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Artifacts

The vessel was produced around the time when Liu Zhi’s successor, Ling, was building a mausoleum for the deceased emperor.

Inscription Leads Archaeologists to Tomb of One of the Last Han Emperors

A manufacturing date on a vessel confirmed a Chinese mausoleum’s ties to second-century A.D. ruler Liu Zhi

Closed to the public and financially strained, museums nevertheless managed to create thought-provoking alternatives to in-person viewing.

Virtual Travel

The Top Ten Online Exhibitions of 2020

From a Smithsonian show on first ladies to Mexican muralists, Rembrandt and the making of the Met, these were some of our favorite virtual experiences

The Vale of York Hoard, a major trove of Viking artifacts discovered in 2007 in North Yorkshire. The hoard—likely buried around 920 A.D.—included 617 silver coins, a Frankish silver cup and Viking jewelry.

To Protect Its Rare Artifacts, the U.K. Proposes Revised Definition of ‘Treasure’

New standards will ensure significant archaeological finds remain publicly accessible for study and enjoyment, the government says

Artist's rendering of the Edo Museum of West African Art's exterior

A New Museum of West African Art Will Incorporate the Ruins of Benin City

Designed by architect David Adjaye, the museum will reunite looted artifacts currently housed in Western institutions

The online market is flooded with coveted books, toys and antiques.

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, Avid Collectors Find Joy in Their Prized Possessions

At home with their collectibles, many people are expanding, shrinking or reorganizing their treasure troves

Glass ballot boxes were used as a way to show voter transparency at the polls and became popular in the late 1800s.

A Glass Ballot Box Was the Answer to Voter Fraud in the 19th Century

This transparent approach let voters know that their ballots were counted

The Book of Lismore consists of 198 large vellum folios.

Medieval Manuscript Returns to Ireland After Hundreds of Years in British Hands

The 15th-century Book of Lismore features the only surviving Irish translation of Marco Polo’s travels, among other historical texts

Archaeologists pose in front of the 180-year-old cabin in Hagerstown, Maryland.

Log Cabin Excavation Unearths Evidence of Forgotten Black Community

Artifacts recall a thriving Maryland neighborhood that was once a stop on the Underground Railroad

The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam will open its depot next year, making 151,000 artworks that would otherwise be in storage accessible to the public.

A Dutch Museum Will Display All 150,000 Objects in Its Collections

The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s unique storage facility is slated to open in fall 2021

Rock legend Chuck Berry drove his 1973 Cadillac Eldorado onto a St. Louis stage in Hail! Hail! Rock ’n’ Roll, a 1987 documentary.

Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch on How the Institution Builds Its Collections

Finding the next awe-inspiring artifact requires flexibility, help from the community—and a healthy dose of good luck

Dead Horse Bay gets its unsavory-sounding name from the numerous horse-rendering plants that operated along its marshy shoreline from the 1850s until the 1930s.

New York’s ‘Glass Bottle Beach’ Closed After Survey Finds Radioactive Waste

The Dead Horse Bay shoreline was a magnet for beachcombers and sightseers who came to peruse the eroding contents of 1950s landfill

The helmet has been on view at England's Preston Park Museum since 2012.

Cool Finds

Millennia-Old Headgear Is One of Just Two (Almost) Intact Viking Helmets

A new study dates a piece of armor found in Britain in the 1950s to the tenth century A.D.

Amateur treasure hunter Mariusz Stepien found the cache of Bronze Age artifacts (including these pieces of a horse harness) while searching a field with a metal detector.

Cool Finds

Rare Bronze Age Sword, Horse Harness Unearthed in Scotland

The “nationally significant” trove of 3,000-year-old artifacts also includes a pendant, rings and chariot wheel axle caps

Scientists use a California condor specimen from 1835 — part of the Smithsonian’s very first collection of items — to study the critically endangered species. Pictured: a young California condor in Grand Canyon National Park.

Smithsonian Voices

Celebrate the Smithsonian’s 174th Birthday With a Look at Its First Collections

Historic museum specimens help us learn more about what a species once was like and what it could be like in the future

Various types of North and South American fluted points

Ancient Artisans in Arabia, the Americas Invented Same Technology Independently

New research suggests stone fluting served different purposes in the two regions

A box of offerings included a gold band reminiscent of a miniature bracelet and a llama or alpaca figurine made of the shell of a rare mollusk.

Inca Llama Carving Recovered From Depths of Lake Titicaca

The well-preserved artifact was likely used in a sacred ritual

Susie and Paul Sensmeier of Christiansburg, Virginia, got front row seats to the arrival of the first drone-shipped home delivery in the fall of 2019.

This Drone Made the First Home Delivery in the United States

Wing’s tether-toting drone delivered a winter vest to a retiree in Virginia and now its headed to the Air and Space Museum

A Dutch art dealer realized the vase's significance after appraising an elderly European woman's collection.

Cool Finds

Rare Chinese Vase Found in Pet-Filled Home Sells for $9 Million

The 18th-century artifact was made in a style specific to the Qianlong dynasty

Bald's Leechbook, a tenth-century medical text that contains Anglo-Saxon medical advice and recipes for medicines, salves and treatments

This Medieval Potion Kills Stubborn Bacteria

“Bald’s eyesalve” is effective against numerous strains of bacteria—and could help treat diabetic foot and leg ulcers

This "grain mummy" honors the Egyptian god Osiris.

Cool Finds

CT Scans Reveal Miniature Mummies’ Surprising Contents

One appears to hold the skeleton of a bird, while the other contains a tightly packed lump of grain and mud

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