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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

The sport of angling ("angle" is an old work for "hook") was a popular 1600s pastime that had a number of guides written about it.

This Obscure Fishing Book is One of the Most Reprinted English Books Ever

‘The Compleat Angler’ is much more than an instruction manual on fishing. It’s a Walden-like meditation on nature and friendship

Joseph Goebbels viewing the 1937 Degenerate Art Exhibition.

Trending Today

Eighty Years Later, Two Exhibits Confront the “Degenerate Art” Purge

In 1937, the Nazis confiscated modernist art from museums and put it up for ridicule in an exhibit that still reverberates today

This Is What Global Dissent Sounds Like

A new project maps almost 200 recordings taken in 27 different countries over the past 26 years

One of the cats involved in the Acoustic Kitty Project was a grey-and-white female.

The CIA Experimented On Animals in the 1960s Too. Just Ask ‘Acoustic Kitty’

Turns out that cats really don’t take direction well

Joseph Moxon, author of 'Mathematicks Made Easie,' was born on this day in 1627.

Is One A Number? According to ‘Mathematicks Made Easie,’ Yes

The ancient Greeks, and people for almost 2,000 years after them, argued over whether one was a number

Zhang Zeduan, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival"

This Taiwanese Museum Just Digitized Its Massive Collection of Chinese Art

70,000 images are available for download via the National Palace Museum’s website

The Sabino sailing into port in 2005. The steamboat still carries museum-goers on tours of the Mystic River.

America’s Oldest Coal-Powered Steamboat Chugs Along

After a two-year restoration, the 109-year-old Sabino is ready to sail for many years to come

William Maples holds a bone fragment during a presentation about the Romanov Investigations, circa 1992.

William R. Maples Popularized Forensic Anthropology Long Before CSI

Maples worked on a number of high-profile cases that helped to bring the field of forensic anthropology to prominence

Using stiff collars to help a guide dog user communicate with their dog has been around since the 1800s.

The Cuddly Tail of Guide Dogs

Dogs have been assisting blind humans for a very long time, but the arrangement only became formal recently

A fragmented painting of a woman bearing offerings, from the Mycenaean palace at Tiryns.

DNA Analysis Sheds Light on the Mysterious Origins of the Ancient Greeks

Scholars have long puzzled over the ancestry of the Minoans and Myceneans, two important Bronze Age cultures

In the hours before the Sun rises, Tsukiji bustles with traders buying seafood for the coming day

Fire Breaks Out at Historic Tokyo Fish Market

As Tsukiji Market faces an uncertain future, a fire torches several stores at the edge of the century-old landmark

Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, the first two commercially popular country music acts, got their national start at the Bristol Sessions.

How the Bristol Sessions Created Country Music

Ninety years ago, a yodeller named Jimmie Rodgers laid down two of the tracks he would be remembered for

Alexander Graham Bell used the money from his telephone patent to fund Volta Laboratories, which later became Bell Laboratories.

Telephones Were Silenced for One Minute After Alexander Graham Bell Died

By the time Bell died, he had moved on to other inventions. But the telephone made a huge mark on American society

The beer that flooded the streets was porter, an extremely dark-colored beer that was traditionally aged for a time before being drunk–which is why it was stored in vats.

This 1814 Beer Flood Killed Eight People

More than a hundred thousand gallons of beer burst onto the streets of London when a vat broke

One of the mosaics uncovered in Sainte-Colombe

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover a “Little Pompeii” in Eastern France

Fires in a Roman neighborhood in Sainte-Colombe helped preserve ancient homes, shops and artifacts

New Research

Human Artifacts Found at 46 Ancient Lakes in the Arabian Desert

The finds add to evidence that a wetter “Green Arabia” was an important stop in the migration of early humans

Logs discovered under 168th Avenue in Grand Haven Township, Michigan

“Corduroy Road” From Civil War Era Found in Michigan

Used to stabilize swampy pathways, corduroy roads are among the earliest types of manufactured thoroughfares

Byzantine Wine Press Found in Israeli Desert

Its fermentation pool could hold 6,500 liters of the good stuff

The rocky terrain of northern Australia's Arnhem Land contains many examples of Aboriginal artwork

Aboriginal Rangers Uncover Trove of Rock Art in Northern Australia

Hundreds of examples of art dating back centuries were found by rangers while they were conducting burn offs

Excavation at Burghead

Cool Finds

Dig Uncovers Artifacts From One of “Europe’s Lost People”

A archaeological excavation in Burghead Fort has uncovered a longhouse from the Picts, a late Iron Age and early Medieval powerhouse

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