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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Richard Brock found the nugget using an old back-up metal detector.

Cool Finds

Man With Broken Metal Detector Unearths Largest Gold Nugget Ever Found in England

Richard Brock stumbled upon the treasure, valued at more than $38,000, about 20 minutes after starting his search

Liverpool artist William Lindsay Windus painted The Black Boy in 1844.

This Museum Needs Your Help Identifying the Subject of a 19th-Century Painting

Nobody knows the name of the child in “The Black Boy,” but a museum in Liverpool is hoping someone will recognize him

The Mexican government has acquired three Aztec codices from the 16th and 17th centuries.

Mexican Government Acquires Rare Centuries-Old Aztec Manuscripts

The 16th- and 17th-century artifacts provide historical accounts of events such as the founding of Tenochtitlán

A diver documents one of the five cannons found during a recent archaeological survey of the wreck in Dry Tortugas National Park.

Cool Finds

Sunken British Warship That Left Crew Marooned for 66 Days Has Been Identified

Found off the coast of Florida, the HMS “Tyger” left some 300 crew members stranded on Garden Key in 1742

Waiters walked quickly through the streets of central Paris on Sunday while carefully balancing a tray on one hand.

Waiters Race Through the Streets of Paris While Balancing Trays of Coffee and Croissants

About 200 servers competed in the 1.2-mile race—a tradition that goes back to 1914

In recent years, three papal bulls have been found near the Polish village of Wysoka Kamieńska.

Cool Finds

The Broken Seal of a Pope’s 14th-Century Decree Has Been Found in Poland

The metal fragment was once part of a papal bull, an official communication distributed by the Catholic Church

Indonesia's Lake Toba, formed by a volcanic eruption around 74,000 years ago. In the new study, researchers uncovered fragments of glass from the eruption at an archaeological site in northwest Ethiopia, pointing to the volcano's global impacts.

Stone Age People Survived a Supervolcano Eruption by Adapting to Dry Periods, Archaeologists Suggest

Humans living in northwest Ethiopia around 74,000 years ago switched to eating more fish following the eruption, a behavior that might have enabled migration out of Africa

The propeller blade was discovered wrapped in a potato sack in Coire a’Bhradain on the isle of Arran in Scotland.

Cool Finds

Mysterious World War II Plane Propeller Found in Scottish Peat Bog

The object likely broke off a doomed plane during a crash on the isle of Arran

Independent craniofacial anthropologist Chris Rynn created lifelike facial reconstructions of four individuals who lived in the region.

Art Meets Science

See the Faces of Four Scots Across Thousands of Years of History, Brought to Life Using A.I.

The Perth Museum in Scotland is unveiling digital reconstructions of men and women who lived in the region from the Bronze Age through the 16th century

A metal detectorist discovered this silver thimble while scanning the grounds of Carew Castle.

Cool Finds

Metal Detectorist Discovers 300-Year-Old Silver Thimble Engraved With a Romantic Inscription

The artifact, which features the words “like enduringly, love forever,” had been declared a treasure by officials in Wales

Made from alder wood, this canoe was thought to have been a fishing boat. 

Five Canoes Discovered Northwest of Rome Are the Oldest Boats Ever Found in the Mediterranean

The 7,000-year-old vessels offer evidence of advanced seafaring technology and an extensive regional trade network, a new study suggests

Discovered by a metal detectorist in the village of Wólka Nieliska, the badge is about an inch wide.

Cool Finds

A Medieval Pilgrim May Have Carried This Basilisk Pendant to Guard Against Evil

Found in Poland, the “pilgrim’s badge” was likely worn by a Christian traveler hundreds of years ago

Archaeologists uncovered a trove of artifacts, including this scorched axe, from a Bronze Age settlement called Must Farm.

Incredibly Well-Preserved Bronze Age Village Reveals a Snapshot of Early British Life Before a Fire

Residents fled when flames burned through the Must Farm settlement, and now, archaeologists have unearthed its buildings and objects that were preserved in a riverbed

Historic scrolls looted in World War II were unfurled for the first time in decades by experts at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art.

Cool Finds

Family Finds Stolen Japanese Artifacts While Cleaning Out an Attic in Massachusetts

The FBI has returned the rare objects to Okinawa, where they were looted during World War II

Wildflowers, spongy tundra grass and Brooks Range mountains emerge from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Alaska's North Slope.

Discover Alaska

Alaska’s Frigid North Slope Was Once a Lush, Wet, Dinosaur Hotspot, Fossils Reveal

Conditions north of the Arctic Circle, where dinosaurs roamed in abundance during the mid-Cretaceous, were warmer than today, with rainfall comparable to “modern-day Miami”

The document was signed by 24 contributors to the Manhattan Project, including J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Manhattan Project Report Signed by J. Robert Oppenheimer Sells at Auction

The document was “likely the very first publicly available report on the creation of the bomb,” according to RR Auction

Preserved brains tend to look like normal brains, but they're often one-fifth of the typical size.

Archaeologists Keep Finding Preserved Human Brains. But How Do the Organs Remain Intact?

Scientists have unearthed more than 4,400 human brains—some more than 12,000 years old—making them less rare than thought, a new study finds

The rock art was discovered in the Jalapão region, located in the east of Tocantins, Brazil.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover 2,000-Year-Old Rock Art in Brazil

Recurring symbols across 16 sites suggest that many of the artworks were created by the same cultural group

During the four-year project, researchers identified shipwrecks dated as far back as 3,000 B.C.E.

Cool Finds

Ten Shipwrecks Found Off the Coast of Greek Island

The sunken vessels range in age from 3,000 B.C.E to the 1940s

Researchers uncovered an over 1,200-year-old tomb filled with ceramic and gold artifacts at El Caño Archaeological Park in Panama.

This 1,200-Year-Old Tomb in Panama Contains a Treasure Trove of Artifacts and Up to 32 Bodies

Researchers found flutes, bells, gold jewelry and the body of an important religious leader inside the elaborate shared grave

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