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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

The page of the manuscript in Rome that contains “Caedmon’s Hymn”

Cool Finds

Researchers Discovered a Lost Copy of the Oldest English Poem, Composed by an Illiterate Cowherd More Than 1,300 Years Ago

This version of “Caedmon’s Hymn” shows how Old English evolved. It also features early use of a punctuation mark that readers of English take for granted today—the period—but not in the expected way

The man in his 30s was found just outside Pompeii's gates.

New Research

This Man Fled Pompeii as Mount Vesuvius Erupted. Archaeologists Found Him 2,000 Years Later, Holding a Bowl to Protect His Head and a Lamp to Light His Way

Recent excavations revealed two skeletons just outside the ancient city’s walls. Researchers also created an A.I.-generated reconstruction of one of the victim’s harrowing final moments

Metal detectorists uncovered 25 of the coins in the summer of 2022. Archaeologists later unearthed an additional 38.

Cool Finds

A Metal Detectorist Stumbled Upon a Silver Coin. It Turned Out to Be Part of a Stash Buried During the Viking Invasion of Britain

Archaeologists say that the 63 coins, most of which bear the name of King Burgred of Mercia, might have been hidden in the ninth century to keep them safe at a time of unrest

The Tees Transporter Bridge was a feat of engineering but has been closed due to structural concerns since 2019.

These Are the Top Ten ‘Endangered’ Buildings and Bridges in England and Wales—and They Tell Us a Lot About Life in the Victorian Era

Structures remaining from the height of the British Empire reveal changing economic, medical and education trends from the 1800s and early 1900s. But their legacy is at risk as they fall into disrepair

The astrolabe weighs more than 18 pounds.

This Giant 400-Year-Old Astrolabe—Made by Mughal Master Craftsmen and Owned by Royalty—Fetched Millions at Auction

Ancient Greek astronomers and early Islamic scientists used astrolabes as mechanical computers to calculate time, determine height and navigate by the stars

This ancient Greek coin is now on view in Berlin.

Cool Finds

A 13-Year-Old Boy Found This Bronze Coin in a Field. It Turned Out to Be the First Ancient Greek Artifact Discovered in Berlin

Minted in Troy in the third century B.C.E., the object might have been buried as a gift to the dead. Archaeologists don’t know exactly how it ended up in modern-day Germany

Scientists now think humans settled South America in three waves.

A New Big Database of DNA From Indigenous Americans Shakes Up Scientists’ Theories About Human Settlement of South America

Genomic data provides evidence for a previously unknown wave of migration, with Indigenous groups living in central and southern Mexico spreading into South America and the Caribbean starting around 1,300 years ago

A duke in Florence commissioned the fountain in 1559.

A Tourist Damaged Florence’s ‘Fountain of Neptune’ While Attempting to Grope Its Marble Statue on a Dare

Fixing the fountain’s horse sculptures and frieze will cost nearly $6,000. The alleged offender is the latest tourist to harm artwork in response to peer pressure or in pursuit of social media clout

New research indicates that Neanderthals had the genetic hardware for language.

Did Neanderthals Have Language? New Research Suggests They Had the Genetic Hardware for It, Like Humans

Specific genomic regions that seem to play a role in human language development evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago, before humans and Neanderthals diverged from a common ancestor, a new study finds

Neanderthals survived from roughly 400,000 to 40,000 years ago, when they mysteriously disappeared.

What Killed the Neanderthals? New Research Suggests a Lack of Genetic Diversity May Be Partially to Blame

When the climate cooled, the population of Neanderthals shrank. Most that lived between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago were descended from the same lineage and had very similar DNA

The Strait of Gibraltar 

Cool Finds

In a Graveyard of Shipwrecks Between Europe and Africa, Archaeologists Discovered Vessels Doomed Over Thousands of Years

The “harbor” of the Strait of Gibraltar is the final resting place for shipwrecks from ancient Rome, the medieval era and World War II, according to a new archaeological survey

Yasuyuki Aono kept track of bloom dates for Yamazakura cherry trees in Kyoto.

In Japan, a New Steward for 1,200 Years of Cherry Blossom Data Has Been Found, Sustaining a Climate Change Research Project

Climate scientist Yasuyuki Aono, who died last summer, learned to read ancient Japanese script to compile records on peak bloom dating back to the ninth century C.E.

The papyrus fragment with a passage from Homer's Iliad

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth a Papyrus Fragment From the ‘Iliad’ Tucked Inside the Wrappings of a 1,600-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy

The excerpt from Homer’s epic poem features his catalog of ships, a famous passage listing the Greek forces that sailed to Troy. It may be the first Greek literary text found in the context of mummification

The original King Taco location in the Los Angeles Cypress Park neighborhood is now a historic-cultural monument.

A Couple From Mexico Became Soft Taco Pioneers in Los Angeles 50 Years Ago. Now, Their Restaurant Is a Landmark

Raúl and Lupe Martinez opened King Taco and served up soft corn tortillas like they remembered from home. The rest is—now officially—history, thanks to a vote from the Los Angeles City Council

The 1851 $50 gold slug was one of the first coins minted in San Francisco.

This Rare-Coin Scavenger Hunt in San Francisco Offers Participants the Chance to Relive the California Gold Rush

A local coin dealer will hide historic currency worth a total of $50,000 in its third annual citywide challenge on April 25

Natural selection has been playing a bigger role in changing modern human DNA than previously thought, according to a new study.

Humans Are Still Evolving. Natural Selection Has Favored Genes Linked to Red Hair and Less Male-Pattern Baldness, a Study Suggests

A massive study of ancient and modern DNA from thousands of West Eurasian people has identified nearly 500 genetic variants that evolution has selected for or against in recent history

The Green-House at Green-Wood opened in April.

This New York City Cemetery Restored a Victorian Greenhouse to Welcome Visitors to Its Historic Grounds

Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn grew out of the 19th-century “rural cemetery” movement that transformed graveyards from cramped and dark to sprawling and beautiful

Archaeologists found the historic structures while preparing for renovations at the Fox Tech High School campus, located in downtown San Antonio.

Cool Finds

New Archaeological Discoveries Reveal How San Antonio’s Earliest Settlers Irrigated Crops and Accessed Drinking Water

While preparing for school renovations, researchers in Texas found remnants of the historic San Pedro acequia, a centuries-old technology that provided water to the burgeoning village

Pomona, Frans Floris de Vriendt, 1565

Renaissance Art Linked Beauty With Virtue and Ugliness With Vice. See How Painters From Leonardo da Vinci to Botticelli Viewed Physical Attractiveness

An exhibition in Brussels spotlights 90-plus artworks featuring golden-haired muses, greedy old men and those deemed unattractive simply because they were different

Amud 7 was discovered in a cave in Israel in 1992.

Neanderthal Kids Grew Up So Fast—at Least Compared With Their Human Peers—Thanks to Genetic Adaptations to Their Environment

Scientists think Neanderthal children may have had faster growth rates because larger bodies tend to retain heat more effectively than smaller ones

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