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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

One of the scrolls being scanned by the Diamond Light Source and digitally deciphered.

New Research

Light Billions of Times Brighter Than the Sun Used to Read Charred Scrolls From Herculaneum

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. carbonized papyrus scrolls, which may now be readable

American assault troops move up the beachhead from their landing craft in northern France.

Cool Finds

Man Discovers Original D-Day Dispatch Audiotape in Basement

The tape and several other recordings have since been donated to the National D-Day Memorial

A print from an oil painting attributed to J Clevely, showing Captain James Cook arriving at Queen Charlotte's Sound in New Zealand.

British Government ‘Expresses Regret’ for Māori Killed After James Cook’s Arrival in New Zealand

The statement comes as New Zealand prepares to grapple with the 250th anniversary of the first meetings between Captain Cook and the Māori

Jessye Norman at L'Olympia on June 26, 2012.

World-Renowned Soprano Jessye Norman Dies at 74

The opera star, who championed diversity in the arts, was known for her singular voice and versatile range

Cool Finds

Missing Box Contains Bones of Britain’s Early Inhabitants

Carbon dating shows the remains were 9,000 years old

The wrestler's cap alludes to Hercules' defeat of the Nemean lion

Cool Finds

Jar Depicting Thracian Athlete Found in Grave of Sports Fan of Antiquity

Your move, fanatics of the 21st century

New Research

In Ukraine, Megastructures Help Chart the Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization

The arrangement of large public spaces at the sprawling Maidanetske site suggests the culture became less democratic before collapse

Workers found traces of the fort while surveying the area ahead of redevelopment

Cool Finds

Construction Reveals Remnants of Roman Fort Below British Bus Station

Archaeologists found three defensive ditches, as well as coins, pottery and imported tableware

Virtual Travel

Listen to the Stories of Alabama’s Civil Rights Sites

A new interactive project seeks to preserve oral testimonies connected to 20 historic locations

Renia Spiegel in Przemyśl circa 1930

The Poignant Wartime Diary of a Jewish Teenager Living in Poland Has Been Published in English

Renia Spiegel was killed by the Nazis when she was 18 years old

The map shows locations including accused witches' places of residence, sites of trial, detention and execution

This Map Shows the Scale of 16th- and 17th-Century Scottish Witch Hunts

The interactive tool tells the stories of 3,141 men and women accused of practicing witchcraft

New Research

Research Suggests Machu Picchu Was Purposely Built on Top of Intersecting Fault Lines

It’s believed the fissures produced chunks of cracked rock that aided in the construction of the city’s tightly fitted stone walls

The unveiling ceremony of the statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear in Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill.

Chief Standing Bear, Who Fought for Native American Freedoms, Is Honored With a Statue in the Capitol

‘That hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain,’ the chief famously said during a landmark 1879 trial

After a 30 Year Absence, the Controversial ‘Porgy and Bess’ Is Returning to the Met Opera

From its debut, the show has been accused of cultural appropriation and stereotyping

The museum will be housed in a former brothel known as the Shasta Room

Deadwood Is Getting a Brothel Museum

A non-profit is telling the local history of prostitution in the Wild West town, popularized by the HBO show of the same name

The crocodile was 3 to 4 years old at the time of its death

Ancient Egyptians Hunted, Then Mummified, Crocodiles

New scans of a 2,000-year-old crocodile specimen suggest the animal was hunted specifically for mummification

The Guggenheim Museum's Hilma af Klint exhibition was a surprise hit, eventually becoming the Manhattan institution's most-visited show of all time

Study Shows U.S. Museums Still Lag When It Comes to Acquiring Works by Women Artists

Between 2008 and 2018, artwork by women represented just 11 percent of acquisitions and 14 percent of exhibitions at 26 major museums

Jo van Gogh-Bonger and her son Vincent Willem, as photographed in Paris in 1890

New Biography Spotlights Jo Bonger, Sister-in-Law Who Helped Rescue van Gogh From Obscurity

Bonger, wife of van Gogh’s brother Theo, described her mission as ‘getting [Vincent’s work] seen and appreciated as much as possible’

One of the mosaics at Paphos, Cyprus.

Trending Today

Getty Launches $100 Million Project to Safeguard Heritage

The initiative will fund projects that will help sites weather threats like armed conflict, climate change and overtourism

Misidentified Roman ‘Pendants’ Were Actually Women’s Makeup Tools

Known as ‘cosmetic grinders,’ the artifacts would have been used to crush minerals for makeup

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