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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Sofonisba Anguissola, "Self-Portrait at the Easel Painting a Devotional Panel," 1556

Madrid’s Prado Museum Will Spotlight Pioneering Duo of Female Renaissance Artists

Lavinia Fontana is widely considered the first professional female artist, while Sofonisba Anguissola served as Philip II of Spain’s court painter

The eight-foot-deep pit contained two ancient coffins and an array of funerary vases.

Cool Finds

Greek Farmer Stumbles Onto 3,400-Year-Old Tomb Hidden Below His Olive Grove

The Crete local was trying to park his vehicle when he accidentally unearthed the ancient Minoan grave

The National Museum, seen from above, after the overnight fire in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Why Brazil’s National Museum Fire Was a Devastating Blow to South America’s Cultural Heritage

The collection of more than 20 million artifacts included the oldest fossil found in the Americas and a trove of indigenous literature

Archaeologists excavate the outside areas of the Theater.

Remains of One of the First Theaters to Perform Shakespeare’s Plays Will Open to the Public After 400 Years

Excavations at the site have also unearthed a large complex that was built around the theater

The winning design features an 180-foot, 200-ton steel column jutting out of the Northumberland hillside at a roughly 30-degree angle.

British Aristocrat Commissions 180-Foot Monument Celebrating Elizabeth II’s Reign

The Third Viscount Devonport has chosen sculptor Simon Hitchens to bring the Elizabeth Landmark to life

The ghost of a bagpiper is rumored to haunt the caves below Culzean Castle

Cool Finds

Hidden Medieval Door Leading to Smugglers’ Caves Discovered Underneath Scottish Castle

Culzean Castle, a towering fortress overlooking the cliffs of Ayrshire, sits atop a labyrinthine network allegedly used by smugglers, ghosts and fugitives

Domed skylights offer tantalizing glimpses into the Amos Rex museum's sprawling underground galleries.

Helsinki’s New Subterranean Art Museum Opens Its Doors

The Amos Rex Museum is located beneath Lasipalatsi, a 1930s shopping center known as the ‘Glass Palace’

A skull with other bones of a victim's body is classified by anthropologists following an exhumation of a mass grave at the cemetery of Paterna, near Valencia, Spain,

Archaeologists Open One of Many Mass Graves From the Spanish Civil War

The excavation comes amid a push to deal more openly with a difficult chapter of Spain’s history

The project will also feature the world premiere of a controversial Ilya Khrzhanovsky film, produced from 2009 to 2011 on another simulated set.

An Immersive Art Installation Will Temporarily Resurrect the Berlin Wall

This fall, event organizers plan on constructing a pseudo-city within a block of Berlin in order to emulate life in an unfamiliar country

The precious piece sold for $57,500.

Sold: A Pocket Watch From the Titanic, Adorned with Hebrew Letters

The watch belonged to Sinai Kantor, a Russian immigrant who died when the ship went down

Monks likely used the disc-shaped gaming board to play Hnefatafl, a Norse strategy game that pits a king and his defenders against two dozen attackers, during the 7th or 8th century

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Medieval Game Board During Search for Lost Monastery

Scotland’s oldest surviving manuscript, the Book of Deer, was written by monks living in the Aberdeenshire monastery

Palmyra's Temple of Baalshamin, which was targeted by ISIS.

Ancient City of Palmyra, Gravely Damaged by ISIS, May Reopen Next Year

Between 2015 and 2017, militants wreaked havoc on the site’s ancient treasures

Egon Schiele, "Woman Hiding Her Face," 1912

63 Works By Austrian Expressionist Egon Schiele Are at the Center of the Latest Nazi-Looted Art Dispute

The German Lost Art Foundation removed the artworks from its database, suggesting they were saved by a collector’s relatives rather than seized by Nazis

The Franklin Expedition hoped to find a northwest passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific

Lead Poisoning Wasn’t a Major Factor in the Mysterious Demise of the Franklin Expedition

Researchers argue that lead exposure occurred prior to the start of the voyage, not during the stranded crew’s battle for survival

In July 1942, the "Lost Squadron," a unit consisting of two B-17 bomber planes and six P-38 fighters, landed on a remote Greenlandic glacier

Cool Finds

The Wreck of a WWII Fighter Plane Will Be Unearthed from a Greenland Glacier

The P-38 fighter is a member of the famed Lost Squadron, which landed on ice caps after running afoul of poor weather in July 1942

Pottery and mosaic tiles found at the Yorkshire site.

Cool Finds

Silver Coins Lead to One of the Earliest Roman Sites in Yorkshire

The dig site found by metal detectorists 3 years ago appears to be a high-status homestead that once had two villas

Hemp harvest at Mount Vernon

Trending Today

Hemp Makes a Return to George Washington’s Farm

The first crop of industrial hemp grown in centuries was recently harvested at Mount Vernon

This 1685 map of Pisa shows the city's connection to the Arno River, which spills into an arm of the Mediterranean

Like a Reverse Atlantis, This Legendary Harbor Ended When Its Sea Route Dried Up

Researchers believe the changing environment doomed ‘Portus Pisanus,’ a harbor once considered lost to time

Engravings on a 'hunger stone' have been revealed in the Elbe River in the Czech Republic due to drought.

‘Hunger Stones’ With Ominous Messages Emerge in Drought-Parched Czech River

The stones recorded low water levels dating back to the 1600s and warn of impending hardships

The NYPL's Insta Novels are available via Instagram.

Fall Down the Rabbit Hole With the New York Public Library’s Instagram Version of Classic Tales

Featured texts include ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,’ ‘The Metamorphosis’ and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’

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