Smart News History & Archaeology

François Pascal Simon Gérard, Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain, circa 1808

New Jersey Estate Owned by Napoleon's Older Brother Set to Become State Park

In 1815, exiled Spanish king Joseph Bonaparte fled to the U.S., where he lived in luxury on a sprawling, 60-acre estate

Bulls, like horses, were important animals to the ancient Greeks.

Cool Finds

Rare Bronze Bull Sacrificed to Zeus Found at Site of the Ancient Olympic Games

The 3,000-year-old figurine was probably a votive offering made at the Greek god's altar in Olympia

Violet Gibson, a 50-year-old Irish woman, attempted to assassinate Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1926.

The Little-Known Story of Violet Gibson, the Irish Woman Who Shot Mussolini

A free radio documentary tells the tale of the long-overlooked individual who nearly killed the Italian dictator in 1926

The 74-foot-tall slab will be installed at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

The Newseum's Iconic First Amendment Tablet Is Headed to Philadelphia

Weighing in at 50 tons, the marble slab previously adorned the facade of the now-shuttered journalism museum in D.C.

A 1932 facsimile of the first issue of the Emancipator, published on April 30, 1820

History of Now

New Project Reimagines the U.S.' First Antislavery Newspaper, the 'Emancipator'

A joint initiative from Boston University and the "Boston Globe" revamps a 19th-century abolitionist publication for 21st-century research about race

During World War II, the United States government incarcerated some 120,000 Japanese Americans, including the Uno family spotlighted in the documentary series.

Education During Coronavirus

Watch 150 Years of Asian American History Unfold in This Documentary

The five-part PBS series chronicles the community's story through archival footage, interviews

The tool is between 3,800 and 5,300 years old.

Cool Finds

Rare Ancient Tool Found in Australia May Have Been Made With Kangaroo Bone

The rare find is helping archaeologists piece together Indigenous technologies used thousands of years ago

Much of the Apostle Santiago Church burned to the ground in a March 7 fire.

Fire at 16th-Century Mexican Church Prompts Debate Over How to Protect Cultural Heritage

Critics argue that a lack of preservation funding contributed to the devastating loss

Teeth with dental inlays from a nonroyal elite Mayan tomb.

Archaeologists Uncover a 1,300-Year-Old Skeleton of a Maya Diplomat

The remains revealed that the government official was wealthy as an adult, but he had a difficult childhood

Researchers have developed this theoretical model to explain the workings of the Antikythera mechanism, the 2,000-old ancient Greek device that is often referred to as the "first computer."

New Research

Scientists May Have Discovered How the Ancient Greeks' 'First Computer' Tracked the Cosmos

Researchers proposed a new theoretical model for the Antikythera Mechanism, a 2,000-year-old device used to chart the universe

Overhead view of the mass grave, which contains the remains of at least 41 Copper Age people

Analysis of 6,200-Year-Old Grave Raises New Questions About Neolithic Massacre

Researchers in Croatia extracted DNA from 38 victims of a fifth-millennium B.C. mass killing

The fragments contain Greek translations of verses from the books of Zechariah and Nahum.

Cool Finds

Dozens of Dead Sea Scroll Fragments Found in Israeli Cave

The pieces of parchments are the first of their kind discovered during archaeological excavations in 60 years

The site is comprised of six sectors, the last of which was recently excavated.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Traces of Early Christian Community in Egypt

Active between the fourth and eighth centuries A.D., the vast site housed multiple churches, monastic cells and other structures

Ruth Bader Ginsburg would have celebrated her 88th birthday on March 15, 2021.

A New Sculpture in Brooklyn Honors Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The statue, unveiled to coincide with Women's History Month, is dedicated to the late Supreme Court justice

Builders found the ruins beneath 81-year-old Charles Pole's back garden.

Cool Finds

Ruins of Medieval Palace Found Beneath English Retiree's Garden

Beginning in the 13th century, the castle in Somerset County served as a residence for local bishops

The team used DNA analysis to determine the brothers' hair and eye color. Top: Spytihněv I and bottom: Vratislav I

Art Meets Science

3-D Reconstructions Reveal the Faces of Two Medieval Dukes

Researchers used a variety of techniques to visualize what Czech rulers Spytihněv I and Vratislav I might have looked like

The Royalists used the cookbook to paint Oliver and Elizabeth Cromwell as commoners unfit to rule the kingdom.

This 17th-Century Cookbook Contained a Vicious Attack on Oliver Cromwell's Wife

The Cromwell Museum has republished a text first issued by the English Lord Protector's enemies as propaganda

Researchers suspect that a soldier and his girlfriend wrote the missives between 1941 and 1944.

Cool Finds

World War II Couple's Love Letters Found Beneath British Hotel's Floorboards

Workers discovered a trove of wartime artifacts, including chocolate wrappers, cigarette packets and correspondence

This silver diadem was one of around 30 valuable artifacts buried with a Bronze Age woman.

Cool Finds

Silver Diadem Found in Spain May Point to Bronze Age Woman's Political Power

Researchers say the crown—and the trove of ornate objects buried alongside it—could have belonged to a female ruler of La Argar

The amulet probably dates to the fifth or sixth century B.C.

Cool Finds

Eleven-Year-Old Boy Discovers Ancient Fertility Amulet in Israeli Desert

The 2,500-year-old ceramic figurine was likely created to provide protection and promote conception

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