Smart News History & Archaeology

A rendering of by Hank Willis Thomas' The Embrace, a public memorial set to be unveiled in the Boston Commons in October 2022

Monument to Coretta Scott and MLK Is Coming to Boston, City Where They Met

Hank Willis Thomas' sculpture of intertwined arms will memorialize the civil rights leaders and their fight for racial equality

A bent metal rod discovered in the grave was likely a dog toy.

Cool Finds

2,000-Year-Old Grave of Child and Puppy Found in France

The dog, outfitted in a collar with a bell, was placed next to the 1-year-old's feet

The original cover design for Hergé's The Blue Lotus(1936) sold at auction for a record-breaking price on Thursday. The gouache and watercolor drawing was kept folded in a drawer for many years, and the lines where the work was folded are still visible.

Tintin Drawing Sold for €3.2 Million Is the World's Most Expensive Comic Book Art

The original cover design for Hergé's "The Blue Lotus" spent decades tucked away in a drawer

Borden was acquitted of her father and stepmother's murders, but she remained under suspicion for the rest of her life.

The House Where Lizzie Borden's Family Was Murdered Is Up for Sale

You can now take a virtual tour of the Massachusetts property, which most recently served as a bed and breakfast

This Project Blue Book chart shows the frequency of unidentified flying object (UFO) reports during the months of June through September 1952.

You Can Now Explore the CIA's 'Entire' Collection of UFO Documents Online

Thousands of pages of declassified records are available for anyone to peruse

Elizebeth Friedman was a star cryptanalyst who cracked hundreds of ciphers for the U.S. government.

How Codebreaker Elizebeth Friedman Broke Up a Nazi Spy Ring

A new PBS documentary traces her extraordinary life, from her Quaker upbringing to her career as the U.S.' first female cryptanalyst

Kilij Arslan I's forces defeated the People's Crusade at the Battle of Civetot.

Cool Finds

Turkish Archaeologists Discover Grave of Sultan Who Defeated Crusaders

Kilij Arslan I was the second leader of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rūm

On New Year's Day, farmers in Mexico uncovered a sculpture dated to between roughly 1450 and 1521 A.D.

Cool Finds

Farmers Discover Rare Statue of Pre-Hispanic Woman in Mexican Citrus Grove

The sculpture may depict an elite ruler or a fusion of a goddess and a female leader

The gardens, which will go on view this spring in a subterranean museum, featured intricate marble designs.

Cool Finds

Caligula's Gardens, Long Hidden Beneath Italian Apartment Building, to Go on View

The infamous Roman emperor's extravagant tastes included opulent marble and exotic animals

Authorities recovered thousands of ancient artifacts, including these stone Roman statues.

Authorities in Israel Seize Thousands of Artifacts Looted From Ancient Graves

Thieves stole most of the objects—including coins and pottery—from tombs across the Mediterranean, Africa and South America

“A key tenet of ... constitutional democracy is the peaceful transfer of power following U.S. presidential elections, dating back to the republic’s first presidential election,” said Anthea Hartig, director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, in a statement. “This week, that core belief was shaken.”

History of Now

How the Smithsonian and Other Museums Are Responding to the U.S. Capitol Riot

Leading institutions have started collecting artifacts and working to contextualize last week's violent attack

Activists toppled and defaced Edward Valentine's statue of Jefferson Davis during Black Lives Matter protests in Richmond last summer.

Why a Virginia Museum Wants to Display a Defaced Sculpture of Jefferson Davis

"Actually bringing that statue back to the spot where it was created has a unique power to it," says the Valentine's director

An 1843 aquatint by Jean-Pierre-Marie Jazet, after a painting by Carl von Steuben, depicts Napoleon Bonaparte in his final moments.

Rare Doctor's Note Offers Glimpse Into Napoleon's Agonized Final Years

The 1818 missive, which describes the French statesman's failing health, recently sold at auction for $2,000

The baths featured both male and female pools, as well as laundry facilities.

Cool Finds

'Stunning' Victorian Bathhouse Unearthed Beneath Manchester Parking Lot

The facility offered laundry and bathing services for 19th-century textile workers and their families

Lawmakers voted to pass the National Defense Authorization Act for 2021 (NDAA), which includes legislation that will change how the antiquities market in the US is regulated.

How a New Law Will Impact the U.S. Antiquities Trade

In the name of cracking down on money laundering, a new law passed by Congress will increase federal oversight of the art market and limit secrecy

An illustration of the British burning Washington in 1814

History of Now

The History of Violent Attacks on the U.S. Capitol

While the building has seen politically motivated mayhem in the past, never before has a mob of insurrectionists tried to overturn a presidential election

The stone reads "blessed Maria, who lived an immaculate life."

Cool Finds

A Tombstone Inscribed in Ancient Greek Is Found in Southern Israel

The Byzantine-era stone reads 'blessed Maria, who lived an immaculate life'

Archaeologists have been excavating the site since 2017.

Cool Finds

A Medieval Nun Led This Newly Unearthed Buddhist Monastery in Eastern India

The religious center, located on a hillside away from densely populated areas, may have had all-female or mixed-gender renunciates

Helen Viola Jackson, who wed U.S. Army veteran James Bolin in 1936, died on December 16 at age 101.

History of Now

The Last Surviving Widow of a Civil War Veteran Dies at 101

Helen Viola Jackson married James Bolin in 1936, when she was 17 and he was 93

A whimsical bag designed to look like a European horse chestnut, made by contemporary British designer Emily Joe Gibbs

How the Handbag Became the Ultimate Fashion Accessory

An exhibition at the V&A in London traces the long history of the purse, from Elizabeth I's court to "Sex and the City"

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