Cool Finds

Someone Had to Build the Terracotta Army—Archaeologists Just Found Their Humbler Grave Sites

Forty-five grave sites were found only kilometers from the emperor’s tomb

Saint Sebastian Interceding for the Plague Stricken by Josse Lieferinxe

New Research

The Black Death Actually Improved Public Health

Analysis of skeletons from before and after the height of the epidemic yields surprising results

Far View House, Mesa Verde

Cool Finds

This “Lake” at Mesa Verde Is Actually a Ceremonial Structure

The old theory, that it was a reservoir, didn’t hold water

Cool Finds

The Area Around Stonehenge Has Been Inhabited for More Than 10,000 Years

That makes this area the oldest inhabited place in England

The Great Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza (Egypt). Ca. 1845. Lithography by David Roberts.

New Research

A Simple Trick May Have Helped the Egyptians Build the Pyramids

No ancient aliens needed: A little bit of water reduces friction when dragging a sled over sand

Cool Finds

These Cold War Satellite Images Revealed 10,000 Undiscovered Archaeological Sites

Images of the Middle East from the 1960s showed thousands of archaeological sites—some of which have already been destroyed

Monument to Cervantes in Madrid

Cool Finds

Spain Begins to Search for Cervantes’ Bones

Experts use ground-penetrating radar to search for the author’s bones

Cool Finds

Women Fought in the Civil War Disguised As Men (And So Do Today’s Re-enactors)

Some women dressed up as their husbands, or even fought alongside them

Part of the centuries old depiction from the Japanese art scroll He-Gassen

Cool Finds

Anthropologists Are Afraid to Ask About Farting

Why are farts so universally reviled?

Sewer cover in Los Angeles

Cool Finds

L.A. Needs Water, And for a Century, the “Mother Ditch” Supplied It

Built in 1781, the “Mother Ditch” supplied water to the early city

Everything at This 4,500-Year-Old Site Was Removed—And Then Reburied

An unprecedented trove of artifacts and burials found at a development site were recently removed and reburied

Charles Dodgson

Cool Finds

Lewis Carroll Hated Fame So Much He Almost Wished He’d Never Written His Books

At least, that’s what he said in a letter, now in the University of Southern California library

Discovery Hut

Cool Finds

Preserving Antarctic History Means Chipping Out Tons of Ice From Between Floorboards

Built by Robert Falcon Scott, Discovery Hut is one of several historic structures being preserved in Antarctica

Wheelie

Cool Finds

The Wheelie Was Invented in 1890

A stunt bicyclist named Daniel Canary claims to be the first person to master the trick

Skeletal remains being dug up at La Isabela, the first European settlement in the New World, founded by Christopher Columbus is 1493.

New Research

Scurvy Plagued Columbus’ Crew, Even After the Sailors Left the Sea

Severe scurvy and malnutrition set the stage for the fall of La Isabela

Trending Today

An Avalanche on Mount Everest Made This the Deadliest Day in the Mountain’s History

With at least 12 dead, today is worse than the day in 1996 when eight people were killed in a storm

Poveglia Island

Cool Finds

Lease a Haunted Venetian Island for 99 Years

Formerly a quarantine island for plague victims and an insane asylum, now you can call this island home

Roman Forum

Cool Finds

Ancient Walls Show That Rome Is Older Than Legend

Romulus and Remus were 100 years late to the party

Wooden letterpress type

Cool Finds

New York Once Had an Entire District for Typography

Downtown New York used to have an entire neighborhood of type foundries, before they all disappeared

You Can Read All 17,198 of Susan Sontag’s Emails

She sent emails with subject lines like “Whassup?”

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