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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

The engraved plaquettes sport grid-like patterns that researchers think represent fishing nets.

New Research

These Ice Age Artworks Etched Into Rock 15,800 Years Ago May Be the Earliest Known Depictions of Fishing

Found in western Germany, the stone plaques feature etchings of fish trapped in grid-like nets, according to a new study

Italian authorities have recovered several Etruscan antiquities stolen by tomb raiders from a burial site in central Italy.

Italian Police Arrest ‘Clumsy’ Tomb Raiders Who Allegedly Posted Stolen Etruscan Artifacts on Facebook

The items include artistic urns, a bone comb and an ancient sarcophagus with a full skeleton inside

A painting of the capture of Blackbeard on November 22, 1718

On This Day in History

How British Authorities Finally Caught Up to the Most Notorious Pirate in History

On this day in 1718, the Royal Navy attacked and killed Blackbeard, also known as Edward Teach, off the coast of North Carolina

Next May, Airbnb will host two nights of immersive, three-hour gladiator experiences.

Airbnb Plans to Host an Immersive ‘Gladiator’ Experience in the Colosseum, and Politicians in Rome Are Furious

The short-term rental giant will help pay for the Colosseum Archaeological Park’s educational programs in exchange for use of the monument

One side of the coin is stamped with a simple "NE" to represent New England, while the other side features Roman numerals to denote its value.

American Colonists Minted This Humble Silver Coin in 1652. It Just Sold for $2.52 Million

Settlers in Massachusetts needed cash, but England wouldn’t send any. So, they created their own mint in Boston and began making coins

Rebecca Latimer Felton, photographed between 1909 and 1930

On This Day in History

Meet the Woman Who Was the First Female Senator and the Last Senator to Be an Enslaver. She Served for Just One Day

Rebecca Felton was sworn in on this day, and despite her short time in power, her legacy reveals deep contradictions in American history

The book recently underwent a three-month conservation process.

A Rare Atlas of Astronomy From the Dutch Golden Age Goes on Display in England

The copy of “Harmonia Macrocosmica” dates back to the 17th century and includes ancient theories of the universe

A whale attacks a boat in Frank Goodrich's 1858 novel "Man upon the sea : or, a history of maritime adventure, exploration, and discovery, from the earliest ages to the present time".

On This Day in History

Inside the Terrifying True Story of the Sperm Whale That Sank the Whale-Ship ‘Essex’ and Inspired Herman Melville’s ‘Moby-Dick’

Survivors of the whale attack drifted at sea for months, succumbing to starvation, dehydration—and even cannibalism

Sigmund Freud in the office of his Vienna home in 1930

New Exhibition Unravels Sigmund Freud’s Complex Relationship With the Women in His Life and Work

“Women & Freud: Patients, Pioneers, Artists” spotlights the women who influenced the Austrian neurologist—and the field of psychoanalysis more broadly

The team used A.I. algorithms to combine more than 400,000 photos into a comprehensive, three-dimensional model of the Catholic church.

See Every Nook and Cranny of St. Peter’s Basilica With This New, Stunningly Accurate 3D Replica

Microsoft and the Vatican used artificial intelligence to virtually recreate the historic Vatican City church

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This Interactive Map Shows Which Indigenous Lands You Live On

The nonprofit behind the tool wants people to learn the history of the spaces they inhabit

This marble tablet weighs 115 pounds and measures two feet tall.

An Ancient Tablet Inscribed With Nine of the Ten Commandments From the Book of Exodus Is for Sale

The marble slab, which dates to between 300 and 500 C.E., is the oldest-known stone tablet inscribed with the Commandments. Nobody recognized its significance until decades after its discovery

The 300-carat necklace features 500 diamonds that likely came from India's Golconda mines.

See the Dazzling Diamond Necklace With Possible Ties to Marie Antoinette That Just Sold for $4.8 Million

Some of the gems may have featured in a royal scandal known as the “affair of the diamond necklace” that damaged the French queen’s reputation in 1785

One of just two confirmed photographs of Abraham Lincoln (seated in center, facing the camera) at Gettysburg on the day of his address

On This Day in History

Abraham Lincoln’s Legendary Gettysburg Address Promised ‘Government of the People, by the People, for the People’

The president’s humble speech, delivered on this day in 1863, was filled with profound reverence for the Union’s ideals—and the men who died fighting for them

Steadfast Stride Toward Justice by artist Basil Watson is the first life-sized depiction of John Lewis in his home state.

New Statue Honoring Civil Rights Activist John Lewis Unveiled in His Home State of Alabama

The life-sized bronze sculpture of the congressman joins statues of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks in the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Plaza in Montgomery

This tiny Roman gladiator figurine used to be the handle on a folding knife.

Cool Finds

Ancient Roman Gladiators Were Huge Celebrities Who Even Had Their Own Merch

A tiny gladiator figurine was used as a handle on a 2,000-year-old copper folding knife found in an English river, suggesting that popular fascination with the ancient fighters reached the edges of the empire

The bust depicts John Gordon, an 18th-century local landowner thought to be the founder of the town of Invergordon.

Cool Finds

This Forgotten Sculpture Was Used as a Doorstop in a Scotland Shed. It Turned Out to Be a Masterpiece Worth Millions

The marble bust was made by the celebrated sculptor Edmé Bouchardon nearly 300 years ago. After a small town purchased it in the 1930s, it was lost for decades

American civil rights leader Susan B. Anthony

On This Day in History

When Susan B. Anthony and 14 Other Women Were Arrested for Voting Illegally in a Presidential Election

After her detainment on this day in 1872, Anthony was found guilty by a federal court. She refused to pay her “unjust” $100 fine

An illustration of opening of the Suez Canal in 1869

On This Day in History

How the Groundbreaking Suez Canal Forever Transformed the World’s Shipping Routes

The massive global shortcut linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas took ten years to dig through the Isthmus of Suez and was built on the path of an ancient canal

Albert Hoffman, the chemist who first synthesized LSD, as photographed in 1976

On This Day in History

Discover the Origins of a Psychedelic Drug Synthesized by a Swiss Chemist Who Claimed It ‘Found and Called Me’

Five years after he created LSD in a lab on this day in 1938, Albert Hofmann accidentally underwent the first acid trip in human history, experiencing a kaleidoscope of colors and images in a sleepy Swiss city

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