Smart News History & Archaeology

Royall has fallen—Harvard Law School wants a new logo.

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Harvard Law Will Ditch Its Signature Shield Because of Its Slaveholding Roots

Student protests upended another on-campus symbol of racism and forced labor

Cool Finds

Today’s Google Doodle Celebrates Electronic Music Pioneer Clara Rockmore

The theremin virtuosa would have been 105 years old today

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Italy Thinks Its 'Za Should Be a United Nations Cultural Treasure

Italy wants its Neapolitan pizza to be added to Unesco's cultural heritage list

The suspected Confederate blockade runner found near the mouth of the Cape Fear River

Cool Finds

Civil War Blockade Runner Found in North Carolina Waters

Sonar scan finds possible remains of a Confederate steamship used to outrun the Union Navy

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Italian City Bans New “Ethnic” Restaurants

Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet, is preventing new eateries from opening that primarily serve kebabs, gyros and fried food

New Research

440-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Fungi May Be The Oldest Land Dwellers Yet Discovered

Though not the oldest living creatures, these fungi may have paved the way for living creatures to take hold of the land

This could be New Zealand's next flag.

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New Zealanders Are Voting Whether to Adopt a New Flag

The country could drop the Union Jack in favor of a design with a more distinctive national symbol

Shoppers walk down a corridor in Istanbul's fabled Grand Bazaar.

Cool Finds

Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar Is Getting a Makeover

The bazaar has withstood at least seven fires and several major earthquakes

Were these small prints left by Stone Age babies...or lizards?

New Research

“Baby Hands” on Rock Paintings Were Probably Lizard Prints

The prints could have held symbolic meaning for Stone Age humans

This could have been Britain during World War II, but Operation Bernhard was foiled after the Allies learned about the plan.

The Nazis Planned to Bomb Britain With Forged Bank Notes

But Operation Bernhard never made it rain

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Happy Leap Day! Brought to You by Julius Caesar

The leap year has a long history, stretching all the way back to 46 B.C.E.

This 1956 poster is just one of thousands of items of Rosa Parks' personal collection now digitized by the Library of Congress.

Cool Finds

Rosa Parks' Papers Are Now Online

Read about everything from her meditations on the Civil Rights Movement to her recipe for "featherlite" peanut butter pancakes

The secretly-made 3D scan of Nefertiti's bust.

Cool Finds

Thanks to Sneaky Scanners, Anyone Can 3D Print a Copy of Nefertiti’s Bust

Scans of the famous sculpture are free for the taking

Shackleton brought everything from trashy novels to accounts of Arctic rescues with him to Antarctica.

Cool Finds

Historians Finally Figured Out What Was on Shackleton’s Bookshelf

The brave explorer likely found solace in his library

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What the All Writs Act of 1789 Has to Do With the iPhone

How a law signed by George Washington is being applied to Apple

The Apollo 10 lunar module prepares for redocking.

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Mysterious “Music” Spooked Apollo 10 Astronauts

Archival audio reveals eerie sounds heard by astronauts on the dark side of the moon

Up to 925,000 Jews and Romani were murdered at Treblinka, a Nazi extermination camp near Warsaw, Poland.

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Last Survivor of Treblinka, Final Destination for Up to 925,000 People, Has Died

Samuel Willenberg devoted the rest of his life to honoring those murdered at the camp

The perfectly preserved Bronze Age wheels in the dig go round and round.

Archaeologists Uncovered a Perfect Bronze Age Wheel

Excavations at “Britain’s Pompeii” are on a roll

Did the prehistoric civilization of Easter Island really "collapse"?

New Research

New Evidence Finds That Easter Island Wasn’t Destroyed by War After All

Did islanders really experience a catastrophic “collapse” of their own making?

Mozart and Salieri—rivals or BFFs?

Cool Finds

A German Composer Uncovered a Collaboration Between Mozart and Salieri

Their epic rivalry might not have been all that

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