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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

The first Denisovan tooth that was discovered in 2008

New Research

DNA from a Huge Tooth Confirms a New Ancient Cousin

The Denisovans may have co-existed and interbred with Neanderthals and Homo sapiens

John Steinbeck

Cool Finds

Steinbeck’s Boat the “Western Flyer” Will Voyage Again for Science

The $1 million boat will see the water once again as an updated research vessel

Trending Today

Georgetown University Is Trying to Purge Its Slave Trade Connections

Financed in part by the sale of 272 people, the school is grappling with its relationship to the institution of slavery

Cool Finds

Inside the Collective That Turns VHS to Digital Video for Free

A team of media lovers wants to preserve your memories for history’s sake

Washington, D.C.

Revolution-Era Building Buried Beneath Future Hotel Uncovered by Construction Crew

Intact foundations, including wooden beams, floorboards and what might even be a repurposed ship’s mast, were found just 8 feet underground

Pub signs illustrat the creative names of local watering holes, like the Dog & Sausage in St. Helier, Jersey.

Cool Finds

A Brief History of British Pub Signs

The colorful signs boast more than good looks—they’re like miniature history books

A group of escaped former slaves gathered at the plantation of Confederate General Thomas Drayton. After Federal troops occupied the plantation they began to harvest and gin cotton for their own profit

Cool Finds

A Free Man’s Letter to A Former Slaveowner in 1865

When asked to return to the farm where he was held in bondage, Jourdon Anderson wrote this thoughtful reply

Cool Finds

How to Visit the British Museum Without Going to London

A new partnership with Google allows art aficionados to take virtual strolls through the museum’s treasures

The Apollo 17 Saturn V rocket, the last human flight to the moon, on its launch pad at dusk on November 21, 1972

Cool Finds

Help Save the Booster that Sent Apollo Spacecrafts to the Moon

A Kickstarter campaign hopest to save the only remaining booster rocket from the Apollo launches

A painted wooden coffin beside a looted tomb in the Abu Sir al Malaq necropolis in Bani Suef, Egypt.

Cool Finds

This Ingenious Archaeologist Uses Satellites to Hunt Down Tomb Raiders

Can satellite imagery help protect humanity’s priceless artifacts?

Humans may have raided wild honeybees' nests during the Stone Age -- this hive in a hollow log hive from Cévennes (France) reveals the details of the circular comb architecture ancient humans would have discovered.

New Research

Our Ancient Ancestors Probably Loved Honey Too

Residue scraped from pottery shows humans used bee products as long as 8,500 years ago

Wall painting from the tomb of Tutankhamun.

New Research

New Scans Show There Might Be a Hidden Room in King Tut’s Tomb

More evidence shows that there could still be secrets in Tutankhamun’s resting place

Cool Finds

A Lost Story by Edith Wharton Has Been Discovered in Yale’s Library

“The Field of Honor” is about a failed marriage during World War I

Trending Today

Manhattan Project Sites to Be Opened to the Public

Manhattan Project Historical Park will preserve three sites from the beginning of the Atomic Age

Cool Finds

During the Cold War, the Military Had Plans to Wage War in Space

The U.S. Army’s Future Weapons Office proposed theoretical ways to defend non-existant lunar bases

Cool Finds

Now Available: The Ultimate Old-Timey Playlist

Listen to digitized recordings of wax cylinders, an obsolete technology that revives turn-of-the-century culture

A photo of the Hydrus before the ship sank in November, 1913

Cool Finds

Divers Discover 102-Year-Old Shipwreck in Lake Huron

The Hydrus and her crew were lost during the Great Storm of 1913

Cool Finds

The Mystery of a Titanic Telegram

Did the Titanic’s owners know about its collision with an iceberg?

2,600 undelivered letters, 600 of them unopened, were found inside this postmaster's trunk.

Cool Finds

This Trunk Stuffed With 17th-Century Letters Is a Historian’s Dream

Recipients never read these letters, but their loss is history’s gain

Hedy Lamarr, mother of modern wifi.

Cool Finds

Happy Birthday Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood Star Turned Scientist

The beauty had brains—after all, she invented the tech behind Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS

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