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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

George Richmond made this chalk portrait of Brontë when she was 34 years old.

Cool Finds

Visit the Manuscript of ‘Jane Eyre’ in New York

The handwritten novel is in the United States for the first time—along with an exhibition of artifacts from Charlotte Brontë’s brief and brilliant life

For sale: a home with a bookish past.

Cool Finds

You Could Own F. Scott Fitzgerald’s House

Live in the Victorian rowhouse where a career was born

The Boston Light still shines brightly at night in Boston Harbor.

Cool Finds

The Oldest Lighthouse in the United States Just Celebrated 300 Years of Service

The Boston Light still welcomes sailors to Boston Harbor

A 3,000-year-old clay pot with cheese residue found burnt to the bottom

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Find Ancient Pot With Traces of 3,000-Year-Old Burnt Cheese

This ancient mishap gives researchers a peek into Bronze Age life

The Survivor Tree was returned to the WTC in 2015.

Cool Finds

Saplings From the 9/11 Survivor Tree Are Headed to Paris, San Bernardino and Orlando

The tree is a powerful symbol of resilience and life, even in the most tragic circumstances

A Fresnel lens from the Boon Island Lighthouse off of southern Maine.

Cool Finds

The U.S. Government Is Suing for a Set of Lighthouse Lenses

The lenses could be worth up to $600,000

The monument protects an array of endemic, threatened and endangered species, including the sperm whale.

Obama Declares the First Atlantic Ocean National Marine Monument

With the announcement of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, Obama solidifies his legacy as an ocean guardian

This image shows a scrap of the indigo-dyed fabric (right) and a diagram of the cloth (left), highlighting the blue stripes.

New Research

Earliest Evidence of Indigo Dye Found at Ancient Peruvian Burial Site

The dyed fabrics represent the earliest known use of indigo in the world, predating Egyptian samples by about 1,600 years

A death god holds a prisoner captive in this page from the Grolier Codex.

New Research

New Analysis Shows Disputed Maya “Grolier Codex” Is the Real Deal

Archaeologists long thought the document was forged, but a recent study suggests otherwise

No matter how you slice it, the most current Census Bureau income report is filled with juicy stats.

Trending Today

Five Things to Know About the Most Recent Census Income Report

Income’s up, but the picture is more complicated than that

The proposed pipeline is nearly 60 percent complete.

Understanding the Controversy Behind the Dakota Access Pipeline

What to know as protesters and the oil company continue to clash

Alfred Eisenstaedt's iconic "V-J Day in Times Square" photo.

Trending Today

The Woman in the Iconic V-J Day Kiss Photo Died at 92, Here’s Her Story

There’s more to the image than meets the eye

The HMS Terror was missing for nearly 170 years after it got trapped in ice and sunk in frigid Arctic waters.

Second Ship From Sir John Franklin’s 19th-Century Expedition Found

Two years and a day after its sister ship was discovered, Canadian researchers find the H.M.S. Terror

Magritte apparently recycled a lost painting to create The Human Condition.

Cool Finds

Curators Are One Piece Closer to Solving the Mystery of Magritte’s Missing Painting

The Enchanted Pose is coming back from the dead—one painted-over quarter at a time

The low wages in the neighborhoods around Hull House can be seen in these maps, which illustrate income based on household. Each square shows an apartment building, and incomes are shown on the legend below. Black squares earned just $5 a week or less.

Cool Finds

These Early Infographics Illustrated the Plight of America’s Poor

Florence Kelley used hard numbers to effect change

Babe Ruth pitching for the Boston Red Sox

Cool Finds

This Digital Collection of Babe Ruth’s Scrapbooks Is a Piece of Home Run History

The Baseball Hall of Fame is sharing its collection with the internet

The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries

Even Napoleon Had an Unpublished Manuscript, and Now It’s up for Auction

His handwritten novella captures his feelings toward love at age 26

The Library of Celsus at Ephesus, an ancient Greek colony in southwestern Turkey.

Trending Today

Austria and Turkey Are Butting Heads Over an Archaeological Dig

Turkish authorities have shut down a major dig early due to international tensions

Aleppo, Syria, in 2010. Since 2012, the city has been home to a fierce battle in Syria's civil war.

Trending Today

Five Times Aleppo Was the Center of the World’s Attention

Will the once-regal city survive this moment in the spotlight?

A foundry in Phonsavan, Xieng Khouang province in Laos has processed over 85,000 live bombs to date. The country is still riddled with unexploded ordnance—a legacy of the United States' nine-year secret war.

Trending Today

Why the U.S. Is Pledging Millions to Clean Up Bombs in Laos

Decades later, a once-secret war still threatens Laotians

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