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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Gary Brannan, archivist, and Professor Sarah Rees Jones examine one of the archbishops' registers.

A Medieval Nun Wanted to Escape Her Convent—so She Faked Her Death

This story and others have come to light during a project to translate and digitize a series of texts about archbishops in York, England

Researchers examine porcelain from the Java Sea Ship wreck using their "ray gun."

New Research

How an ‘X-Ray Gun’ Is Telling Us More About the Java Sea Shipwreck

Researchers used X-ray fluorescence to find the origins of porcelain recovered from the vessel to help pinpoint which port the ship first departed from

Plumber planner Jannick Vestergaard and engineer Henning Nøhr posing with their discovery.

Medieval Sword, Blade Still Sharp, Pulled From Sewer in Denmark

Experts think its owner may have been defeated in battle and dropped the luxurious weapon in the muddy streets

Frank Robinson taking a swing during a circa late 1960s Major League Baseball game at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland.

Trending Today

Smithsonian Curator Weighs in on Legacy of Frank Robinson, Barrier-Breaking Baseball Great

Robinson was one of the great all-time home run hitters and made history when he became the manager of the Cleveland Indians

An image of the true U.S. pizza king Filippo Milone in the May 9, 1903 issue of the Italian-language newspaper Il Telegrafo.

Cool Finds

The Father of American Pizza Is Not Who We Thought He Was

New research suggests pizza came to the U.S. earlier than 1905, spread by pizza evangelist Filippo Milone

King's former home on Sunset Avenue in Atlana's Vine City neighborhood

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Family Home to Open to the Public

The property was recently purchased by the National Park Foundation

The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum was co-founded by two friends who have been collecting the figures for the past 16 years

Milwaukee Museum Features More Than 6,500 Collectible Bobbleheads (and Counting)

The duo behind project find the art in the unblinking figurine, displaying bobbleheads from all walks of life, including sports, pop culture and politics

Cool Finds

Drone Captures Thousands of Years of Archaeology on Remote Scottish Islands

A drone survey of Canna and Sanday Islands collected 420 million data points, creating what may be the most detailed 3-D map of islands yet

New Research

Was Alexander the Great Pronounced Dead Prematurely?

A new theory suggests he was only paralyzed when he was declared dead, but it’s impossible to prove he had Guillain-Barré Syndrome with the existing facts

Maria Sibylla Merian, Untitled (Toucan), 1701–1705

80,000 Watercolor Portraits (and Counting) Paint a Pre-Photography Picture of the Planet

The Watercolour World enables users to compare historical paintings with contemporary images of landscapes

Mansa Musa as seen in the Catalan Atlas.

Cool Finds

New Exhibition Highlights Story of the Richest Man Who Ever Lived

Read about Mansa Musa, emperor of Mali, who once disrupted Egypt’s economy just by passing through

Charred residue containing evidence of beer making.

Cool Finds

Oldest Evidence of British Beer Found in Highway Dig

Charred residues show cracked grain and starch molecules likely used as part of a beer brewing session in 400 B.C.

The June 6, 2019, event will mirror paratrooper landings on D-Day

What to Expect for ‘D-Day 75’

Preparations for the 75th anniversary of D-Day are already underway, and will include the flight of 30 Douglas C-47 Skytrains

Operation Ranch Hand has led to a multi-generational health crisis and an environmental catastrophe.

Trending Today

Court Rules ‘Blue Water’ Vietnam Veterans Are Eligible for Agent Orange Benefits

Sailors had long been excluded from health benefits related to the dioxin-tainted herbicide the military spread during the war

Enrique Linares: "Zambra Gitana at the Roma Neighborhood in Granada." Postcard, Spain, 1910. RomArchive: fla_00026.

New Archive Reclaims the Narrative of the Roma

RomArchive includes more than 5,000 objects that highlight the creativity and self-agency of the often-maligned group

Conservation of the Juanqinzhai moon gate in Qianlong Garden was completed in 2016.

Architect Annabelle Selldorf Will Design New Interpretation Center for China’s Forbidden City

The restored Qianlong Garden complex, a sprawling oasis of four courtyards and 27 pavilions, is set to open to the public for the first time in 2020

The map currently features more than 130 entries divided into five categories

Interactive Map Renders Women’s Cultural Contributions to French Capital Visible

The evolving project highlights landmarks in Paris that were “financed, imagined or made by women”

Teresa Feodorowna Ries, "Witch Doing Her Toilette on Walpurgis Night," 1895

Remembering the Forgotten Female Artists of Vienna

New exhibition draws on works by around 60 women who lived and worked between 1900 and 1938

Researchers from University College London recruited six javelin athletes to test the efficacy of Neanderthal spear replicas

Neanderthals Used Spears to Hunt Targets From Afar

New analysis adds to growing body of literature suggesting these early human ancestors were more advanced than previously believed

Trending Today

Canada Archives Acquire Book That Would Have Guided North American Holocaust

The report details the population and organizations of Jewish citizens across the U.S. and Canada

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