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Artifacts

The toppled head of Augustus spent centuries buried underneath the door to an invading force's victory shrine

British Museum Traces History of Dissent From Ancient Egypt to Today

‘I Object: Ian Hislop’s Search for Dissent’ span centuries, continents

Blombos Cave drawing with ochre pencil on silcrete stone.

Stone Age Markings May Be the Oldest Drawing Ever Discovered

The crosshatch symbol was made with a red ochre utensil more than 70,000 years ago

Objects Conservator Dawn Wallace examines the recovered pair of Ruby Slippers. Chief Conservator Richard Barden and Curator Ryan Lintelman also spent hours looking at the shoes in detail.

How the Smithsonian Helped Sleuth Out the True Identity of a Pair of Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers

When the FBI asked museum conservators at the American History Museum for assistance, they discovered the two pairs are twins

The precious piece sold for $57,500.

Sold: A Pocket Watch From the Titanic, Adorned with Hebrew Letters

The watch belonged to Sinai Kantor, a Russian immigrant who died when the ship went down

Engravings on a 'hunger stone' have been revealed in the Elbe River in the Czech Republic due to drought.

‘Hunger Stones’ With Ominous Messages Emerge in Drought-Parched Czech River

The stones recorded low water levels dating back to the 1600s and warn of impending hardships

Archaeologists unearthed the rotting teeth during construction of a new metro line in Melbourne, Australia

Cool Finds

Archaeological Dig at Australian Metro Station Unearths 1,000 Human Teeth

A local dentist probably flushed the molars down the toilet or discarded them with his trash

Poster for Cinématographe Lumière (1896)

Poster From One of the Earliest Public Movie Screenings Is Heading to Auction

The artwork advertised the Lumière brothers’ pioneering Cinématographe

New Research

People Were Messing Around In Texas at Least 2,500 Years Earlier Than Previously Thought

Pre-Clovis projectile points and other artifacts at the Gault Site date back 16,000 years ago or even earlier

An interactive timeline details about 20,000 of the archaeologists’ finds, complete with images and descriptions of the wide array of objects

New Website Unearths Amsterdam’s History Via 700,000 Artifacts Spanning 5,000 Years

The recovered items span thousands of years, and include coins, cell phones, dentures and more

Neolithic Roadway, Possibly a Ritual Site, Discovered in England

Archaeologists also found the skull of an extinct ox that is 2,000 years older than the trackway

Cool Finds

Construction Workers Find Rare Intact Roman Tomb

‘The Tomb of the Athlete’ includes four bodies, a coin, offerings of chicken, rabbit and lamb and strigils, the symbol of Roman sportsmen

Westminster Abbey's hidden “attic”

Europe

“Hidden” Attic in Westminster Abbey Is Opening as a Museum

Visitors can view more than 300 relics from the Abbey’s 1,000-year history and peer out at one of the best views in Europe

Stovepipe hat believed to have belonged to Abraham Lincoln, along with the bloodstained gloves he carried on the night of his assassination.

The Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation May Have to Auction Off Precious Artifacts

A bloodstained pair of gloves, which the president wore on the night of his assassination, is among the relics that could be sold to pay off a hefty loan

Panga ya Saidi

New Research

People Lived in This Cave for 78,000 Years

Excavations in Panga ya Saidi suggest technological and cultural change came slowly over time and show early humans weren’t reliant on coastal resources

Archaeologists in Alexandria, Virginia, have unearthed three 18th-century ships that were buried to extend the city's land.

Three 18th-Century Ships Found in Old Town Alexandria Tell a Story of Colonial-Era Virginia

Another intentionally buried ship was found just a block away from the newly discovered finds in 2015

The butchered rhino

New Research

700,000-Year-Old Butchered Rhino Pushes Back Ancient Human Arrival in the Philippines

The find changes the story of human migration, but scientists still don’t know what human species did the cutting

Crown, gold and gilded copper with glass beads, pigment and fabric, made in Ethiopia, 1600-1850

London Museum Says It’s Willing to Return Looted Ethiopian Artifacts on Long-Term Loan

A new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum grapples with Britain’s seizure of cultural treasures during the 1868 Battle of Maqdala

Excavation of Antioch-on-the-Orontes

2,000-Year-Old Mosaics Unearthed Under Florida Art Museum

The relics came from ancient Antioch and were buried by museum officials in 1989 for storage purposes

Grizzly, a detection dog in training, is learning to sniff out stolen antiquities.

Dogs May Soon Be on the Front Lines in the Fight Against Artifact Smuggling

A project with the University of Pennsylvania is seeking a new tool in an important battle

Is This the Seal of the Prophet Isaiah?

One archaeologist believes the relic may have belonged to the biblical figure, but there are major problems with her interpretation

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