them Led to Rome

For a new study, archaeologists attempted to answer age-old questions about Rome’s roads, including how connected the capital was and whether current motorways trace Roman routes

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