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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Experts spent two days trying to save the whale, which weighed roughly 20,000 pounds.

When a Humpback Whale Got Stranded in Oregon, a Native Community Turned the Tragedy Into a Revival of a Traditional Practice

Members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians salvaged a beached whale’s remains, a practice that hadn’t been performed in generations

An international team of archaeologists from Italy, Spain and Tunisia has been excavating Henchir el Begar since 2023.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Roman Olive Oil Production Facilities in North Africa

Located in western Tunisia, the plants operated between the third and sixth centuries and likely helped supply precious olive oil to Rome

Harappa was one of the large cities created by the Indus Valley civilization.

Why Did This Advanced Ancient Civilization Collapse? New Research Suggests Climate Change Played a Role

The Indus Valley civilization, located in present-day Pakistan and India, went through four periods of intense drought, which may have led to the society’s demise

Researcher Carolyn Boyd examines a Pecos River style pictograph in Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site.  

New Research

Researchers Discover the Shocking Age of the Mysterious Pecos River Rock Art

The murals were painted on limestone canyon walls, in the same style, over the span of four millennia

The Winter Egg was designed by Alma Pihl, one of the few female designers at the House of Fabergé. Czar Nicholas II gifted it to his mother, Maria Feodorovna, in 1913.

Fabergé Egg Gifted by Russia’s Last Czar Breaks World Record, Selling for $30.2 Million at Auction

For the third time in its history, the Winter Egg is now the most valuable Fabergé item ever sold

A shell trumpet found in Catalonia

New Research

Archaeologists Say These Conch Shells May Have Been Used as Early Musical Instruments 6,000 Years Ago

New research suggests that a collection of conch shells unearthed in Spain may have once produced melodies, in addition to enabling communication across long distances

This photo by Julius Shulman became a symbol of Los Angeles.

This Historic Mid-Century Modern Home Overlooking Los Angeles Is on the Market for the Very First Time

Buck and Carlotta Stahl built their home in the Hollywood Hills in 1960. Soon after the structure’s completion, it was captured in an era-defining photograph

The photograph is known as The Last Jew in Vinnitsa.

A Historian Has Finally Uncovered the Identity of the Nazi Gunman in a Haunting Holocaust Photograph

The 1941 image shows a Nazi soldier pointing a gun at the head of a man kneeling at the edge of a pit filled with bodies. With help from A.I., the gunman has been identified as 34-year-old Jakobus Onnen

Evidence of prehistoric flint tool-making dating to approximately 4300 B.C.E.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Digging Beneath Britain’s Houses of Parliament Discover 6,000-Year-Old Flint Artifacts and a 2,000-Year-Old Roman Altar Fragment

During restorations at the Palace of Westminster in London, excavations have revealed a trove of historic objects, the oldest of which date to around 4300 B.C.E.

The drawing will be auctioned off on February 5, 2026.

Experts Say This Small Drawing of a Foot May Be a Long-Lost Study for Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling

After an extensive investigation, the five-inch-tall sketch is heading to auction, where it’s predicted to sell for up to $2 million

The birch bark tar is covered in tooth marks and contains traces of saliva.

New Research

Ancient DNA Reveals That a Teenage Girl Chewed on This Wad of ‘Gum’ 10,500 Years Ago

Based on genetic material preserved in birch bark tar from Estonia, researchers found that the teen likely had brown hair and brown eyes

Most of the canoes are still submerged in Lake Mendota, but archaeologists have recovered two of them.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists in Wisconsin Unearth an Ancient ‘Parking Lot’ With 16 Dugout Canoes—Including One That’s 5,200 Years Old

The team has several theories about how Indigenous groups created and used the vessels, which were discovered during research over the past five years

Researchers found bird bones and jewelry, including this bowl-shaped brooch, in the grave.

Mysterious Viking Age Woman Found Buried With Scallop Shells Covering Her Mouth

Archaeologists discovered the unusual ninth-century grave on a farm along the coast of central Norway

The text contains illustrations of plants, animals and biblical scenes.

See the ‘Mona Lisa of Illuminated Manuscripts,’ a 600-Year-Old Bible Covered in Intricate Illustrations

Created between 1455 and 1461, the Borso D’Este Bible is currently on view in the Italian Senate in Rome

Previously, researchers assumed that much of modern dogs' diversity emerged during he past few centuries.

New Research

Dogs Have Been Surprisingly Diverse for More Than 10,000 Years, New Research Suggests

Two studies provide scientists with a more comprehensive understanding of how early dogs were domesticated as they migrated around the world alongside humans

The house is located in Tryon, North Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Nina Simone’s Childhood Home, Saved From Demolition Years Ago, Has Now Been Fully Restored

A group of contemporary artists purchased the house in 2017, and its long-awaited renovation began in June 2024

The log boats were all made the same way, but each one is unique.

Cool Finds

These Ancient Log Boats Unearthed in England Were Each Carved From a Single Tree Trunk 3,000 Years Ago

First discovered in 2011, three vessels are the centerpiece of a new exhibition about craftsmanship and transportation methods in Bronze Age Britain

The Altamura Man was discovered in a cave in southern Italy in 1993.

Stunningly Well-Preserved Neanderthal Skull Suggests the Species’ Large Noses Weren’t Adapted for the Cold

A new study analyzes the nasal cavity of the “Altamura Man,” a Neanderthal who died between 130,000 and 172,000 years ago

To survey the area, researchers used a mix of satellite imagery and magnetometry.

Archaeologists Find Evidence of a Bronze Age City in Kazakhstan

Surveyed for the first time since its discovery two decades ago, the settlement “breaks from all the things that we thought we knew about Central Asia up to this point,” a study author says

Wolfram Weimer, the German culture minister; Peter Wollny, director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig; and Burkhard Jung, Leipzig's mayor pictured with the two compositions

Cool Finds

These Bach Compositions Were Lost to History. They Were Just Performed for the First Time in 300 Years—and You Can Listen to Them

After discovering the two pieces in the 1990s, researchers have finally concluded that they were created by the famous German composer. An organist performed them for audiences on November 17

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