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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Archaeologists recovered an assortment of artifacts from the San Esteban Rockshelter in western Texas, including dart tips, portions of a spear and an animal hide.

Archaeologists Uncover a ‘Monumental’ Hunting Kit in Texas That May Be the Oldest Found in North America Yet

The artifacts discovered in a cave—which include dart tips, a boomerang and a spear-throwing tool—were dated to as far back as 7,000 years ago

The National Public Housing Museum is located in the last remaining building of the Jane Addams Homes, Chicago's first public housing development.

New Museum Examines the History of American Public Housing—and the Stories of Its Residents

Located in a preserved 1930s development in Chicago’s West Side, the museum includes three recreated apartments representing families of different decades and demographics

Tutankhamun's burial mask is made of gold and precious stones.

New Research

Clay Artifacts Found in King Tut’s Tomb May Have Been Part of a Ritual Honoring the Egyptian God Osiris

The four clay troughs were initially thought to have served as stands for gold-plated staffs. Now, a researcher has presented a new theory about their purpose

Archaeologists suspect that as many as 150 individuals may be buried at the site.

Mass Grave From Roman-Era Battle Discovered Beneath a Soccer Field in Vienna

Archaeologists think that as many as 150 individuals may have been hastily buried at the site, likely after a “catastrophic” military event

Tarot deck designed by Austin Osman Spare in 1906

Discover the Renaissance Origins and Mystical Evolution of Tarot Cards

An exhibition at London’s Warburg Institute traces tarot decks’ evolution from the 1450s through the present

Jacek Ukowski and Katarzyna Herdzik, the metal detectorists who discovered the dagger

Cool Finds

Metal Detectorists Unearth Ancient Dagger Decorated With Tiny Stars, Crescent Moons and Geometric Patterns

Found at a beach in northern Poland, the nearly ten-inch-long artifact could be up to 2,500 years old. It had been lodged inside a lump of clay

The Quina technology discovered in East Asia was a set of stone tools for making other tools. Prehistoric sites in Europe that host similar tools are associated with Neanderthals.

Cool Finds

Stone Tools Discovered in China Resemble Neanderthal Technology Used in Europe, Creating a Middle Stone Age Mystery

Archaeologists previously assumed that East Asia did not see considerable tool development during the Middle Paleolithic, but new findings might change that widely held idea

Thousands of years ago, people had been buried both inside and outside of this cist tomb.

New Research

Why Were These Teenagers Chosen as Human Sacrifices at an Ancient Mesopotamian Cemetery?

Researchers previously assumed that some of the graves at the site were royal burials. A new study presents a different theory, which challenges existing ideas about early class structures

The family handed the scarab over to the Israel Antiquities Authority, which plans to display it in an upcoming exhibition.

Cool Finds

Toddler Discovers 3,800-Year-Old Egyptian Amulet While Hiking With Her Family in Israel

The 3-year-old picked up an ancient Canaanite scarab that dates back to the Middle Bronze Age

The figures adorn the wall of a tomb found in a necropolis near one of Pompeii’s city gates.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Uncover Two Nearly Life-Size Statues Carved Into the Wall of a Tomb in Ancient Pompeii

The figures appear to represent a married couple. Experts think the woman, who is holding laurel leaves, may have been a priestess

Błażej Mikuła (left) and Amélie Deblauwe (right), of the Cambridge University Library, 3D scan the manuscript

New Research

High-Tech Imaging Allows Researchers to Read Handwritten Medieval Arthurian Tales Hidden in the Binding of a Property Record

The stories are part of a French sequel to Arthurian legend, and its binding was repurposed in the 16th century

Peter Pentz, a curator at the National Museum of Denmark, sees many similarites between the stamp and the Sutton Hoo helmet.

Britain’s Famous Sutton Hoo Helmet May Have Come From Denmark, Not Sweden, New Discovery Suggests

A small metal stamp discovered on a Danish island bears many similarities to the iconic seventh-century helmet

Researchers found grave goods while excavating the Liternum necropolis.

Cool Finds

A Gladiator’s Marble-Etched Epitaph Is Found in an Ancient Roman Necropolis

The graveyard of Liternum, near Naples, was in use between the first century B.C.E. and the third century C.E.

A depas goblet excavated from the ruins of Troy by Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870s

Cool Finds

Who Drank Wine in Ancient Troy? New Research Suggests Just About Everyone

Chemical analyses revealed wine residue on both expensive goblets and common cups unearthed among the legendary city’s ruins

Glenn Hodak, a corporal in the U.S. Army Air Forces, has been accounted for nearly 80 years after he died in a fire at the Tokyo Military Prison in 1945.

Remains of American Soldier Captured by the Japanese During World War II Identified Nearly 80 Years Later

After his plane was shot down, Glenn H. Hodak was sent to a military prison in Tokyo, where he was killed by U.S. firebombing in May 1945

The excavations that uncovered the British fortifications took place at the site of a proposed single-family home in St. Augustine, Florida.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Rare Reminder of Britain’s Brief Reign Over the ‘Nation’s Oldest City’

The find offers archaeological evidence of the 20-year interlude when the British ruled St. Augustine, Florida, which was founded by the Spanish in 1565

An unidentified man found the armlet in a wetland last fall.

Cool Finds

Eagle-Eyed Man Discovers Rare Viking Arm Ring That May Have Been Lost in a Marsh in Sweden 1,000 Years Ago

Archaeologists say the iron armlet could also have been buried deliberately in a sacrificial bog

Almost all the buildings at the Buddhist Gounsa Temple complex were destroyed in the fires

South Korea’s Worst Ever Wildfires Ravage Ancient Buddhist Temples and Menace Historic Villages

One monk said his old temple was ‘reduced to heaps of ashes,’ as the fires continue to rage across the country

Researchers found evidence of a ceremonial platform next to the Farley Moor standing stone, which measures roughly 6.5 feet tall.

Cool Finds

3,700-Year-Old Bronze Age Stone Circle Discovered in an English Forest

An amateur archaeologist recently encouraged researchers to take another look at the Farley Moor standing stone, which was once part of a bigger ceremonial site

The Israel Antiquities Authority and volunteers are excavating the site north of the Zohar Valley.

Cool Finds

This Ancient Pyramid Found in the Judean Desert May Have Been a Ptolemaic Tax Collector’s Station

The official structure, stuffed with significant coins and Greek papyri, was likely later transformed into someone’s grave

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