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Artifacts

The vessel was transporting intricately carved gravestones and grinding mortars when it sank.

You Can Now See 750-Year-Old Artifacts Recovered From England’s Oldest Shipwreck

Gravestone slabs, cauldrons and other items recovered from the “Mortar Wreck” are now on display at the newly reopened Poole Museum in southern England

Astronauts Tom Stafford (left) and Wally Schirra (right) demonstrating with two model space crafts during an interview in the 1960s

Sixty Years Ago, When Instruments Were Played in Space for the First Time, It Was ‘Jingle Bells’ All the Way

Astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra delighted mission control with their rendition of the Christmas classic

A shell trumpet found in Catalonia

New Research

Archaeologists Say These Conch Shells May Have Been Used as Early Musical Instruments 6,000 Years Ago

New research suggests that a collection of conch shells unearthed in Spain may have once produced melodies, in addition to enabling communication across long distances

Evidence of prehistoric flint tool-making dating to approximately 4300 B.C.E.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Digging Beneath Britain’s Houses of Parliament Discover 6,000-Year-Old Flint Artifacts and a 2,000-Year-Old Roman Altar Fragment

During restorations at the Palace of Westminster in London, excavations have revealed a trove of historic objects, the oldest of which date to around 4300 B.C.E.

Well-preserved reindeer antlers found at the site

Cool Finds

A Hiker Discovered a Trove of Artifacts in Norway’s Melting Ice. The Site Turned Out to Be a 1,500-Year-Old Reindeer Trap

Located in the mountains of western Norway, the facility was likely used by Iron Age hunters to trap and kill wild reindeer. Experts say it’s the only site of its kind ever found in the country

Syria's National Museum reopening to visitors in Damascus on January 8

Six Ancient Roman Statues Have Been Stolen From Syria’s National Museum

The theft is a serious loss for the country’s cultural heritage, which had already sustained extensive damage during a long civil war

A fragment of a ceramic smoking pipe found on the site

Cool Finds

A Fire Ravaged a Historic 200-Year-Old Tavern in Ohio. These Are the Artifacts Archaeologists Found in the Wreckage

Excavations at the Overfield Tavern Museum revealed a treasure trove of objects, including jewelry, dishware, a bottle cork, a smoking pipe and early American currency

Experts think the cross-shaped pit reflects the Maya view of the universe.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Say They’ve Found a 3,000-Year-Old Map of the Cosmos at an Ancient Maya Site in Mexico

New research sheds light on a cross-shaped pit found at Aguada Fénix, a monumental complex discovered several years ago

The ˁAin Samiya goblet, pictured here as a replica, is currently held by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The real artifact is damaged, with some of the picture missing.

Scholars Thought This Ancient Silver Goblet Told One Myth for 50 Years. Is It Actually Telling Another Story?

A new study asserts that the Bronze Age goblet may be one of the earliest known depictions of cosmology, featuring gods creating celestial order from chaos

Archaeologists discovered an engraved intaglio that a Roman man stationed at Bremenium in northern England likely used to stamp his correspondence.

Archaeologists Excavating a Roman Fort in Britain Discovered a Rare Red Gemstone Engraved With a Surprising Design

The intaglio was likely set in a signet ring and used to stamp correspondence at Bremenium, a military outpost located roughly 25 miles north of Hadrian’s Wall

The wine press is composed of a three-holed treading surface (right) and a collection vat (left).

Cool Finds

A 5,000-Year-Old Canaanite Wine Press Has Been Discovered in Israel

Researchers discovered the press, along with a ritualistic, animal-shaped “tea set,” outside the ancient site of Tel Megiddo

Dutch officials will return the 7.5-inch-tall stone bust to Egypt by the end of the year.

The Netherlands Will Return a Looted 3,500-Year-Old Stone Bust to Egypt

The repatriation coincided with the lavish opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is finally welcoming visitors after years of delays

Debra Brown found the bottle on Wharton Beach near her home in Esperance, Western Australia.

Cool Finds

109-Year-Old Messages in a Bottle Written by Soldiers Heading to Fight in World War I Discovered on Australian Beach

The two letters survived the past century inside a Schweppes-brand bottle, which Debra Brown found on Wharton Beach in early October

The marble fragment is decorated with part of a lotus flower pattern.

A Man Brought His Father’s ‘Piece of the Parthenon’ to Greek Officials. They Said It Was From an Even Older Temple in the Acropolis of Athens

The engraved marble fragment likely came from an archaic temple called the Hekatompedon, making it around 2,600 years old

The stolen items include a pair of scrimshaw walrus tusks and neckpieces by American metalsmith Florence Resnikoff.

Thieves Steal More Than 1,000 Artifacts From a California Museum’s Storage Facility

The “brazen” heist at the Oakland Museum of California occurred in the early morning hours of October 15. Investigators are working to track down the missing items

Archaeologist Rick Knecht (right), shown here in 2019, has been working with community members in Quinhagak, Alaska, to excavate and preserve artifacts from a site called Nunalleq, which was likely inhabited by Yup’ik ancestors from around 1300 to 1650 C.E.

A Storm Battered Western Alaska, Scattering Thousands of Indigenous Artifacts Across the Sand

Archaeologists and community members in Quinhagak are racing to recover as many Yup’ik objects as possible

Experts say our fear of dolls likely stems from uncertainty.

These Creepy Dolls Are on the Loose, Haunting the Halls of a Minnesota Museum This Halloween

To mark its seventh annual Creepy Doll Contest, the History Center of Olmsted County is inviting its vintage toy dolls to act as “amateur curators” and roam freely through its collections

The dollhouse belonging to Petronella Oortman

Take a Virtual Tour of This Lavish Dollhouse, the Centerpiece of a New Exhibition on Everyday Life in the 17th Century

Helena Bonham Carter provides an English-language tour of the Rijksmuseum’s miniature masterpiece, which stands at about six and a half feet tall

Experts at the British Museum examined the coins before returning them to the finders.

Cool Finds

A Family Found These Rare Tudor Coins Buried in Their Backyard. Now, the Trove Is Heading to the Auction Block

Discovered in southern England, the collection features dozens of gold and silver coins dating to the 15th and 16th centuries—including several inscribed with the initials of Henry VIII’s wives

Storage jars found among the cargo known as Dor L1

New Research

Three Shipwrecks Discovered Off the Coast of Israel Shed New Light on the History of Iron Age Maritime Trade

An anchor, basket handles, jars and other artifacts were found among the cargoes at the three sites, the oldest of which dates to the 11th century B.C.E.

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