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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Cool Finds

Egyptian Papyrus Reveals This Old Wives’ Tale Is Very Old Indeed

The “Wheat and Barley” pregnancy test described in a recently translated medical text has been practiced for thousands of years

An artist's rendition of Sheffield Castle

Archaeologists Are Excavating Sheffield Castle, One-Time Prison of Mary, Queen of Scots

The Scottish queen spent 14 years imprisoned at the medieval stronghold

Michaelina Wautier, "The Triumph of Bacchus," ca. 1643-59

‘Baroque’s Leading Lady’ Artist Michaelina Wautier Finally Gets Retrospective

The 17th-century painter mastered an array of genres at a time when most female artists were consigned to painting flowers

Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, Tainan city councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh and Huang Shu-jen, head of a local group established to commemorate "comfort women"

Taiwan Unveils Its First Statue Honoring ‘Comfort Women’

The monument has sparked diplomatic tensions with Japan

New Research

Egyptians Cracked Recipe for Embalming Resin Well Before Time of the Pharaohs

A new analysis shows that the Egyptian mummies were being made long before 2600 B.C.

The world's oldest cheese has been found in an ancient Egyptian tomb, but after 3200 years of entombment, it probably looked way worse off than this moldy modern sample.

Oldest Cheese Ever Found in Egyptian Tomb

Italian researchers also found traces of disease-causing bacteria in what they believe is probably extremely aged cheese.

The Whitechapel fatberg is a massive clump of congealed fat, wet wipes, diapers and miscellaneous waste

You Can Now Watch the Whitechapel Fatberg’s Decay on Livestream

The toxic clump of sewage oil and waste housed at the Museum of London has, so far, changed colors, ‘sweated,’ hatched flies and grown yellow pustules

It’s often difficult to tell “where the art ends and the building begins”

Swiss Institute Reimagines Duchamp’s Readymades for the Modern World

The exhibition asks visitors to revisit the objects in their daily life that are often taken for granted

Study suggests that early humans had opposable, ape-like big toes built for grasping

Researchers Suggest Big Toe Was Last Part of Foot to Evolve

Early hominins’ big toes were equipped for life on the ground and in the trees

New Research

Tools Offer More Complex, Cooperative Picture of Easter Island Society

Basalt axes from one quarry area indicate cooperation between clans, not warfare over resources as previously hypothesized

How an Artist Is Rebuilding a Baghdad Library Destroyed During the Iraq War

“168:01,” an installation now on view at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, encourages visitors to donate books to the University of Baghdad

Extreme weather events likely had severe consequences, depleting harvests and weakening humans and livestock alike

Animal Fat Found in Clay Pottery Reveals How Ancient People Adapted to Drought

Neolithic farmers switched from cattle to goat herding, abandoned communal dwellings for smaller households to adjust to new climate

Charles II attempted to ban public coffeehouses, which he viewed as hotbeds of "fake news" and seditious murmurings

Missouri Exhibition Explores the Centuries-Old Specter of ‘Fake News’

Curator considers three categories of ‘fake news’: error, hoax and truths deemed false

Pocket-Sized Bible Returns to Canterbury Cathedral After 500 Years

The volume was lost after Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the cathedral’s monastery

"Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk during the Cotton Famine"

Hundreds of Newly Found Poems Reveal the Devastation of the U.K.’s ‘Cotton Famine’

When the American Civil War crippled England’s cotton industry, impoverished workers turned to poetry to convey their plight

Early humans made stone tools out of whichever rocks happened to be lying nearby, ignoring quality in favor of convenience

Laziness May Have Contributed to the Decline of Homo Erectus

Researchers suggest early humans pursued “least-effort strategies” when crafting tools, collecting resources

Trending Today

After 100 Years, Roald Amundsen’s Polar Ship Returns to Norway

Maud, which sunk in Arctic Canada in 1930, was floated across the Atlantic to its new home in a museum in Vollen

In addition to the graduate program, ASU and the WWII Museum will offer a series of non-credit courses designed for those seeking a less rigorous academic experience

First US-Based World War II Master’s Degree Program Will Launch in January

The online graduate program is a collaboration between Arizona State University and the National World War II Museum in New Orleans

Langston Hughes circa 1939

Researcher Finds Earlier Birth Date for Langston Hughes

It has long been believed that the famed poet was born in 1902, but his name appears in newspaper articles from 1901

Circumstantial evidence links Rita and Jerry Alter to the 1985 heist.

Did This Couple Steal a $160 Million de Kooning?

The Thanksgiving snapshot places Jerry and Rita Alter in Tucson, Arizona, just a day before the 1985 heist

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