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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

The rare bust of Caligula is only five inches tall.

Cool Finds

Curator Uncovers Lost Roman-Era Bust of the Emperor Caligula

The small bronze statue, which was unearthed at Herculaneum, had been missing for two centuries

Zorita de los Canes Castle in central Spain, where the 25 skeletons were discovered

Cool Finds

Was This Mysterious Woman a Medieval Warrior?

Buried at a castle in Spain, the woman was found alongside the remains of 22 men who likely died on the battlefield

St. Gregory of Nazianzus is finally heading home to Germany.

This Rubens Painting Vanished During World War II. Now, It’s Returning Home to a Castle in Germany

“St. Gregory of Nazianzus,” once part of the Baroque palace’s collection, was stolen and sold at the end of the war

Robert DiNapoli, co-author of a new study about population dynamics on Rapa Nui, stands in front of a rock garden on the island. People used rocks to make the volcanic land more suitable for farming.

Easter Island Did Not Collapse From Overuse of Resources After All, Study Suggests

A new paper contradicts the idea that people used up the island’s resources and experienced a significant population decline, instead proposing that a small society lived there sustainably

Located in southern Italy, Matera is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

Parkour Group Damages Building in the Historic Italian City of Matera

Team Phat posted a video showing one of its members breaking a stone protruding from a wall

Jacob Sharvit and Karnit Bahartan examine two amphorae recovered from the world's oldest-known deep-sea wreck.

Cool Finds

World’s Oldest Deep-Sea Shipwreck Discovered a Mile Beneath the Mediterranean Sea

Archaeologists recovered two amphorae from the 3,300-year-old wreck site, which sheds new light on ancient maritime navigation

Archaeologists continue to excavate Herculaneum, a seaside resort town devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E.

An Ancient Beach Buried by Mount Vesuvius’ Eruption Is Now Open to the Public

In the seaside resort town of Herculaneum, the beach is the final resting place of more than 330 residents who tried to flee

Just Stop Oil protesters Rajan Naidu, 73, and Niamh Lynch, 21, sit in front of Stonehenge after covering the monument in orange powder.

Climate Activists Spray Stonehenge With Orange Paint

Protesters with Just Stop Oil are demanding that the British government phase out fossil fuels by 2030

McDonnell's "Sinai Sour" (not pictured) is similar to a gose, a German beer style with a tart, slightly salty taste.

This Man Brewed Beer Using 3,000-Year-Old Yeast and a Recipe From an Ancient Egyptian Papyrus

Utah homebrewer Dylan McDonnell created his ‘Sinai Sour’ in his backyard

The badges identify the wearer's occupation, such as servant or porter. 

These Badges Shed New Light on the Enslaved Workers Who Built Charleston

The Smithsonian has acquired a collection of 146 slave badges from between 1800 and 1865

During a major lunar standstill, the northernmost and southernmost moonrise and moonset are at their farthest apart.

A ‘Major Lunar Standstill’ Is Happening This Year—and Friday’s Full Moon Offers ‘Dramatic’ View

From now through much of next year, the moon will periodically rise and set at its most extreme points, thanks to a rare celestial phenomenon that only occurs every 18.6 years

The wine, made of crushed white grapes 2,000 years ago, turned red-brown with age.

Cool Finds

Oldest Wine Ever Found in Liquid Form Unearthed in 2,000-Year-Old Tomb

Researchers have concluded that the fluid preserved inside an ancient funerary urn is a white sherry-like wine

Archaeologists used manned and unmanned submersibles to recover artifacts from the wrecks.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Recover 900 Artifacts From Ming Dynasty Shipwrecks in South China Sea

The trove of objects—including pottery, porcelain, shells and coins—was found roughly a mile below the surface

Located in Noblesville, Indiana, on the outskirts of Indianapolis, Nickel Plate Express offers both train rides and railbike tours.

Railbiking Is Catching On Across the Nation—Here’s Where to Try It Yourself

Sit back, relax and pedal your way along historic railroad tracks

False mermaid-weed is small and only emerges for a short window every spring.

Cool Finds

Rare ‘Absolutely Tiny’ Plant, Not Seen for More Than a Century, Found in Vermont

The last time a botanist recorded a sighting of false mermaid-weed in the state was in 1916

A female Anopheles mosquito, the type that transmits malaria.

Ancient DNA Illuminates the History of Malaria, One of the World’s Deadliest Diseases

Researchers extracted parasitic DNA from preserved teeth and bones, revealing how malaria spread across the globe in a new study

Pottery fragments found onsite are lined in purple pigment, suggesting they were once containers for dye.

Cool Finds

In This Ancient Workshop, Greeks Crushed Snail Glands to Make the Purple Dye Worn by Royalty

Archaeologists discovered remnants of the small factory on an island in Greece

After Shackleton's death, the ship was used for seal hunting, Arctic research and rescue missions.

Ernest Shackleton’s Last Ship, Quest, Discovered Off the Coast of Canada

The famed explorer died of a heart attack aboard the ship near South Georgia Island in 1922, and it sank in the north Atlantic Ocean in 1962

These rare early copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights will go under the hammer on June 26.

You Could Own Rare Copies of the Nation’s Founding Documents, Just in Time for the Fourth of July

Sotheby’s is auctioning early printings of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as well as a 1790 Rhode Island broadside

The smaller of the two grave slabs weighs around 154 pounds.

With the Recovery of Massive Grave Slabs, England’s Oldest Shipwreck Continues to Reveal Its Secrets

Maritime archaeologists hoisted the heavy artifacts, made of a special type of limestone, from 23 feet below the surface of the English Channel

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