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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Avebury stands some 25 miles north of Stonehenge and is large enough to fit two Stonehenge-sized circles.

Stone Circles at Avebury May Have Surrounded House for Neolithic ‘One Percent’

Researchers theorize that the monument, near Stonehenge, was erected to commemorate the site of later generations’ ancestral home

Young Thug wore a dress by designer Alessandro Trincone on the cover of his 2016 mixtape

Boston Museum Launches First Large-Scale Exhibition on Non-Binary Fashion

The show features a tuxedo worn by Marlene Dietrich, a suit worn by David Bowie and contemporary designs by Rei Kawakubo

The amethyst-studded hatpin may have been owned by Edward IV or a high-ranking member of his court

Cool Finds

Unearthed: Gold Hatpin Potentially Owned by Edward IV

Sweeping through a field with a metal detector, a woman uncovered the find, which features one of the Yorkist king’s heraldic badges, a “sun in splendor”

A firefighter is seen fighting the flames at Notre-Dame Cathedral on April 15, 2019

Historic Notre-Dame Cathedral Salvaged From Blaze

After a tense few hours, firefighters announce they saved the landmark from ‘total destruction’

Cool Finds

Bonn Library Recovers More Than 600 Books Looted After World War II

The trove was flagged after a Belgian woman unwittingly tried to auction the stolen books

The planned museum is set to be built in Poissy, home of Le Corbusier's famed Villa Savoye

The Controversy Over the Planned Le Corbusier Museum

Scholars, architects have accused France’s culture ministry of “complicity in an attempt to rehabilitate” Le Corbusier’s legacy

Experts believe the Neolithic dog is the first canine to undergo forensic facial reconstruction

Thanks to Facial Reconstruction, You Can Now Look Into the Eyes of a Neolithic Dog

The collie-sized canine was buried in a cavernous tomb on Scotland’s Orkney Islands around 2,500 B.C.

Illustration of the lynchers breaking into the prison in 1891

New Orleans Apologizes for 1891 Lynching of Italian-Americans

Eleven people accused of killing the city’s police chief were murdered by a vigilante mob

All of the Denisovan specimens found to date originated from a cave in Siberia

The Hominins We’ve Been Calling Denisovans Are More Diverse Than Previously Thought

Researchers have identified three distinct Denisovan lineages, including one that could constitute an entirely separate species

The 13 bones and teeth were found in a cave on the island of Luzon

Cool Finds

A New Human Ancestor Species Was Discovered in the Philippines

‘Homo luzonensis’ boasted an eclectic mix of features comparable different species of hominins

Cool Finds

Book of Lost Books Discovered in Danish Archive

The index is part of the Libro de los Epítomes, an effort by Christopher Columbus’ illegitimate son to create a searchable index of the world’s knowledge

New Research

Computer Analysis Says ‘Beowulf’ Is the Work of a Single Author

Academics have argued about the origins of the Old English epic for two centuries

"We didn’t just want to view Weimar from its ending,” exhibition curator Simone Erpel says

What the Weimar Republic Can Teach Us About Modern Democracy

A Berlin exhibition draws on some 250 artifacts to explore questions of democracy past and present

David Bradley, "Hopi Maidens," 2012

David Bradley Retrospective Captures Lasting Legacy of Contemporary Native Artist

More than 30 works from his nearly 40-year career are featured in the traveling show, now in Los Angeles

Desert kites, stone structures used for hunting, discovered in the U2 images.

Cool Finds

U-2 Spy Plane Images Reveal Ancient Archaeological Sites in the Middle East

Two patient archaeologists organized and scanned the images to find structures destroyed or covered up over the last 60 years

Polish soldier and military commander Casimir Pulaski (1745 - 1779), circa 1775. From an original engraving by James Hopwood after a painting by Oleszkiewicz.

Was the Revolutionary War Hero Casimir Pulaski Intersex?

A new Smithsonian Channel documentary may affirm long-standing suspicions about the Polish fighter’s identity

A trio of air conditioners failed to meet manufacturer recommendations regarding the use of separate circuit breakers and grounding devices

A Faulty Air Conditioning Unit Sparked the Brazil National Museum Fire

The September 2018 blaze destroyed the 200-year-old building and reduced the majority of its 20-million artifact collection to ash

Thor Heyerdahl photographed with archaeological artifacts from Easter Island

Norway Will Repatriate Thousands of Artifacts Taken From Easter Island

Thor Heyerdahl Jr. says his late father had promised to return the items after they had been analyzed and detailed in published works

These illustrations come from a miniature book of classical Persian poetry.

The Library of Congress Has Digitized 155 Persian Texts Dating Back to the 13th Century

Offerings include a book of poetry featuring the epic Shahnameh and a biography of Shah Jahan, the emperor who built the Taj Mahal

Redoshi seen in “The Negro Farmer: Extension Work for Better Farming and Better Living"

Cool Finds

Researcher Identifies the Last Living Survivor of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Redoshi was 12 when she was kidnapped and sold to the crew of the Clotilda

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