This facial reconstruction envisions what HMS Erebus engineer John Gregory may have looked like.

Descendant’s DNA Helps Identify Remains of Doomed Franklin Expedition Engineer

New research marks the first time scholars have confirmed the identity of bones associated with the fateful Arctic voyage

A statue of Benjamin Bannecker on view at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, as seen in 2020

History of Now

Meet Benjamin Banneker, the Black Scientist Who Documented Brood X Cicadas in the Late 1700s

A prominent intellectual and naturalist, the Maryland native wrote extensively on natural phenomena and anti-slavery causes

Mired in myth and misconception, the killer’s life has evolved into “a new American tall tale,” argues tour guide and author Adam Selzer.

The Enduring Mystery of H.H. Holmes, America’s ‘First’ Serial Killer

The infamous “devil in the White City” remains mired in myth 125 years after his execution

The oddly shaped oil lamp is the first of its kind found in Jerusalem.

Cool Finds

This Grotesquely Shaped Lamp Brought Luck to Jerusalem’s Ancient Residents

The 2,000-year-old artifact, which resembles a face cut in half, was buried in the foundations of a Roman building

“We think of fire often as this destructive tool,” says lead author Jessica Thompson. “That doesn’t have to be the case.”

Cool Finds

Did Stone Age Humans Shape the African Landscape With Fire 85,000 Years Ago?

New research centered on Lake Malawi may provide the earliest evidence of people using flames to improve land productivity

This 1540 miniature by Hans Holbein may depict the Tudor king's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, not his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

Presumed Portrait of Catherine Howard May Actually Depict Anne of Cleves

A Hans Holbein miniature long thought to depict Henry VIII’s fifth queen may instead portray the Tudor king’s fourth wife

Archaeologist Sergio Grosjean points to ancient handprints that decorate the interior of a cave in Mexico.

Cool Finds

1,200 Years Ago, Maya Children Decorated This Hidden Cave With Handprints

Archaeologists discovered the remarkable art about two decades ago but only publicized their findings now

“We used five isotope methods in all to provide information on geology, coastal proximity, climate and diet,” says study co-author Richard Madgwick, an osteoarchaeologist at Cardiff University.

New Research

Ethnically Diverse Crew of Henry VIII’s Flagship Hailed From Iberia, North Africa

New multi-isotope analysis illuminates early lives of sailors stationed on the Tudor “Mary Rose,” including three born outside of Britain

Remains of individuals unearthed at the site of the former Hospital of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge

New Research

Medieval Britain’s Cancer Rates Were Ten Times Higher Than Previously Thought

A new analysis of 143 skeletons suggests the disease was more common than previously estimated, though still much rarer than today

A view of the marble head discovered last week in Isernia, a town in south-central Italy

Cool Finds

Archaeologists in Italy Unearth Marble Bust of Rome’s First Emperor, Augustus

Researchers identified the sculpture based on the ancient ruler’s signature hairstyle and facial features

L to R: Ward Lee, Tucker Henderson and Romeo were three of the nearly 500 captives illegally transported on the Wanderer.

Untold Stories of American History

This Yacht Trafficked Enslaved Africans Long After the Slave Trade Was Abolished

New exhibition in Louisiana details the story of the “Wanderer,” the penultimate ship to illegally transport enslaved people into the U.S.

Underwater archaeologists recovered 30 wooden poles used as supports for prehistoric pile dwellings.

Cool Finds

3,000-Year-Old Submerged Settlement Discovered in Switzerland

Traces of a prehistoric pile dwelling suggest humans inhabited the Lake Lucerne area 2,000 years earlier than previously thought

A local man stumbled onto a cache of Bronze Age artifacts, from necklaces to needles, while walking through a Swedish forest.

Cool Finds

Swedish Man Discovers Trove of Bronze Age Treasures Hidden in Plain Sight

A high-status woman once adorned herself with these items, which a local found buried beneath the forest floor

A dancer performs during the public presentation of a life-size chocolate version of Picasso's Guernica.

Spanish Confectioners Create Life-Size Chocolate Replica of Picasso’s ‘Guernica’

Local artisans undertook the ambitious project in honor of the 85th anniversary of the bombing depicted in the famed anti-war mural

“When we saw the little foot and then the little hand [of the fetus], we were really shocked,” says anthropologist and archaeologist Marzena Ozarek-Szilke.

World’s Only Known Pregnant Egyptian Mummy Revealed

The unprecedented discovery opens up new pathways into the study of maternal health in the ancient world

The mustatils' monumental size and similarities are suggestive of "significant social organization and a common goal or belief," says lead author Hugh Thomas.

Cool Finds

Did a Neolithic Cattle Cult Build These Sprawling Structures in Saudi Arabia?

The roughly 7,000-year-old mustatils, or rectangular monuments, predate both Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids

Curators reattached the sculpture's missing digit using a "non-invasive, reversible and invisible system."

Cool Finds

Colossal Bronze Statue of Roman Emperor Reunited With Its Long-Lost Finger

Curators at the Louvre had mistakenly categorized the missing digit as a toe. An eagle-eyed researcher noticed the mistake in 2018

A panel of the "Birthing Rock" petroglyphs in Moab, Utah, prior to its defacement with racist and obscene etchings

Racist Phrase Found Etched on Native American Petroglyphs in Utah

Unidentified criminals wrote “white power” and obscenities over thousand-year-old Indigenous markings on “Birthing Rock” in Moab

This plaque depicts musicians, a page holding a ceremonial sword and a high-ranking warrior. It numbers among the thousands of works looted by British forces during an 1897 raid of Benin City.

Germany Will Return Benin Bronzes to Nigeria in 2022

Culture Minister Monika Grütters describes the move as a “historic milestone”

Restoration work on the western facade of the Parthenon in 2015

Why Proposed Renovations to Greece’s Acropolis Are So Controversial

Scholars voiced concern about planned aesthetic changes and a lack of adequate accessibility measures for people with disabilities

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