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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Roughly 1.4 million years ago, Homo erectus made this hand ax out of a hippopotamus' thigh bone.

Cool Finds

1.4-Million-Year-Old Ax Made of Hippo Bone Found in Ethiopia

Thought to have been made by Homo erectus, the implement adds range and sophistication to the bipedal hominin’s toolkit

Researchers say the Iron Age man—found facedown with his hands bound together near the waist—was likely murdered or executed.

Iron Age Murder Victim’s Skeleton Found in England

The man was buried with his hands bound together at the waist

Archaeologists discovered rock art engraved inside this 4,000-year-old stone monument in northern Israel. Illustrations highlight the herd of horned animal figures etched into the boulder.

Cool Finds

Millennia-Old Rock Art in Israel Offers Window Into Lost Culture

The carvings depict animals, geometric designs and what may be a human face

The ʻahu ʻula and mahiole of Kalaniʻōpuʻu on display in the Bishop Museum

Hawaiian Chief’s Cloak and Helmet Repatriated After 241 Years

A New Zealand museum initially returned the artifacts, given to Captain James Cook in 1779, on a long-term loan in 2016

Aerial view of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia

Turkey Controversially Converts Hagia Sophia From Museum Into Mosque

The move has attracted criticism from Unesco, Pope Francis, the Russian Orthodox Church and others

Archaeologists unearthed the nearly complete cat skeleton at the ancient settlement of Dhzankent in Kazakhstan.

Cool Finds

In Ancient Kazakhstan, Nomadic Herders Kept Their Toothless Pet Cat Alive

An assessment of the 1,000-year-old feline’s bones suggest it wouldn’t have been able to survive without human care

The Supreme Court building in Washington, DC

What a New Supreme Court Decision Means for Native American Sovereignty

The landmark ruling upholds the sanctity of treaties between the United States and American Indians—to a certain point

A set of 120,000-year-old shells from the Qafzeh Cave in northern Israel. Ancient humans collected these shells, which had natural perforations, and arranged them on lengths of string.

Cool Finds

New Research Suggests Humans Invented String at Least 120,000 Years Ago

Marks found on ancient shells indicate that they were laced together to create necklaces

A 1928 portrait of physicist Albert Einstein by Lotte Jacobi

Tesla’s Patents, Einstein’s Letters and an Enigma Machine Are Up for Auction

Christie’s Eureka! sale features personal and academic objects owned by 20th-century scientists

At its peak, the saint's Canterbury Cathedral shrine drew upward of 100,000 visitors each year.

Virtual Travel

Researchers Digitally Reconstruct Thomas Becket’s Razed Canterbury Cathedral Shrine

The model, centered around the medieval saint’s golden casket, is now available to view online

Volunteers repair and re-chalk the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset, England. The 180-foot figure has been on the grassy hillside as long as anyone alive can remember, but many wondered if it might be thousands of years old. Now, new evidence suggests the drawing dates not to the prehistoric period, but to medieval times.

Cool Finds

Snail Shells Date England’s Cerne Abbas Giant to Medieval, Not Prehistoric, Era

Researchers are conducting additional testing aimed at confirming the chalk figure’s age and origins

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, I See Red: Target, 1992

National Gallery of Art Acquires Its First Painting by a Native American Artist

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s work addresses questions of identity and appropriation

“For the elite, the nobility, everything did change radically—the administration of the country, legal frameworks, the organization of the landscape,” says study co-author Richard Madgwick. “But at a lower level, people adapted to the new normal rapidly.”

New Research

How Did the Norman Conquest Change English Cuisine?

After the invasion of 1066, pork and possibly chicken spiked in popularity

Nancy Baker Cahill's Liberty Bell, as seen over the National Mall

This AR Artwork Reimagines Historical Spaces Across the U.S.

Nancy Baker Cahill’s red, white and blue “Liberty Bell” rings over sites in six major cities

Archaeologist Ben Edwards and his daughter Bella recreated the Bryn Celli Ddu landscape in the computer game "Minecraft."

Explore a 5,000-Year-Old Welsh Tomb Recreated in Minecraft

The virtual world now boasts a cube-based recreation of Bryn Celli Ddu in its heyday

Rock piles like the one pictured here helped ancient miners navigate the subterranean network.

An Underwater Cave Once Hosted the Americas’ Oldest Known Ocher Mine

Humans have valued the rich red pigment for hundreds of thousands of years

A black musician seen in Piero di Cosimo's Perseus Frees Andromeda, 1510-1515

How the Uffizi Gallery Is Highlighting Black Figures in Renaissance Art

Each Saturday, the Florentine museum will release a new educational video on TikTok and Facebook

The pair immediately knew their find was something special, as wood rarely survives in saltwater unless it is buried by sediment.

Cool Finds

Divers Find 16th-Century Shipwreck Off Coast of Northern Italy

The vessel may be the “Santo Spirito & Santa Maria di Loreto,” which sank in the vicinity in 1579

The Federal University of Minas Gerais’ Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden houses 260,000 artifacts ranging from fossils to folk art.

Second Brazilian Museum Fire in Two Years Sparks Calls for Reform

Authorities are assessing the damage caused by a June 15 blaze at the Natural History Museum and Botanical Garden in Belo Horizonte

The Maya city of Tikal thrived for hundreds of years but was abandoned in the ninth century A.D.

New Research

Why Did the Maya Abandon the Ancient City of Tikal?

New research suggests mercury and toxic algae poisoned the settlement’s reservoirs

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