Smart News / Smart News History &amp; Archaeology

After 36 Years, Archivists Finally Found the Wright Brothers’ Airplane Patent

The missing patent was found safe and sound in a Kansas storage facility

April 4, 2016

Archaeologists Spy New Viking Settlement From Space

Space archaeologists think they may have found a second Viking colony in the Americas

April 1, 2016

Were American-run newspapers during World War II full of news by Nazis?

How the Associated Press Became Part of the Nazi Propaganda Machine

New research suggests a backscratch agreement that traded access for control

April 1, 2016

The HMNZS Bellona in April 1947, just before the crew mutinied.

Following WWII, New Zealand’s Navy Was Rocked With Peaceful Mutinies

More than 20 percent of the Royal New Zealand Navy was discharged for protesting low pay

April 1, 2016

The interior of an ancient Egyptian tomb.

3,400-Year-Old Necropolis Hints at Ancient Egyptian Life

Dozens of tombs and a temple were uncovered in an ancient quarry

March 31, 2016

German Brewery Pulls Beer Accused of Having Nazi and Anti-Immigrant Sentiments

“Grenzzaun halbe” referenced the country’s debate on whether or not to seal its borders

March 31, 2016

Can you see it? Some of the Etruscan letters found on a sandstone slab in the Mugello Valley

2,500-Year-Old Monument Could Help Crack the Mysterious Etruscan Language

Researchers found the inscribed slab near Florence and believe it might hold secrets behind the language of Italy’s pre-Roman culture

March 31, 2016

Welles' Kane was a thinly-veiled portrait of the man who tried to take him down.

How Hearst Tried to Stop ‘Citizen Kane’

The newspaper mogul hated the film more than previously thought

March 30, 2016

A bison takes a stroll down the road in Elk Island National Park, Alberta

Genetically Pure Bison Will Return to Montana After 100 Years in Exile

Next week, the Blackfeet Tribe will receive 89 buffalo calves that descended from Montana stock in a Canadian National Park

March 29, 2016

Ruins of the temple of Baalshamin destroyed by ISIS militants in Palmyra, taken after government forces retook the city.

Syrian Troops Find Palmyra’s Ancient Ruins In Better Shape Than Expected

The “Jewel of the Desert” is out of the hands of people who would see its wonders demolished

March 29, 2016

This Transgender Archive’s Oldest Artifacts Tell a Story of Courage and Community

The Digital Transgender Archive was born out of two researchers’ frustration with finding materials by and about transgender people

March 29, 2016

Tesla vs. Edison Is a Video Game That Will Literally Shock You

Fight the ‘War of the Currents’

March 29, 2016

Ramesses III and his son in the afterlife

CT Scan Shows Pharoah Ramesses III Was Murdered by Multiple Assassins

A missing toe reveals that the god-king was killed by more than one plotter

March 25, 2016

The ranch where the Montana Freemen had an armed standoff with the FBI.

Twenty Years Ago Today, the Montana Freemen Started Its 81-Day Standoff

The impasse informed the federal government’s reaction to the recents standoffs

March 25, 2016

Did Shakespeare Lose His Head?

Scans of the Bard’s grave reveal that robbers may have stolen his skull two centuries ago

March 25, 2016

A charred fragment of one of the Herculaneum Scrolls.

Metallic Ink Discovered in Ancient Scrolls Buried by Mount Vesuvius

New discovery may help researchers read ancient scrolls

March 24, 2016

"The Last Communion of Joan of Arc" by Charles Henri Michel

French Theme Park “Battles” British Government to Keep Joan of Arc’s Ring

After buying a ring purportedly owned by Joan of Arc, a French history park owner defies UK demands

March 24, 2016

This 12,000-year-old city could soon be inundated thanks to a hydroelectric dam.

These Are Europe’s Eight Most Endangered Cultural Landmarks

Unless things change, these historic sites could disappear from the map forever

March 24, 2016

Tom Randle plays Macheath, or “Mack the Knife,” in a production of Benjamin Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera.