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Artifacts

The watch is engraved with the words, "THEODORE ROOSEVELT FROM D.R. & C.R.R."

Cool Finds

Theodore Roosevelt’s Long-Lost Pocket Watch Surfaces at a Florida Auction House

Thieves stole the timepiece, a gift from the president’s sister, from an unlocked display case in 1987

Two sides of a single ceramic lion's head and a female figurine from Dolni Vestonice

Did Prehistoric Children Make Figurines Out of Clay?

Fingerprints and scratch marks found in artifacts in the Czech Republic suggest youngsters of the Upper Paleolithic used the soil like Play-Doh, according to a pending new study

The vase dates to the Maya Classic period, which lasted from around 250 to 900 C.E.

Cool Finds

A Woman Thrifted This Ancient Maya Vase for $3.99—and Then Gave It Back to Mexico

Anna Lee Dozier started to wonder about the object’s origins when she realized it resembled artifacts in a Mexican museum

The rare bust of Caligula is only five inches tall.

Cool Finds

Curator Uncovers Lost Roman-Era Bust of the Emperor Caligula

The small bronze statue, which was unearthed at Herculaneum, had been missing for two centuries

The slippers were on loan at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, when they were stolen in 2005.

The Judy Garland Museum Wants to Buy Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers

Officials hope to raise millions to bid on the shoes, which were missing for over a decade, at auction in December

Jacob Sharvit and Karnit Bahartan examine two amphorae recovered from the world's oldest-known deep-sea wreck.

Cool Finds

World’s Oldest Deep-Sea Shipwreck Discovered a Mile Beneath the Mediterranean Sea

Archaeologists recovered two amphorae from the 3,300-year-old wreck site, which sheds new light on ancient maritime navigation

The badges identify the wearer's occupation, such as servant or porter. 

These Badges Shed New Light on the Enslaved Workers Who Built Charleston

The Smithsonian has acquired a collection of 146 slave badges from between 1800 and 1865

The wine, made of crushed white grapes 2,000 years ago, turned red-brown with age.

Cool Finds

Oldest Wine Ever Found in Liquid Form Unearthed in 2,000-Year-Old Tomb

Researchers have concluded that the fluid preserved inside an ancient funerary urn is a white sherry-like wine

Archaeologists used manned and unmanned submersibles to recover artifacts from the wrecks.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Recover 900 Artifacts From Ming Dynasty Shipwrecks in South China Sea

The trove of objects—including pottery, porcelain, shells and coins—was found roughly a mile below the surface

Pottery fragments found onsite are lined in purple pigment, suggesting they were once containers for dye.

Cool Finds

In This Ancient Workshop, Greeks Crushed Snail Glands to Make the Purple Dye Worn by Royalty

Archaeologists discovered remnants of the small factory on an island in Greece

The coins were found in the courtyard of a farmhouse in the small town of Wettin, Germany.

Cool Finds

This Stash of Silver Coins Found in Germany Belonged to a Wealthy 17th-Century Mayor

The collection includes pieces from surrounding regions, as well as Italy and the Spanish Netherlands

The 10-foot-deep well is located in Ostia Antica.

Cool Finds

Trove of Rare Artifacts Unearthed Beneath an Ancient Roman Well

Dozens of items, including burnt bones and ceramics, provide new insights into ritual activity in the city of Ostia

Researchers are particularly excited about the newly discovered chess piece, which is about an inch and a half tall.

Cool Finds

Medieval Game Pieces Unearthed Beneath a Castle in Germany

The “excellently preserved” chess knight, six-sided die and several other pieces are all about 1,000 years old

Archaeologists found amphorae, bronze jugs, bronze lamps and construction materials inside the room.

Cool Finds

See the Stunning Shrine With Rare Blue-Painted Walls Unearthed at Pompeii

The 86-square-foot space is adorned with artworks depicting female figures and agricultural imagery

Sue O'Connor (left) and Shimona Kealy (right) study some of the artifacts found in Timor-Leste, which offer clues that early humans took a more northern path from Southeast Asia to Australia tens of thousands of years ago.

Archaeologists Discover Clues to Ancient Migration Route That Brought Humans to Australia

New research offers evidence that humans did not inhabit the island of Timor until around 44,000 years ago, suggesting it was not part of the original migration route from Southeast Asia to Australia

The 14.5-inch artifact was likely made between 900 and 1050 C.E.

Cool Finds

Norwegian Farmer Stumbles Upon 1,000-Year-Old Viking Sword

The well-preserved artifact may belong to a special class of high-quality, engraved weapons

The correspondence is undated, but experts think Kafka wrote it in the spring of 1920.

An Ailing Franz Kafka Curses Writer’s Block in This Handwritten Letter to a Friend

“I haven’t written anything for three years,” he admitted in the note, which will go to auction this summer

American authorities rounded up all 600 of the artifacts in a single year.

Trove of 600 Looted Italian Artifacts Worth $65 Million Comes Home

The collection includes artifacts spanning the ninth century B.C.E. to the second century C.E.

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

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

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