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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Blazes at Budj Bim National Park in southeastern Australia unearthed a previously unknown channel.

Cool Finds

Australian Bushfires Reveal Hidden Sections of Ancient Aquaculture System

The eel-farming system of the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape is older than both Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids

Anarchist Emma Goldman, who dedicated her life to combatting inequality, repression and the exploitation of workers

At Long Last, an Exhibition Celebrates Centuries of Women at Work

A new show at New York’s Grolier Club features the collection of Lisa Unger Baskin, who sought to share the untold stories of women in the workforce

Marcus Gheeraerts II, Portrait of a Woman in Red, 1620

The Evolution of Pregnancy Portraits, From Tudor England to Beyoncé

A new show at the Foundling Museum in London highlights artists’ depictions of pregnant women over the past 500 years

After months of careful negotiations, the mayor of Gotha was able to secure the return of the long-missing paintings.

Cool Finds

Five Old Master Paintings Recovered 40 Years After German Heist

Authorities suspect the artworks were smuggled into West Germany during the 1980s

The contested 1889 self-portrait of Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh Self-Portrait, Painted During Bout of Psychosis, Confirmed as Authentic

A five-year research effort validates an 1889 painting completed during the artist’s stay at an asylum

Ninety-six sculptures from the Torlonia Collection will go on view in Rome later this year.

A Long-Hidden Collection of Ancient Sculpture Is Making Its Grand Debut

The statues are “surprising, rewarding and promising beyond belief,” says one expert of the private Torlonia Collection

Untitled image from Restricted Residence

Nearly a Decade After Fukushima, Photos Capture Residents’ Bittersweet Return

A new photo series titled “Restricted Residence” features 42 thermal images of locals and their changed landscape

Ginkgo trees, which produce characteristic fan-shaped leaves, can live for thousands of years.

New Research

A Genetic Elixir of Life Helps Millennia-Old Ginkgo Trees Escape Death

These trees have developed an army of molecular weapons to stay healthy in old age

John Duke Kisch collected the Separate Cinema Archive over 40 years.

George Lucas’ New Museum Acquires Major Archive of African American Film History

The Separate Cinema Archive contains more than 37,000 objects dating from 1904 to the present

The Pachacamac Idol, a 1200-year-old wooden carving that held spiritual significance to the Inca

This Inca Idol Survived the Spanish Conquest. 500 Years Later, Archaeologists Are Unveiling Its History

A new analysis suggests the Pachacamac Idol, once thought destroyed, is probably older—and less bloody—than once believed

The museum's temporary location will close in February ahead of renovations and expansion scheduled for completion in 2022.

A New Holocaust Museum Is Coming to the Netherlands, With Help From Germany

Germany has pledged €4 million to a project that seeks to revamp the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam

The front of one of the barb-spring padlocks recovered from the Pictish settlement at Lair in Glenshee, Scotland

Cool Finds

Medieval Padlock Hints at Prosperity of Scotland’s Pictish Farmers

Archaeologists uncovered a thriving farming community whose members wanted to keep their valuables safe

Pierre de Coubertin first publicly proposed reviving the Olympic Games in 1892.

Speech That Inspired the Modern Olympics Is Now the Most Expensive Sports Memorabilia Ever Sold

An anonymous buyer purchased the manuscript, penned by French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin in 1892, for $8.8 million

Gustave Courbet's Young Ladies on the Banks of the Seine is one of some 100,000 artworks now freely available online.

Education During Coronavirus

You Can Now Download Images of 100,000 Artworks From Prominent Paris Museums’ Collections

Paris Musées, which manages 14 important institutions, has released a trove of images into the public domain

Hernán Cortés had Aztec treasures melted into gold bars for easier transport back to Europe.

Cool Finds

Spanish Conquistadors Stole This Gold Bar From Aztec Emperor Moctezuma’s Trove

Forces led by Hernán Cortés dropped the looted treasure during a hasty retreat from the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in June 1520

The top ten include To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hungry Caterpillar and The Cat in the Hat.

Trending Today

New York Public Library Announces Its Most Borrowed Books of All Time

The list, dominated by children’s literature, spans 125 years of reading

Layers of dirt accumulated over the centuries, hiding the painting under what is now the church's gift shop.

Cool Finds

Artwork Discovered in Vienna Cathedral’s Gift Shop May Be the Work of German Renaissance Master Albrecht Dürer

The find is particularly intriguing because it represents the first evidence that Dürer visited the Austrian city

The high-status 16th-century woman (right) appears to have suffered from leprosy, a disfiguring disease that likely left its mark on her skin, tissues and bone.

Artists Reconstruct Centuries-Old Faces of Early Edinburgh Residents

Skulls uncovered beneath St. Giles’ Cathedral gave faces to a 12th-century man and a 16th-century woman

This illustration of Venice accompanied a manuscript of one friar's journey from Venice to Egypt and Jerusalem.

Cool Finds

14th-Century Illustration of Venice Is the Oldest Found Yet

The drawing accompanied one friar’s first-person account of a trip from Venice to Jerusalem and Egypt

With the number of visitors projected to keep rising, the Netherlands tourist board has decided to shift its focus from promotion to crowd control.

Why the Dutch Government Wants You to Stop Referring to the Netherlands as ‘Holland’

In a push to redirect tourists to other parts of the country, officials are dropping “Holland” from promotional and marketing materials

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