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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

A relatively significant number of people lace up their shoes to run across the country every year.

A Brief History of People Running Across America

Fictional character Forrest Gump wasn’t the only one to do it, not by a long shot

3-D forensic facial reconstruction of a shíshálh Chief who lived nearly 4,000 years ago.

High-Status Indigenous Family Brought Back to Life With Digital Reconstruction

Some 3,700 years ago, the relatives were given elaborate burials along the coast of British Columbia

Utahns will once again be allowed to see this view when they order a drink.

Trending Today

Utah Just Did Away With Liquor-Hiding “Curtains”

As liquor laws loosen, the “Zion Curtain” may become a thing of the past

France’s Simone Veil Will Become the Fifth Woman Buried in the Panthéon

It is an exceptional honor reserved for esteemed French citizens

The hearth Hemings may have warmed herself by in Monticello's south wing.

Cool Finds

Sally Hemings Gets Her Own Room at Monticello

A renovation at Thomas Jefferson’s estate will give the slave he likely fathered at least six children with a display in what may have been her quarters

Tree rings are easiest to see in trees that grew in temperate places, because the temperature changes at different times of the year.

Why an Astronomer Turned to Trees to Try to Solve a Celestial Mystery

Andrew Ellicott Douglass’s theory of sunspots and climate was wrong, but he still pioneered the science of tree-ring dating

This 1540 painting by Titian has had 11 owners.

Cool Finds

New Website Tracks Paintings Provenance from Brush to Gallery Wall

Mapping Paintings makes it easier to figure out an artwork’s chain of ownership

The early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic were marked with stigma and confusion.

Trending Today

This Was the First Major News Article on HIV/AIDS

The epidemic’s early days were perplexing and terrifying

Chicago Library Seeks Help Transcribing Magical Manuscripts

Three texts dealing with charms, spirits, and all other manners of magical practice are now accessible online

The Huey Tzompantli

Cool Finds

Aztec “Skull Tower” Contains Remains of Women and Children

The tzompantli were once believed to only contain the skulls of conquered male warriors

The proposal would have seen a racetrack and casino built three miles away from the now-grassy slopes of Gettysburg National Military Park.

Someone Was Actually Trying to Build a Casino Three Miles From the Gettysburg Battle Site

A local businessman said the casino would bring jobs and money to the historic region–but other locals said gaming would irrevocably change Gettysburg

This famous Capitol Hill painting shows the June 28, 1776 moment when the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was brought to the Second Continental Congress. Its painter, John Turnbull, was trying to capture the drama of the moment, but the painting isn't historically accurate.

Suggested Alternative Dates for Independence Day

The reason Independence Day is on July 4 isn’t very robust

Researchers used facial reconstruction software to paint a vivid portrait of one Dubliner that lived 500 years ago.

New Research

3-D Reconstruction Reveals Face of 500-Year-Old Irishman

The image offers a rare portrait of an ordinary Dubliner

The first atomic shock wave caused by Gilda's explosion on this day in 1946.

The Crazy Story of the 1946 Bikini Atoll Nuclear Tests

They were the first time that a nuclear weapon had been deployed since the 1945 attacks on Japan

Images of Yosemite, like this one taken circa 1865, helped increase public appetite for the park.

Lincoln’s Signature Laid the Groundwork for the National Park System

The “Yo-Semite Valley” was made a California state park on this day in 1864, but it quickly became a national park

The Neanderthal teeth, including the impacted molar

New Research

Neanderthals May Have Used Toothpicks to Treat Aching Teeth

A Neanderthal living in what is now Croatia and wore grooves in his or her teeth trying to soothe the pain

The statues and carvings from Gobekli Tepe were found with fragments of carved skull from thousands of years ago.

New Research

Unprecedented Carved Skulls Discovered at a Stone Age Temple in Turkey

Three carved skull fragments from Gobekli Tepe offer tantalizing hints about the lives of Neolithic people

Study co-author Kevin Smith applies melted bitumen to a bottle, following a technique used by indigenous groups of the California Channel Islands.

New Research

Drinking From Ancient Water Bottles Didn’t Hurt Indigenous People—Making Them Did

Researchers replicated a bottle-making process used by indigenous groups of the California Channel Islands to test toxic chemicals

Traffic on Interstate 405, Los Angeles, California, 2012.

Three Ways the Interstate System Changed America

The idea of a national highway system stretches back to the 1930s but wasn’t put into place until the midcentury

In traditional British cuisine, chicken would be far more likely to be boiled than fried.

The First Printed Fried Chicken Recipe in America

A white Virginian woman named Mary Randolph was the first to publish it, but fried chicken’s Southern history is deeper than ‘The Virginia Housewife’

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