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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

The two cracked eggs emitted a "sulfurous aroma" during excavation.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Crack the Case of 1,700-Year-Old Roman Eggs

Two of the eggs broke open during excavation, but one remains intact

The stretcher bullet (mostly intact) and two fragments of the bullet that fatally wounded Kennedy, as seen from multiple perspectives

Bullets That Killed John F. Kennedy Immortalized as Digital Replicas

The originals remain at the National Archives, but new 3-D scans showcase the ballistics in vivid detail

An unknown photographer took this image of enslaved individuals on a cotton plantation around 1850.

This May Be the Earliest Known Image of Enslaved Individuals With Cotton

A remarkable daguerreotype was recently acquired by the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City

A sonar image of the S.M.S. Scharnhorst, which sank in the south Atlantic on December 8, 1914

Cool Finds

German Ship Sunk During WWI Found Off Falkland Islands

Archaeologists started searching for the “Scharnhorst” on the centenary of the 1914 battle

Photographer Charles Marville captured this snapshot of an open-air urinal with three stalls in 1865.

How Paris’ Open-Air Urinals Changed a City—and Helped Dismantle the Nazi Regime

During World War II, the stalls served as rendezvous points for French Resistance fighters

More than 30 tattoos are scattered across this female mummy's skin.

Cool Finds

Infrared Reveals Egyptian Mummies’ Hidden Tattoos

The mummies of seven women found at Egypt’s Deir el-Medina site bear tattoos including crosses, baboons and hieroglyphics

Some soldiers (although not necessarily the ones pictured here) dyed their lighter locks to avoid appearing washed out in photographs.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Find Hair Dye Bottles Used by Self-Conscious Civil War Soldiers Posing for Portraits

Hair-do it for the gram

Indian Roller on Sandalwood Branch, by Shaikh Zain ud-Din, Impey Album, Calcutta, 1780.

Art Meets Science

London Exhibit Celebrates Indian Artists Who Captured Natural History for the East India Company

Paintings once anonymized as “company art” will finally be labeled with the names of their creators

A portrait (by Juan Carreño de Miranda) of Charles II, the last of the Spanish Habsburg kings, and his father, Philip IV (painted by Diego Velázquez, of whom the king was a patron). Both men had prominent jaws, which a new study concludes is most likely the result of the family's inbreeding.

The Distinctive ‘Habsburg Jaw’ Was Likely the Result of the Royal Family’s Inbreeding

New research finds correlation between how inbred rulers of a notoriously intermarrying dynasty were and the prominence of their jutting jaw

Scenes from the dig under the Jaques Cartier Bridge

Archaeologists Unearth 19th-Century Kiln That Fired Up Pipes for Montreal’s Smokers

The city was once a prominent center of Canada’s pipe-making industry

Historical texts, pollen samples and mortuary archaeology suggest the Justinianic plague was not as devastating as previously believed.

The Justinianic Plague’s Devastating Impact Was Likely Exaggerated

A new analysis fails to find evidence that the infamous disease reshaped sixth-century Europe

The rook in question certainly wasn't the first chess piece ever created, but it may be the oldest found to date.

Cool Finds

Is This Chess Piece Unearthed in Jordan the World’s Oldest?

The two-pronged rook, found in a seventh-century trading post, shows how quickly the game spread across the Islamic world

Elizabeth's penmanship deteriorated over time, with the speed and sloppiness of her writing rising in direct correlation with the crown's increasing demands.

Cool Finds

Elizabeth I’s ‘Idiosyncratic’ Handwriting Identifies Her as the Scribe Behind a Long Overlooked Translation

The Tudor queen wrote in an “extremely distinctive, disjointed hand,” says scholar John-Mark Philo

The newly discovered Viking ship

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Use Georadar Tech to Find Buried Viking Ship in Norway

Researchers say the vessel is probably more than 1,000 years old

First Lady Grace Coolidge and Rebecca, the raccoon she and her family kept as a pet

Raccoon Was Once a Thanksgiving Feast Fit for a President

Calvin Coolidge refused to cook the raccoon sent to him, but the critter was a beloved staple for many Americans

William Shakespeare (left) and John Fletcher (right) both contributed to Henry VIII, a new study suggests.

Artificial Intelligence Reveals Second Playwright’s Contributions to Shakespeare’s ‘Henry VIII’

Scholars have long suspected the play, written in 1613, was a collaborative effort. Now, an algorithm has mapped out who wrote what

Michelangelo was dissatisfied with his work and actually attempted to destroy the sculpture.

Trending Today

Visitors Can Watch the Restoration of Michelangelo’s ‘Bandini Pietà’

The artist once took a sledgehammer to the sculpture, which is now housed at a museum in Florence

A cat statue is displayed after the announcement of a new discovery carried out by an Egyptian archaeological team in Giza's Saqqara necropolis.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Reveal Rare Mummified Lion Cubs Unearthed in Egypt

CT scans identified two of five mummified big cats as young lions, but the remaining animals’ identities remain unclear

Police from five different countries collaborated to recover the stolen artifacts.

Authorities Recover 10,000 Artifacts Stolen by International Antiquities Trafficking Ring

The organized crime group had connections across Italy, Britain, Germany, France and Serbia

Artist's illustration of the 8th-century Viking man's burial

Cool Finds

Unusual Viking Grave Includes Nested Boats Buried 100 Years Apart

Archaeologists don’t know why the two vessels were buried on top of one another, but the practice may be linked with property rights

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