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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Big Boy No. 4014 stopped in Philadelphia.

The Largest Operating Steam Locomotive in the World Weighs 1.2 Million Pounds. Now, the Historic Train May Be Coming to Your Town

Built in the 1940s, Big Boy No. 4014 retired in 1961 after traveling for more than one million miles. It’s now making its way across the country in honor of America’s 250th birthday

The bones were discovered in a cave on the Swedish island of Stora Karlso.

How Did Two Wolves End Up on This Remote Island Thousands of Years Ago? Researchers Think Humans Brought Them There, Then Cared for Them

The discovery suggests humans may have maintained relationships with wolves long after domesticated dogs came on the scene

The structures were composed of mud bricks.

Cool Finds

See Artifacts That Archaeologists Discovered in This 1,600-Year-Old Byzantine Christian Town Buried in an Oasis in Egypt

The mud-brick village boasts streets, towers and a large church. Researchers unearthed everyday objects like grain grinders, an oven and some 200 ostraca—ancient receipts and notes written on broken pottery

Researchers found evidence that the wound healed.

Roughly 100,000 Years Ago, This Man Got Stabbed in the Face—and Survived. He’s Likely One of the First Known Victims of an Attack With a Sharp Weapon

Researchers who investigated the remains of a young adult male found in the Qafzeh cave say the injury healed over time, which means the victim’s community may have tended to him

Left: a burial mound in Kazakhstan. Right: the Golden Man's head ornaments.

Kazakhstan’s Iron Age ‘Golden Man’ and Other Elite Scythians of Eurasia Inherited Their High Social Status, Ancient DNA Suggests

Researchers have long wondered whether upper-class members of the ancient nomadic warriors earned their social status through individual achievements or birthright

Artist E. Le Bihan created this depiction of the First Fleet entering Sydney Harbor.

Smallpox Scabs That British Doctors Used to Inoculate Patients May Have Introduced the Deadly Disease to Australia, New Research Suggests

Two new studies find that British colonists arriving via ship in the late 18th century likely introduced smallpox, which devastated Aboriginal communities far more than previously known

Established in 1660, the Granary Burying Ground is Boston’s third-oldest cemetery. 

Cool Finds

The City of Boston Discovered One of the Oldest Known Gravestones of a Free Black American, Who Shared a Name With the Massachusetts Capital

Also known as Sebastian, he died in 1729 and is buried alongside Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere. His life tells a story of slavery and freedom in the North before the American Revolution

Francesco I de' Medici, left, died suddenly in 1587. His brother Ferdinando I, right, succeeded him as grand duke of Tuscany.

Did This Duke Poison His Brother? A New DNA Analysis May Solve the Centuries-Old Medici Mystery

Researchers found evidence of malaria in Francesco I de’ Medici’s bones, leading them to argue “with scientific certainty” that it was disease, not arsenic, that led to his death in 1587

Researchers discovered that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens appeared to collect the same type of snail shell, possibly for ornamental or symbolic purposes.

Our Ancestors Loved Shell Trinkets, Just Like Neanderthals. New Research Suggests It’s a Sign of Shared Culture Across Species

Based on artifacts found in a limestone cave on the Mediterranean coast, scientists think the two species might have shared similar survival strategies, stone tool technologies and symbolic traditions

A gold ring unearthed at the Don Yai Thong archaeological site in Thailand is engraved with what experts think is Brahmi, an ancient Indian script. 

A Pair of 2,000-Year-Old Gold Rings, One Engraved With Indian Script, Was Discovered in an Iron Age Burial Ground in Thailand

The engraving seems to reference an “auspicious” zodiac sign in Indian or Vedic astrology

Space Shuttle Endeavour

See the Space Shuttle ‘Endeavour’ in a Unique Vertical Display Before Its New Exhibition Launches at the California Science Center

This November, visitors to the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in Los Angeles will get to see the “ready-to-launch” “Endeavour” complete with rocket boosters and a fuel tank

Ernest Shackleton, Robert Falcon Scott and Edward Adrian Wilson on the British National Antarctic Expedition, also known as the Discovery Expedition, on November 2, 1902.

A New Expedition Will Create 3D Digital Twins of Polar Shipwrecks Tied to Voyages of Rival Explorers Who Raced to the South Pole

Robert Falcon Scott led an expedition aboard the ship ‘Terra Nova’ and Ernest Shackleton led one from the ship ‘Quest’—but neither explorer got to plant the first flag in the heart of Antarctica

Homo floresiensis (center) had a skull about the size of a grapefruit and stood a little more than three feet tall.

How a Hungry Komodo Dragon Led Scientists to Determine Our Small, Hobbit-Like Cousins Probably Weren’t That Smart After All

New research indicates “Homo floresiensis” probably wasn’t hunting big game or using fire on Flores Island, suggesting the small-brained species wasn’t quite as “behaviorally advanced” as once hypothesized

The “Alexander Hamilton Experience” features an A.I.-generated Hamilton and artifacts from the founding of the U.S. financial system.

An A.I.-Generated Alexander Hamilton Chats About Economics at the Museum of American Finance, Opening This Weekend in Boston

The museum, which started in New York and hasn’t had a permanent exhibition space in several years, depicts the history and influence of U.S. financial institutions

The 3D-printed board based on scans of the original game board discovered at Vindolanda

3D Printing Gives New Life to an Ancient Game Board Discovered at a Roman Fort Near Hadrian’s Wall in England

Soldiers and civilians alike enjoyed the strategy game Ludus Latrunculorum in the Roman Empire, especially in Roman Britain

The country’s oldest specialty smallpox hospital in New York City

America's 250th Anniversary

The Oldest Black Church in the U.S., the Wright Brothers’ Home and a New York Hospital Are Among the American Heritage Sites in Urgent Need of Preservation

For its “Irreplaceable America” list in honor of the 250th birthday of the United States, the World Monuments Fund chose endangered historic sites of innovation, creativity and spirituality to publicize and support

Isles of Scilly Museum curator Xavier Duffy examinating recovered treasures with diver Todd Stevens

Cool Finds

An Archival Discovery Became a Treasure Map Leading a Diver to a 17th-Century Shipwreck Carrying Coins and Gold Jewelry

See artifacts recovered thanks to a clue about the last resting place of a lost captain from an East India Company ship that went down near the Isles of Scilly

First Bank of the United States in Philadelphia

Alexander Hamilton’s First National Bank Revolutionized the U.S. Economy. After Sitting Shuttered for Years, the Philadelphia Landmark Reopened as a Museum

A controversial idea right after the American Revolution, the First Bank of the United States proved prescient. Visitors can now check out its historic home after a $43 million makeover

The torch and part of the arm of the Statue of Liberty on display at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia

America's 250th Anniversary

As France Prepares to Light Up the Statue of Liberty for America’s 250th, Peek Into the History of the Symbol of Trans-Atlantic Friendship

Here’s how three French idealists—an abolitionist, a sculptor and the engineer behind the Eiffel Tower—brought the representation of freedom to life

The large, engraved stela was a highlight of the dig.

Cool Finds

This Ancient Monolith That Archaeologists Unearthed in Mexico May Depict People Receiving ‘Divine Liquid’ in a Ritual

The stela was found with a large, decorated platform and remnants of offerings in the state of Veracruz

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