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Artifacts

Salih reports that ISIS “looted all movable objects” from this tunnel at ancient Nineveh.

The Salvation of Mosul

An Iraqi archaeologist braved ISIS snipers and booby-trapped ruins to rescue cultural treasures in the city and nearby legendary Nineveh and Nimrud

A reproduction 5th century Corinthian helmet given by a visiting Greek Army officer. It's become the logo for "The Art of War – Gifts of Peace" initiative.

At an Army Base in Kansas, There’s a Secret Collection of Incredible Finds

Are these priceless artifacts or worthless trinkets? No one knows for sure, but a local art gallery is pitching in to find out

These coins have long been attributed as having come directly from the initial James Smithson's bequest but recent scholarship refutes the claim.

How James Smithson’s Money Built the Smithsonian

In 1838, 104,960 sovereigns from the bequest of a learned Englishman were reminted in the U.S. to fund the “increase and diffusion of knowledge”

This Mysterious Stone Structure Is Older Than Stonehenge

Until recently, Britain’s Stonehenge was thought to be the world’s oldest set of stone monuments

The LEM model missing from the Armstrong Museum

Trending Today

Thieves Steal Solid Gold Lunar Lander Model From Armstrong Museum

The five-inch model was created by Cartier as tribute from French newspaper readers to the Apollo 11 astronaut

Armenia

Unraveling the Mystery of the “Armenian Stonehenge”

The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum.

Interact With the First 3-D Scan of the Rosetta Stone

The British Museum’s model lets users get a close-up view of the precious relic

Trending Today

Apollo 11 Moon Rock Bag Sells for $1.8 Million in Controversial Auction

NASA waged an unsuccessful legal battle to retrieve the bag, which contains traces of lunar dust, from a private collection

The hilt of Robert Gould Shaw's sword

Cool Finds

Civil War Hero’s Long-Lost Sword Was Hiding in an Attic

Union Colonel Robert Gould Shaw led the legendary 54th Massachusetts Regiment, one of the first official black military units in the United States

Shearith Torah

Why Religious Freedom and Diversity Flourished in Early America

Jam-packed exhibition features artifacts as diverse as Jefferson’s Bible, a steeple bell cast by Paul Revere and a storied Torah

A skull believed to have belonged to a companion of St. Ursula. The bones of other saints are said to lie under the gemstones and gold fabric.

Portraits of Faith

A Pittsburgh Church Holds the Greatest Collection of Relics Outside of the Vatican

Behold the treasures of this tiny neighborhood church

In his journal, Earl Shaffer, who walked in 16-mile stages, documented his 124-day odyssey.

The Army Veteran Who Became the First to Hike the Entire Appalachian Trail

His journal and hiking boots are in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

In 2001, Smithsonian scientists Doug Owsley and Kari Bruwelheide traveled to the Grove in Glenview, Illinois, Robert Kennicott's boyhood home, to open the naturalist's casket and determine the cause of his death.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Two Smithsonian Scientists Retrace the Mysterious Circumstances of an 1866 Death and Change History

Did the 19th-century naturalist Robert Kennicott die of his own hand?

Trending Today

Oxford Is Digitizing UK’s World War I Memorabilia

The Lest We Forget Project is asking people to bring in letters, photos and objects from the Great War to be recorded for a free online database

Remember the first time Dad took you sledding? Now it's time to take him somewhere special.

For Father’s Day, Take Dad on a Tour of the Smithsonian Museums

Our featured tour: With Dad

Multiple views of the young teen's right humerus arm bone that runs from the shoulder to the elbow show where the tumor left its mark.

Oldest Cancer Case in Central America Discovered

A young teen, who died 700 years ago, likely suffered pain in the right arm as the tumor grew and expanded through the bone

“We’ve been taxing work, output and income and subsidizing non-work, leisure and unemployment. The consequences are obvious! To Don Rumsfeld,” Arthur Laffer wrote around the graph, signing and dating his work as well.

The Restaurant Doodle That Launched a Political Movement

How one economist’s graph on a napkin reshaped the Republican Party and upended tax policy

"This book was representative of an era during which colonialism and the associated conversion to Christianity oppressed the indigenous population in often violent ways,” says curator Gabriela Pérez-Báez.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

A Rare Public Display of a 17th-Century Mayan Manuscript

With the book newly digitized, scholars are reinterpreting a story of native resistance from within its pages

The cracked-plate portrait of Abraham Lincoln by Alexander Gardner, 1865, albumen silver print

A Smithsonian Historian Wanders the “Bardo,” Exploring the Spiritual World of the 19th Century

George Saunders’ new novel, “Lincoln in the Bardo” recalls the melancholy that hung over a nation at war

The lost colony of Roanoke

The Mystery of Roanoke Endures Yet Another Cruel Twist

An artifact found 20 years ago turns out to not be what archaeologists thought

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