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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Cool Finds

The Definitive Guide to the Dogs on the Titanic

There were twelve dogs on the Titanic. Here’s what happened to them.

Cool Finds

George Washington Liked Ice Cream So Much He Bought Ice Cream-Making Equipment for the Capital

Washington used to serve ice cream to guests at the capital

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Cool Finds

It Once Took Tens of Thousands of Men to Recover an Astronaut from Landing

Splashdown support teams were absolutely massive

Roman Soldiers

Cool Finds

Scholars Translate Ancient Guilt Trip in Letter From Soldier to Family

A new translation of an 1,800-year-old letter illustrates the hardships suffered by soldiers on the Roman frontier

Pyramids of Meroe, Sudan

Cool Finds

Qatar Gives $135 Million to Sudan for Archaeological Projects

The war-torn region has some of the most incredible, unexplored antiquities sites in Africa.

Rochester Subway

Cool Finds

Rochester’s Abandoned Rail Line Is a Charming Ruin

In Rochester, New York, the remains of a rapid transit system provide a canvas for graffiti artists

Cool Finds

Where Are All the Babies in Archaeological Sites?

To figure out whether ancient people cremated their babies, archaeologists set some piglets on fire

Abandoned Scottish Boats

Cool Finds

All Known Shipwrecks in Scotland Are on This Map

The Scottish coastline is treacherous, as this interactive map of shipwrecks shows

The Miami Circle

Cool Finds

Miami Developers And Preservationists Are Fighting Over the Fate of an Incredible, 1,500-Year-Old Settlement

The archaeologists who found it say it’s “likely one of the most significant prehistoric sites in the United States”

A vertebrae from the remains, with a close-up of a cancerous growth (indicated by white arrows).

New Research

This 3,000-Year-Old Human Skeleton Reveals the Earliest Known Example of Cancer

Skeletal scans of the remains, which were found in Sudan, shows the cancer had spread before the victim died

Trending Today

Janet Yellen Is Holding Her First Meeting as Chairwoman of the Federal Reserve

Less than 10 percent of central bank governors around the world are women

A fragment of the known Dead Sea Scrolls.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Had Forgotten About Nine of the Dead Sea Scrolls

For the past 60 years, these Dead Sea Scrolls had just been sitting around in a storeroom

World War I: 100 Years Later

Help Transcribe Diaries From World War I

WWI diaries are some of the most requested documents in the National Archives, but until now they’ve only been available on paper

Crimean coastline

Trending Today

Here’s Your Visual Guide to the Conflict in Crimea

An interactive map that shows the current hotspots and points of interest in the political crisis

Mine!

Cool Finds

Seventy Five Years Ago, the Bronx Tried to Take Over Part of Manhattan With Just a Limo And a Flag

James F. Lyons drove over to Marble Hill and planted his flag, claiming it as his. It didn’t work.

New Research

Stonehenge’s Stones Can Sing

Stonehenge’s mighty bluestones sing when struck

Pyramid of the Sun

Cool Finds

Mexico’s Pyramid of the Sun Is Slowly Turning Into a Pile of Dust

When scientists scanned the pyramid’s insides, they found a giant pile of dust

Part of the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China.

Trending Today

Officials Are Giving the Great Wall of China a “Graffiti Zone”

Kilroy was here

New Research

There’s New Evidence That Communist Leaders Secretly Airlifted Bears to Bulgaria in the ‘70s and ‘80s

Some of these Bulgarian bears are not genetically like the others…

Rocket cat and rocket bird, Buch von den probierten Künsten, Franz Helm, c 1535.

Cool Finds

Incendiary Bats, Rocket Cats: Military Strategists Will Dream of Attaching Firepower to Anything That Moves

In 16th century manuscripts, drawings of feline grenades

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