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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Image of Mount St. Helens plume found in a thrift store camera

Cool Finds

Camera Film Reveals Images of the Mount St. Helens Eruption

A photographer developed the film found at a Goodwill, revealing images of the ash plume from the 1980 eruption that killed 57

The Cairo Toe

Cool Finds

This 3,000-Year-Old Wooden Toe Shows Early Artistry of Prosthetics

Crafted from leather and wood, the ancient Egyptian prosthesis was was adjusted to precisely fit its wearer’s foot

A painting depicting a tribute giraffe and a handler sent to China in the 15th century.

The Peculiar Story of Giraffes in 1400s China

During China’s short-lived golden age of exploration, two giraffes came to the imperial court

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna shot her own mirror selfie in 1913. The picture,taken five years before she was killed, shows a young woman of 13 looking herself in the eye, stabilizing the camera on a chair in front of a mirror.

Take a Peep at This Gallery of Historic Selfies

People have been photographing themselves almost since the dawn of the technology

A member of the federal police holds an hourglass with Nazi markings, one of the 75 Nazi artifacts seized from an Argentinian house this June.

Trove of Nazi Artifacts Found in Secret Room of Argentina Home

A bust of Hitler, a knife with Nazi markings and a medical device for measuring heads were among the objects uncovered by authorities

The ship's helm on its flying bridge

Cool Finds

A Century After Sinking, This Storied Ship Will Remain Underwater

The McCulloch was the largest cutter of its day and sank in 1917 after colliding with a passenger ship in heavy fog

The house where somebody murdered Lizzie Borden's father and stepmother in 1892. She was acquitted almost a year later.

Lizzie Borden Didn’t Kill Her Parents (Maybe)

Borden was acquitted of the crime on this day in 1893, but no one else was ever charged

Trending Today

Oxford Is Digitizing UK’s World War I Memorabilia

The Lest We Forget Project is asking people to bring in letters, photos and objects from the Great War to be recorded for a free online database

When The Slants filed for trademark protection, they got more than they bargained for.

Trending Today

Offensive Terms Are No Longer Exempt From Trademark Protection

A Supreme Court ruling affirms a reclaimed slur

Remains of Thriving Trade City Found in Ethiopia

The archaeological excavation at Harlaa suggests the region was a hub for Islamic communities in Africa

South Sudanese refugees arrive at Suluba Transit Centre, where they will be registered, health checked and given medical treatment.

Trending Today

More People Are Forcibly Displaced Than Ever Before

New UN report paints a grim picture of the world’s refugees and migrants

Cheers!

Nobody Is Sure Why they Call It a ‘Martini’

Tastes just as good, though

A family practicing the art of sauntering on a Sunday in 1942 in Greenbelt, Maryland.

On World Sauntering Day, Take a Walk

It’s good for you

Traditional Polynesian Vessel to Complete Round-the-World Journey

The Hōkūleʻa’s crew did not use any modern navigational devices, instead relying on the stars, waves, and clouds to guide them

Thomas Lincoln made this cherry day bed around 1810.

Cool Finds

This Father’s Day, Check Out Furniture Made by Abraham Lincoln’s Much-Maligned Dad

Thomas Lincoln was a master craftsman—and a man history has misrepresented

Jerrie Cobb stands before a Project Mercury space capsule in heels and gloves. What you can't see: inside the capsule, a male mannequin lies in the place where an astronaut eventually would. The FLATs were never seriously considered for astronaut positions.

Meet the Rogue Women Astronauts of the 1960s Who Never Flew

But they passed the same tests the male astronauts did—and, yes, in high heels

A statue "is the most efficient and courteous way yet discovered of ensuring a lasting oblivion of the deceased," Joyce said in 1907. Hardly the words of someone who wanted to be remembered long after his death.

Happy Bloomsday! Too Bad James Joyce Would Have Hated This

Joyce infamously disliked the idea of being memorialized

Ainu people wearing traditional clothes at the Ainu Museum, City of Shiraoi, Hokkaido, Japan.

Australia to Return Remains of Japan’s Indigenous Ainu People

In the early 20th century, an anthropologist excavated the remains and sent them overseas

Presumably laughing at a LOLcats meme.

Cool Finds

Why the Library of Congress Thinks Your Favorite Meme Is Worth Preserving

Webcomics and Web Cultures Archives are documenting online culture

Although scientific discoveries about blood started happening in the seventeeth century, blood transfusions are (mostly) a twentieth-century thing.

350 Years Ago, A Doctor Performed the First Human Blood Transfusion. A Sheep Was Involved

Early scientists thought that the perceived qualities of an animal—a lamb’s purity, for instance—could be transmitted to humans in blood form

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