Participants likely used wooden bowls known as braziers to burn cannabis and release its mind-altering vapors

Cool Finds

The First Evidence of Smoking Pot Was Found in a 2,500-Year-Old Pot

A new study suggests ancient humans used cannabis to commune with nature, spirits or even the dead

Some of the charred Cheerios.

Cool Finds

Ancient, Inedible ‘Cheerios’ Found in Austrian Archaeological Site

Made from wheat and barley, researchers believe the dough rings were likely ritual objects, not breakfast cereal

Otto Frank pictured holding a copy of "The Diary of Anne Frank"

Letters Written by Anne Frank’s Father, Otto, Will Be Digitized to Mark Diarist’s 90th Birthday

The notes stem from a 1970s pen pal correspondence between Otto and a young artist named Ryan Cooper

An activist holds up a rainbow flag inside Botswana's High Court to celebrate Tuesday's landmark ruling.

In Landmark Ruling, Botswana Strikes Down Colonial-Era Law Criminalizing Homosexuality

‘A democratic society is one that embraces tolerance, diversity and open-mindedness,’ Justice Michael Leburu said of the ruling

A woman looks at wreckage of trucks in the ghost city of Pripyat during a tour in the Chernobyl exclusion zone on June 7, 2019.

HBO’s ‘Chernobyl’ Miniseries Is Driving Tourists to the Nuclear Disaster Site

Chernobyl tourist agencies have reportedly experienced a 30 to 40 percent jump in bookings since the show’s premiere

Detail of the roof in the central nave of la Sagrada Familia. The columns are designed to invoke trees and branches.

137 Years After Construction Began, La Sagrada Familia Receives Building Permit

The church’s trustees hope to complete construction by 2026, the centenary of architect Antoni Gaudi’s death

Ali Stroker at the 73rd Annual Tony Awards

Ali Stroker Makes History, and More From the Tony Awards

The actress becomes the first wheelchair user ever to take home the coveted prize at the 73rd annual award show

Researchers extracted paint and canvas fiber samples from a known forgery supposedly dating to 1886 but actually created during the 1980s.

Art Meets Science

Cold War Nuclear Bomb Tests Are Helping Researchers Identify Art Forgeries

Traces of carbon-14 isotopes released by nuclear testing enable scientists to date paintings created post-World War II

Clare "Kitty" Weaver poses next to the first public display of her ancestor's copy of the Navajo Treaty of 1868 prior to the 150th Commemoration of its signature at Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner, N.M. in June 2018.

A Historic Treaty Has Been Returned to the Navajo

Signed in 1868, the document brought an end to the Navajo’s imprisonment on a reservation in New Mexico

Last year, archaeologists unearthed two unusual Bronze Age graves at Siberia's Ust-Tartas site

Cool Finds

Bronze Age ‘Birdman’ Had a Headdress Made of Dozens of Bird Beaks, Skulls

Researchers suspect that the unusual accessory served a protective ritual purpose

The warder is the first of five missing pieces to materialize since the remaining chessmen’s discovery in 1831

Cool Finds

A Medieval Chess Piece Potentially Worth $1.2 Million Languished in a Drawer for Decades

The Lewis warder, part of a larger trove of 12th-century ivory chessmen, was purchased for £5 in 1964

The latest findings suggest that separate groups of early humans invented stone tools on multiple occasions

Cool Finds

Humans May Have Been Crafting Stone Tools for 2.6 Million Years

A new study pushes the origins of early human tool-making back by some 10,000 years earlier than previously believed

New Research

Ancient Fingerprints Show Men and Women Both Made Pottery in the American Southwest

Long thought to be primarily women’s work, new analysis of ceramic fragments shows both sexes created pottery at Chaco Canyon

From L to R: Kanlitas rock painting, enhanced version, isolated rendering of markings

Art Meets Science

Rock Art and Footprints Reveal How Ancient Humans Responded to Volcanic Eruption

New study dates the preserved footprints to 4,700 years ago, a full 245,000 years later than previously suggested

Unlike modern beavers, which use their sharp-edged teeth to chop up trees and build dams, mega-sized ones were unable to alter their environment to fit their needs

Why Did These Human-Sized Beavers Go Extinct During the Last Ice Age?

A new study suggests the giant beavers disappeared after their wetland habitats dried up, depriving the species of its aquatic plant-based diet

From left to right: Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Jane Vercaine, Barbara Deming, Kady Vandeurs, Carol Grosberg and others lead a protest at City Hall

Women Who Shaped History

New York City Monument Will Honor Transgender Activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera

The two women were instrumental in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising and spent their lives advocating for marginalized groups

Cool Finds

The Oldest Film of a Solar Eclipse Has Been Restored and Released Online

In 1900, magician, astronomer and filmmaker Nevil Maskelyne used a special adapter to film the astronomical event in North Carolina

The prehistoric school seems to adhere to the laws of attraction and repulsion, with members maintaining enough distance between neighbors without straying too far from the group

Cool Finds

Did This Fossil Freeze a Swimming School of Fish in Time?

The 50-million-year-old slab of limestone suggests that fish have been swimming in unison for far longer than previously realized

A police boat cruises along the River Seine past the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, which was badly damaged by a huge fire on April 15, and which is under repair, on May 20, 2019.

France’s Senate Requires That Notre-Dame’s Iconic Spire Be Rebuilt ‘Exactly as It Was’

The bill contradicts an earlier call for proposals to replace the fallen tower with a more modern aesthetic

Watch Rare Footage of a Smiling, Sunglass-Wearing Queen Victoria

The remarkably clear 1900 film was found in the MoMA archives

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