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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

The coffin of Margrave Philipp Wilhelm of Brandenburg-Schwedt (middle)

The Berlin Cathedral Is Reopening Its Massive Crypt—Home to the Bones of One of Europe’s Most Powerful Dynasties

The crypt, which has been closed for renovations for the past six years, houses coffins containing members of the House of Hohenzollern

Galileo's handwritten notes in a 1551 copy of Ptolemy's Almagest

Cool Finds

A Scholar Recognized the Inscriptions in the Margins of This Manuscript. The Scribbles Turned Out to Be Galileo’s Handwritten Notes

Found in a 16th-century copy of an ancient astronomy treatise, the annotations suggest that the trailblazing scientist studied Earth-centric models before lending his support to heliocentrism

Archaeologists discovered the bottle while excavating Alta's historic Water Street, which was a bustling thoroughfare during the town's silver mining heyday.

Cool Finds

What Does This 150-Year-Old Bottle of Mystery Booze Taste Like? Fruity, With a Hint of Leather

Experts in Utah recently sipped the murky liquid, which was found during excavations at a historic ski area

Self-Portrait in a Fur Cap, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1630

Cool Finds

A Woman Found a Folder in a Drawer. When She Opened It, She Discovered 35 Forgotten Rembrandt Etchings

Charlotte Meyer’s grandfather acquired the artworks between 1900 and 1920. Now, they’re going on view for the first time in more than a century

Researchers think some of the footprints were made by barefoot humans roughly 2,000 years ago.

Cool Finds

A Couple Walking Their Dogs Noticed 2,000-Year-Old Footprints on the Beach. They Were Visible for Just Days Before Waves Erased Them Forever

Archaeologists raced to document the semi-fossilized tracks in eastern Scotland. They were likely made by humans, deer and other animals during the late Iron Age

The team analyzed 260 engraved objects discovered in caves in what is now southwest Germany, including this 40,000-year-old mammoth figurine.

New Research

Humans May Have Used These Mysterious Symbols to Encode Information Tens of Thousands of Years Before the First Writing Systems

The symbols, discovered on 40,000-year-old artifacts in caves in southwest Germany, may have been a precursor to the first written language

Pope Alexander VII commissioned the elephant sculpture to support an ancient Egyptian obelisk.

This Famous 17th-Century Elephant Sculpture in Rome Keeps Losing the Tip of Its Tusk

Designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the statue holds an 18-foot-tall Egyptian obelisk on its back. The four-inch fragment of its tusk was found nearby

An artistic representation of the burial event at Gomolava

A Mass Grave Uncovered in Serbia Hints at a Violent Iron Age Massacre That Targeted Women and Children

A new analysis of human remains found more than 50 years ago reveals fresh insights about culture clashes in prehistoric Europe

The illustrations are owned by a family in London.

Rare and Original Watercolor Illustrations of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book’ Go Up for Auction

The two paintings were copied into a limited-edition book of illustrations published almost a decade after the famous book of wild stories set in India

The passage is located beneath the bottom drawer of this built-in dresser.

Cool Finds

Why Did a Man Build This Secret Passageway Below a Dresser Drawer Nearly 200 Years Ago? Historians Think It Was Part of the Underground Railroad

Staffers at the Merchant’s House Museum in Manhattan are unraveling the mysteries of the narrow tunnel, which is hidden beneath a piece of built-in furniture on the second floor

Archaeologists think the cannon may date to the late 17th or 18th century.

Cool Finds

Construction Workers Digging in Northern England Stumble Upon a 2,200-Pound Cannon That May Be More Than 300 Years Old

Crews unearthed the artifact while working on a restoration project at Queen’s Gardens, a public park that was once the largest dock in the United Kingdom

The Rothschild Vienna Mahzor was created in 1415 by a medieval scribe who identified himself as Moses, son of Menachem.

The Nazis Stole This Rare Jewish Prayer Book Decorated With Dragons, Unicorns and Intricate Floral Patterns. It Just Sold for $6.4 Million at Auction

A scribe created the volume, now known as the Rothschild Vienna Mahzor, in Vienna 600 years ago. It was recently returned to the heirs of its 20th-century owners, who decided to sell the text at a Sotheby’s sale

Vincent van Gogh's Wheatfield With a Reaper (1889) is one of more than 50 artworks and objects on view in an exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Vincent van Gogh Adored the Color Yellow. A New Exhibition in Amsterdam Wants You to Fall In Love With the Hue, Too

The Dutch artist’s paintings showcase plants, landscapes, objects and buildings in bold shades of yellow

The auction house expects the card to sell for between $5 and $7 million.

You Can Buy One of History’s Rarest Baseball Cards—if You Have Several Million Dollars to Spare

The newly graded T206 Honus Wagner card has been in the same family for 116 years. It wasn’t on experts’ radar until last year

The YouTube watch page on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum's South Kensington location

Watch the First-Ever Video Uploaded to YouTube, a Grainy 19-Second Clip Called ‘Me at the Zoo’

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has acquired the site’s very first video, which went live on April 23, 2005

The camera, a Zeiss Ikon Baby Ikonta from the 1930s, and the newly developed images, which were likely taken in the 1950s

Cool Finds

A Man Bought a $13 Camera at a Thrift Shop—and Found 70-Year-Old Film Still Inside. Do You Recognize the Faces in the Photos?

Staffers at a photography shop in England carefully developed the negatives, which depict a ski trip in the Swiss Alps. Now, they’re searching for clues to help identify the people pictured

An ancient Egyptian collar was among the artifacts stolen from the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology.

Police Recover Ancient Egyptian Artifacts the Day After a Heist at a Museum in Australia

The looted items included a 2,600-year-old wooden cat figurine, a 3,300-year-old necklace and a mummy mask

Couples kissed beneath the arch for luck, according to local legend.

Couples Have Been Kissing Under the Lovers’ Arch in Italy for Years. On Valentine’s Day, It Collapsed Into the Sea

The iconic rock formation crumbled after days of raging storms. Local officials are calling for new initiatives to help slow coastal erosion in the region

Wreckage of the Lac La Belle was discovered roughly 20 miles off the coast of Wisconsin in 2022

This Luxury Steamer Disappeared on a Stormy Night in 1872. Nearly 150 Years Later to the Day, It Was Found at the Bottom of Lake Michigan

The “Lac La Belle” was discovered 20 miles off the coast of Wisconsin in 2022 after a fisherman offered shipwreck hunters a mysterious clue

A painting by Henri-Paul Motte depicts Carthaginians using elephants during the Battle of Zama in North Africa, which Rome won, ending the Second Punic War.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearthed a 2,200-Year-Old Bone. They Say It Could Be the First Direct Evidence of Hannibal’s Legendary War Elephants

The Carthaginian general famously used elephants during the Punic Wars. But until now, archaeologists had never found skeletal remains linking the animals to the conflict

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