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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

A dog being hitched to a travois in an 1844 painting by Karl Bodmer.

New Research

Ancient Dogs Weren’t the Workhorses We Thought They Were

A spinal condition thought to be caused by carrying heavy loads is actually a function of age, a new study finds

The Rebecca Salome Foster monument pictured before (left) and after (right) restoration

Long-Forgotten Monument to Prison Reformer Will Be Reinstalled in New York Courthouse

Rebecca Salome Foster was known as the “Tombs Angel” in recognition of her work with inmates housed at a Manhattan prison known as “The Tombs”

In 1847, all but 48 Irish immigrant passengers fleeing famine aboard the ship known as the Carricks drowned offshore from Cap-des-Rosiers.

Bones Found on Quebec Beach Traced to Irish Immigrants Fleeing the Potato Famine

The victims died when a ship transporting them to Canada was wrecked offshore of Cap-des-Rosiers beach

Cool Finds

Scotland’s Tiny Artificial Islands Date to the Stone Age

Five crannogs in the Outer Hebrides were built 5,000 years ago, perhaps for ritual purposes

Frida Kahlo photographed with Diego Rivera and Malu Block.

Cool Finds

This May Be the Only Known Recording of Frida Kahlo’s Voice

The sound of the speaker on recording, which was found earlier this year, has been described as ‘sweet, delicate, very feminine’

The specimen is the first (partial) carcass of an adult Pleistocene steppe wolf—an extinct lineage distinct from modern wolves—ever found

Cool Finds

A Perfectly Preserved 32,000-Year-Old Wolf Head Was Found in Siberian Permafrost

Given the head’s state of preservation, researchers are hopeful that they can extract viable DNA and use it to sequence the wolf’s genome

Hans Holbein's portrait of Anne of Cleves convinced Henry VIII of his bride-to-be's charms

Historian’s New Novel Raises Controversial Theory: Henry VIII Divorced Anne of Cleves Because She’d Already Given Birth

Alison Weir acknowledges the claim, which pulls on previously unexplored evidence, is “inconclusive and speculative” but says it might make readers think

Trending Today

The Penn Museum Just Floated a 12-Ton Sphinx Out a Window

Using air-dollies, the museum moved the largest sphinx in the western hemisphere 250 feet to a new entranceway

Trove of English Court Records Reveal Stories of Murder, Witchcraft, Cheese Theft

Archivists are cataloging documents from the Assizes court in the Isle of Ely, which tried serious crimes

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

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