Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Female Figure

Who Were the Painters of Pompeii?

A new exhibition explores the ancient Roman “pictores,” who created beautiful frescoes preserved in ash from Mount Vesuvius’ eruption

Some of the 14th-century B.C.E. vessels found at the Tel Yehud burial site

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Evidence of Earliest Known Opium Use

At a burial site in Israel, pottery from the 14th century B.C.E. contained traces of the drug

Donkeys are important pack animals that helped shape human civilizations.

Scientists Uncover the Story of Donkey Domestication

Humans tamed the equines about 7,000 years ago in East Africa, new research suggests

Adnan Syed, the subject of a 2014 investigation led by Sarah Koenig on the podcast “Serial,” leaves the courthouse after being released from prison.

Adnan Syed, Subject of ‘Serial,’ Is Released From Prison

The decision comes 23 years after he was convicted for the murder of 18-year-old Hae Min Lee

Palestinian farmer Salman al-Nabahin cleans the mosaic he uncovered in Gaza.

Cool Finds

Palestinian Farmer Unearths Byzantine-Era Mosaic While Planting Olive Trees

The stunning, colorful flooring depicts 17 iconographies of birds and animals

Earlier this week, American investigators returned a looted rare quarter shekel silver coin to Israel.

Ancient Coin Made in Defiance of Roman Rule Returns to Israel

U.S. officials found the stolen coin at a Denver auction in 2017

Gwendolyn Midlo Hall

Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Whose Database Identified Thousands of Enslaved Laborers, Has Died at 93

Searching through forgotten records, she collected data on more than 100,000 individuals

Barack and Michelle Obama at the unveiling ceremony on September 7

Who Are the Artists Behind the New Obama Portraits?

Robert McCurdy and Sharon Sprung add their unique pieces to the White House’s collection

Some of the returned artifacts

Panama

The Netherlands Repatriates 343 Ceramics to Panama

The pre-Hispanic pottery pieces range from bowls to plates to burial vessels

Oregon’s Umpqua National Forest, where Swastika Mountain is located

Oregon’s Swastika Mountain Gets a New Name

The mountain was originally named before the swastika became a symbol of hate

Loving Highsmith aims to challenge crime author Patricia Highsmith’s reputation as a cold-hearted misanthrope.

Was Patricia Highsmith Actually a Hopeless Romantic?

The documentary ‘Loving Highsmith’ presents a new side of the enigmatic crime writer

Investigators have seized 27 antiquities from the Metropolitan Museum of Art over the last six months, including this marble head of a Greek youth, dated to around 300 to 100 B.C.

Investigators Seize 27 Greek and Egyptian Antiquities From the Met

The seizures come at a time of increased scrutiny from the Manhattan district attorney’s office over international art crime

An anonymous couple found the trove of coins while renovating their house in 2019.

Cool Finds

U.K. Couple Finds Rare Gold Coins During Home Renovations

The money pieces, which date from 1610 to 1727, are expected to fetch as much as $288,000 at auction next month

The one-minute clip shows the Titanic's bow, portside anchor, hull and massive anchor chain

See the Highest-Resolution Footage of the Titanic Ever Captured

Commercial exploration company OceanGate Expeditions recorded the 8K clip during its 2022 expedition to the wreck of the ill-fated luxury liner

A mannequin named after Arturo Campos is headed into space on NASA's now-postponed Artemis 1 mission.

How Artemis 1 Honors an Apollo 13 Hero—and a Champion for Diversity in Space

A mannequin that will orbit the moon is named for Arturo Campos, a Mexican-American electrical engineer who worked on several NASA missions

Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith on the set of the television show “The Monkees” in 1967

The FBI Kept Files on the Monkees—and Micky Dolenz Wants to See Them

The band’s last surviving member is suing the FBI, which monitored the group in the 1960s

Sixty unnamed schools are piloting an A.P. African American studies class, which covers 400 years of history.

A.P. African American Studies Is Coming to U.S. High Schools

The course covers everything from slavery to civil rights to pop culture

E.T. looks out the window with Elliott (Henry Thomas) in a scene from the 1982 movie.

Why the Legacy of ‘E.T.’ Endures, 40 Years Later

A new book offers a behind-the-scenes look at the iconic Steven Spielberg movie

The Alfred Merlin, France’s new high-tech underwater archaeological exploration ship

Archaeologists From Eight Countries Team Up to Explore the Skerki Banks

Coordinated by Unesco, the project will examine the underwater site between Sicily and Tunisia

Digital facial reconstructions of two of the individuals found in the well, based on skeletal remains and DNA

Bones Found in Medieval Well Likely Belong to Victims of Anti-Semitic Massacre

A new DNA analysis suggests the 17 individuals were Ashkenazi Jews murdered in Norwich, England, in 1190

Page 113 of 351