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Smart News / Smart News History & Archaeology

Prince Harry's memoir, Spare, will hit bookshelves on January 10, 2023.

Prince Harry Moves Forward With His Memoir, ‘Spare’

The Duke of Sussex’s book will hit shelves in January

Äpplet, port side by lower gun deck

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Lost 17th-Century Warship ‘Äpplet’ in Sweden

It is the sister ship to the famous ‘Vasa,’ which sank within minutes of setting sail

An image captured by a scanning electron microscope of Yersinia pestis bacteria, which causes the bubonic plague. 

Medieval Skeletons Reveal How the Bubonic Plague Influenced Human DNA

Genes passed down by survivors fended off the Black Death, but they now increase the risk of immune disorders

Darwin's signature on the note

Charles Darwin’s Rare Autographed Manuscript Could Sell for $800,000

The English naturalist was responding to a magazine editor who had asked for a handwriting sample

Barge 129 loading coal

Cool Finds

Unusual 120-Year-Old Whaleback Shipwreck Discovered in Lake Superior

“Barge 129” was the last undiscovered whaleback wreck in the Great Lakes

The nine finalists are Samantha Raimis, CHUCK E., Carrie Torrence, Pamela Crumb, Frida Hitchcock, Blair Hanscom, Sally Strode, Rosie Romero and Wendy Craven.

Which of These Historical Dolls Is the Creepiest?

Vote for one of the nine finalists from a Minnesota museum’s collection

Woman Hiding Her Face (1912) by Egon Schiele

Nazis Stole Two Paintings From a Jewish Cabaret Star. Now, His Heirs Are Selling Them

Proceeds from the auction will go toward supporting underrepresented artists

Researchers used multispectral imaging to reveal the hidden text (which is traced in yellow above).

Cool Finds

A Medieval Manuscript Has Revealed the Oldest Known Map of the Stars

Advanced imaging uncovered part of the Greek astronomer Hipparchus’ long-lost star catalog

The carvings were found on the outskirts of what is now the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Archaeologists Unearth 2,700-Year-Old Stone Carvings in Northern Iraq

They found the beautifully detailed marble reliefs while working to restore the Mashki Gate

NOFX's Mike "Fat Mike" Burkett, one of the new museum's founders, performing in August 

A Punk Rock Museum Is Coming to Las Vegas

Thousands of instruments, set lists, flyers and other ephemera will tell the genre’s story

An illustration of a Neanderthal father and his daughter

Cool Finds

Ancient DNA Reveals the First Known Neanderthal Family

The lived with a small community in a Siberian cave some 54,000 years ago

Actress Anna May Wong is the latest woman to appear on the quarter under the U.S. Mint's American Women Quarters program.

Meet Anna May Wong, the First Asian American on U.S. Currency

The trailblazing actress overcame discrimination to become a global star

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking in July

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Wartime Speeches Tell the Story of Ukraine

The Ukrainian president will publish a collection of 16 handpicked addresses later this year

An underwater view of the V-1302 John Mahn, which has rested at the bottom of the North Sea since February 1942

A World War II Shipwreck Is Leaking Toxic Chemicals Into the North Sea

Researchers discovered nickel, copper, arsenic, explosives and chemicals found in fossil fuels at the site

Ruins found under an old deparment store may be from the friary of St. Saviours, which was founded by a Dominican order of monks in about 1256, but its exact location had always been a mystery.

Human Remains May Have Revealed the Site of a Medieval Friary

Archaeologists uncovered nearly 300 skeletons and other artifacts from beneath an old Welsh department store

Hand axes made of quartzite from between 100,000 and 40,000 B.C.E. at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. 

Neanderthals and Modern Humans May Have Shared Ideas for Tools

Modeling research provides a “good starting point” for finding where these species overlapped

Photos of Beverly Williams from her teenage years

Texas School Renovations Reveal a Teenager’s 1950s Purse Frozen in Time

Filled with photos, notes about crushes and a handkerchief, the late Beverly Williams’ pink clutch is like a time capsule

The 1,600-year-old mosaic in Rastan, Syria

See the Stunning 1,600-Year-Old Mosaic Unearthed in Syria

Archaeologists found the artwork beneath a building in Rastan

Researchers excavating a large wooden post

Cool Finds

Ancient Maya Salt Makers Worked From Home, Too

Archaeologists in Belize have found 1,500-year-old salt kitchens attached to workers’ homes

Researchers believe woolly mammoths walked into North America 100,000 years ago.

Alaska Couple Finds Massive Mammoth Bone After Storm

Typhoon Merbok’s flooding and winds revealed the complete femur, lying in the mud

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