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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

The horses that transport caskets at Arlington National Cemetery will remain in service.

The U.S. Army Is Getting Rid of Most of Its Ceremonial Horse Units

Senior military leaders at five forts will have one year to transfer, adopt out or donate the horses under their command

The engraving depicts a boat featuring a palanquin-like structure.

New Research

Does This Ancient Rock Carving Depict One of Egypt’s Earliest Rulers?

New research suggests the engraving, which shows an elite individual sitting in a boat, may be up to 5,100 years old

Fra Angelico’s Crucifixion in the Convent of San Domenico

A Rare Renaissance Fresco That Could Be One of Fra Angelico’s Earliest Works Has Been Restored to Its Former Glory

Located in a secluded convent outside of Florence, the 600-year-old artwork was concealed behind layers of paint for most of its history

Photos of the violin taken before it was stolen

Have Eagle-Eyed Experts Found This 316-Year-Old Stradivarius Violin That Was Looted During World War II?

Eight decades after the 1709 violin known as the “Small Mendelssohn” disappeared, experts think they’ve located it in Japan

A firefighter stands beside the charred remains of a burned structure near the Grand Canyon Lodge.

Historic Grand Canyon Lodge Destroyed by Wildfire as Blaze Continues Across National Park’s North Rim

Constructed in 1937, the lodge was one of dozens of buildings consumed by the fast-moving Dragon Bravo wildfire, which has raged across thousands of acres

Artist Charlie Whinney poses for a photo inside the installation he created around a section of the Sycamore Gap tree.

The Largest Section of the Beloved Sycamore Gap Tree Is Going on Display in England

The iconic tree was illegally chopped down in September 2023, but its memory will live on in the form of a new art installation that invites visitors to touch—and even embrace—a piece of its trunk

The tomb was found in an acropolis to the right of Caana, the central architectural complex at Caracol, which is more than 140 feet tall.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Treasure-Filled Tomb Belonging to the First Known Ruler of a Maya City in Belize

Te K’ab Chaak was a wealthy warrior king who rose to power in 331 C.E. His burial is the first royal tomb found in the ancient city of Caracol

At the Neumark-Nord site in central Germany, researchers found the remains of at least 172 individual animals, including foxes, horses, big cats and an extinct species of rhinoceros.

New Research

Neanderthals May Have Been Running a Sophisticated ‘Fat Factory’ in Germany 125,000 Years Ago

New research suggests that they smashed animal bones into tiny pieces before boiling them to extract the high-calorie grease inside

The box given to Brand contained records from the Dutch East India Company.

Cool Finds

Stolen Historic Documents Surface in Attic—Ten Years After an Employee Used Them as Collateral to Borrow Money

The thief likely took the trove when he worked for the Dutch National Archives in 2015. Recently, someone found them in storage and contacted art detective Arthur Brand

The Louvre's current visitor entrance is underneath a pyramid designed by I.M. Pei in the Napoléon courtyard.

The Louvre Is Asking Architects to Submit Their Design Ideas for an Ambitious $316 Million Expansion

The Paris museum has launched a competition to design a new entrance and underground exhibition spaces, including one dedicated to the “Mona Lisa”

The structure and stamps on the base of the anchor helped researchers confirm the bow belonged to the USS New Orleans. The words "Navy Yard" are still visible through the marine growth.

Lost Bow of American Warship Found Eight Decades After It Was Blown Off by a Japanese Torpedo in World War II

After the attack, crews sailed the USS “New Orleans” backward for more than 1,000 miles across the Pacific. Since then, the location of the vessel’s bow has been a mystery

An aerial view of Peñico in Peru

Archaeologists Unveil a 3,500-Year-Old City in Peru That Sheds Light on the Caral Culture

Known as Peñico, the city is now open to tourists. It was once a vibrant urban center that connected coastal, mountain and jungle communities

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry

The 230-Foot-Long Bayeux Tapestry Is Returning Home to England for the First Time in Nearly 1,000 Years

The tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England, will be on display at the British Museum in 2026. Officials have been trying to arrange the loan for decades

Archaeologists and volunteers excavating the site in Willersey

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Traces of an Iron Age Settlement and Roman Villa in England

The excavation, which followed the discovery of two Roman swords in 2023, is providing historians with fresh insights into Britain’s ancient history

The Getty Villa reopened June 27 after a six-month closure due to the Palisades Fire.

The Getty Villa Reopens Six Months After the Devastating Palisades Fire

The iconic Los Angeles venue is welcoming visitors back with a new exhibition featuring artworks and artifacts from ancient Greece

The mummified remains of an ancient Egyptian woman named Asru have been on display at the Manchester Museum since 1825.

This Museum Is Asking Visitors Whether It Should Continue to Display Mummified Human Remains

The Manchester Museum in England is inviting guests to share feedback on Asru, an ancient Egyptian woman whose body was unwrapped 200 years ago

The Hall of Constantine's Vision of the Cross depicts the emperor ahead of his battle with Maxentius.

The Vatican’s Newly Restored Raphael Rooms Spotlight the Great Artist Who Died Before Finishing His Final Project

As specialists cleaned and studied the rooms in the Apostolic Palace, they learned new information about the Renaissance painter’s experimental techniques

A facial reconstruction using a 3D scan of the skull

New Research

Scientists Have Sequenced an Ancient Egyptian Skeleton’s Entire Genome for the Very First Time. Here’s What They Found

Dating back more than 4,500 years, the skeleton belonged to a middle-aged man who may have worked as a potter and likely descended from ancestors in North Africa and Mesopotamia

Scholars with the "Constructing the Limes" project led the research on the newly discovered site.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Roman Army Camp in the Netherlands—15 Miles Beyond the Empire’s Northern Border

Researchers think the camp was built during the second century C.E. Stretching across 22 acres, it was identified using a computer model developed by an archaeology student

One of the lion's head discs discovered in the grave

Cool Finds

Four Bewildering Bronze Lions’ Heads With Slightly Different Facial Expressions Found in Ancient Roman Grave in Israel

Similar examples of ancient lion artifacts appear to have been used as door knockers. But the newly discovered discs may have served a different purpose

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