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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

A 1905 illustration of Jamestown from Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History 

Research Reveals Early Jamestown Settlers Ate Indigenous Dogs to Survive

Cut marks on canine bones demonstrate that English colonists relied on dogs for meals

Measuring more than five and a half feet long and three inches thick, the fragment represents almost an entire wall of the sarcophagus.

Ramses II’s Long-Lost Sarcophagus Has Finally Been Identified

An Egyptologist recently concluded that a fragment of an overlooked granite coffin bears the great pharaoh’s name

The late Bette Nash holds the Guinness World Record for longest career as a flight attendant, as well as oldest active flight attendant.

Bette Nash, Longest-Serving Flight Attendant in the World, Dies at 88

Nash became a flight attendant in 1957 and never stopped working

Researchers found cut marks related to cancer surgery on this ancient Egyptian skull dating back more than 4,000 years ago.

Cool Finds

Groundbreaking Research Shows Ancient Egyptians Were Conducting Cancer Surgery Over 4,000 Years Ago

By putting an ancient skull under the microscope, scientists are proving that cancer research is about 1,000 years older than previously thought

This charcoal sketch of gladiators was drawn from memory, not imagination, researchers say.

Cool Finds

The Children of Pompeii Saw Gladiators Fight to the Death—and They Drew Graffiti About It

Researchers recently discovered bloodshed-themed stick-figure sketches in a cluster of houses in the doomed ancient city

The set of 20 Fabergé carvings is worth an estimated $1.2 million. 

Miniature Fabergé Animals That Enchanted the Romanovs and Other Royals Are Up for Sale

Crafted around 1900, the charismatic carvings were inspired by Japanese decorative pendants

Police recovered the 1989 piece titled Study for Portrait of José Capelo.

Police Recover Stolen Francis Bacon Painting Worth $5 Million

The piece was one of five artworks stolen during a robbery in Madrid in 2015

Archaeologists have been studying the pet cemetery since it was first discovered in 2011.

Cool Finds

Letters Written by Ancient Roman Commanders Have Been Found in a Pet Cemetery in Egypt

Discovered among the graves of hundreds of cats, dogs and monkeys, the correspondence was likely written by centurions in the first century

Rare coins, found in Poland's Jeleniowskie mountain range, may have belonged to an infamous 18th-century fraudster.

Do These Coins Belong to a Legendary 18th-Century Polish Fraudster?

Mountain hermit Antoni Jaczewicz tricked sick people into thinking he had healing powers. A Polish treasure-hunting group believes they’ve found his fortune

Marc Händel, an archaeologist with the Austrian Academy of Sciences, excavates rib bones in the wine cellar.

Austrian Man Discovers Hundreds of Mammoth Bones While Renovating His Wine Cellar

Owner Andreas Pernerstorfer thought he’d found a piece of wood, but then he remembered something his grandfather had said about finding teeth in the cellar decades ago

While two of the tombs were robbed, one was left untouched, and it contained a box full of glazed pottery, among other goods.

Cool Finds

This Ancient Chinese Couple Was Buried in a Miniature Home

The tomb, composed of two chambers connected by a tiny door and windows, was found in a family gravesite on China’s east coast containing four other burials

The soldiers fought in replicas of a suit of armor found near the ancient site of Mycenae in Greece.

Soldiers Put an Ancient Greek Suit of Armor to the Test, and It Passed

Researchers outfitted Greek marines in replicas of a Mycenaean suit and simulated combat to see if the armor was usable in its day

Historians were surprised to discover more than 50 carvings on the door, including initials, last names and depictions of hangings. 

See the Graffiti Bored British Soldiers Carved Into a Castle Door More Than 200 Years Ago

One of the carvings may even depict French emperor and military commander Napoleon Bonaparte being hanged

View of Jiigurru, where the pottery fragments were found

Cool Finds

Oldest Known Aboriginal Pottery Discovered in Australia

Found on the island of Jiigurru, the 82 shards predate the arrival of Europeans by centuries, dating to between 2,000 and 3,000 years ago

Hannah Uzor painted this portrait of Catherine, Princess of Wales, for Tatler's July 2024 cover.

Trending Today

Why a New Portrait of Catherine, Princess of Wales, Is So Controversial

For the second time this month, a painting of a British royal is garnering backlash

The Black Death killed tens of millions of people in the mid-1300s, but scientists and historians are still trying to figure out how it spread.

Did Body Lice Spread Bubonic Plague? Research Suggests the Parasites Are Better Vectors Than Thought

These blood-sucking insects are capable of transmitting the bacteria that caused the Black Death, according to a laboratory study

Color-enhanced transmission electron microscope images of adenovirus, which is a common cause of respiratory illnesses. Researchers identified adenovirus remnants, as well as herpesvirus and HPV, in Neanderthal remains in a new study.

50,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Bones Have Remains of Human Viruses, Scientists Find

The preliminary analysis is a first step in testing the theory that infectious diseases played a role in Neanderthals’ extinction

This page from the Madrid Codex depicts the Maya honey harvest.

Cool Finds

Centuries-Old Maya Beekeeping Tools Unearthed in Mexico

Archaeologists in the Yucatán Peninsula found several stone lids used by the pre-Columbian civilization to collect honey from stingless bees

This gold earring found at an Iron Age archaeological site had been stashed inside a pottery jar, which sits behind it.

Did Hannibal’s Army Burn Down This Ancient Mountain Settlement?

In a scorched village in Spain, archaeologists discovered a hidden gold earring that suggests residents foresaw a coming attack around the time of the Second Punic War

The popular chapel has been closed since February because of damage caused by land movement.

A Historical Glass-Enclosed Chapel Overlooking the Pacific Ocean Must Be Dismantled Before Nature Can Destroy It

The one-of-a-kind sculpture in California, designed by the son of famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is at the mercy of shifting grounds

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