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British History

Volunteers repairing the Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset, England, in 2019

This Massive Hillside Figure Has Mystified Historians for Centuries. Now, Donations Have Secured the Surrounding Landscape

The National Trust has purchased the land around England’s Cerne Abbas Giant, which will help protect the mysterious chalk figure and nearby wildlife for future generations

Archaeologists discovered a fragment of a reusable slate tablet with letters scratched into the surface.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth a Reusable School Slate Still Covered in the Scribbles of Victorian Children

The slate was found alongside other evidence of young students’ schoolwork and play at the site of a new development in London

The exhibition features the last letter that Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, sent to Elizabeth I in 1588.

Read Love Letters From Royals and Romantics Across 500 Years of British History

A new exhibition at Britain’s National Archives features a letter to Elizabeth I, Jane Austen’s will and a plea to free Oscar Wilde from prison

The item probably once adorned a Roman-era carriage that belonged to a high-status individual.

This Rare Roman Figurine of a Cat With Its Paws Atop a Severed Head Is One of Britain’s Newest Treasures

The artifact was discovered by a metal detectorist in 2024

A side-by-side view of Turner's Marford Mill (left) and the real-life inspiration behind it (right)

You Can Buy This 438-Year-Old Mill in Wales That Inspired a Stunning J.M.W. Turner Painting

Rossett Mill was the subject of a landscape by the Romantic painter around 1795. Now, the property is listed at a little over $2 million

A painting of the San José, which sank off Cartagena, Colombia, in 1708. Archaeologist Roger Dooley commissioned this illustration based on his research on the galleon.

Archaeologists Discovered the ‘Holy Grail’ of Shipwrecks a Decade Ago. Now, They’re Finally Beginning to Unravel the Secrets of the ‘San José’

A new book by author Julian Sancton explores the lengthy quest to find the Spanish galleon—and the political firestorm that has engulfed the wreck ever since

Researchers used an electron microscope to take a closer look at the bone fragment.

New Research

This Hammer Created From an Elephant Bone 480,000 Years Ago May Be the Oldest Known Tool of Its Kind Ever Found in Europe

Discovered in southern England in the mid-1990s, the artifact may have been made by Neanderthals or Homo heidelbergensis, according to a new study

This late 16th-century portrait of Anne Boleyn (left) closely resembles a circa 1590 portrait of Elizabeth I (right), as well as two separate likenesses of Mary I and Edward IV. The paintings appear to share the same established “face pattern” of the then-queen, Elizabeth.

Why Do These Tudor-Era Portraits of Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I Look So Strikingly Similar?

The artist behind the works may have used Elizabeth’s likeness as a template in other royal portraits to visually emphasize her resemblance to previous monarchs and reinforce her status as the legitimate Tudor heir

In 1823, 17 enslaved people were sold at an auction in Barbados in the name of Britain's then-king, George IV.

The British Crown Enslaved Thousands at the Height of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. New Research Reveals Their Stories

A leading historian examines how the monarchy not only tolerated slavery but also administered it, profited from it and sanctioned its cruelties

The bones of the horse and riders have mostly eroded away in the region's acidic, sandy soils, leaving only "sand silhouettes" behind.

These High-Status Individuals Were Given a ‘Princely’ Burial Alongside a Fully Harnessed Horse in an Early Medieval Cemetery

Archaeologists in England recently discovered the sixth- and seventh-century graves, which also contained numerous weapons and personal items

Ada Blackjack was the only survivor of a 1921 expedition to Wrangel Island, a remote landmass above the Arctic Circle.

Meet 13 People Who Survived on Deserted Islands, From a Real-Life Robinson Crusoe to a Noblewoman Marooned With Her Lover

Ahead of the release of Sam Raimi’s “Send Help,” revisit the stories of Alexander Selkirk, Marguerite de la Rocque, the Tongan castaways and others who endured in remote locales

The foundations of the buried villa captured by ground-penetrating radar

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Say They’ve Detected the Largest Stand-Alone Ancient Roman Villa Ever Unearthed in Wales

The mansion’s foundations and floors are likely well-preserved, according to geophysical surveys. The discovery provides new insights into the Roman occupation in the region

Just a few of the hundreds of bar-shaped whetstones found on the north shore

Cool Finds

Hundreds of Ancient Roman Blade Sharpeners Emerge From a Riverbank in England, Revealing the Ruins of a 2,000-Year-Old Whetstone Factory

Archaeologists think the newly discovered artifacts remained at the production site because they were deemed unusable. Large numbers of completed whetstones may have supplied other parts of the Roman Empire

The box was discovered in the Roman-era grave of a young woman. Archaeologists suspect it may have contained ointment for pain relief, as the woman's remains show signs of lesions and joint inflammation.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Intricately Decorated Box Carved From Deer Bone That May Have Once Held Ancient Ointments

The box was excavated from a Roman-era grave in England. It was found among a trove of artifacts spanning roughly 8,000 years of human activity

Though the wooden buildings have long since rotted away, the postholes and beam slots are still there.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Stumble Upon Mysterious Medieval Village While Preparing for New Wind Farms in England

The previously unknown settlement appears to have been abandoned at some point in the 1300s, but researchers don’t know why

Bowie lived in the two-story house between 1955 and 1967.

You Can Soon Step Inside David Bowie’s Childhood Bedroom, Restored to the Way It Looked When He Was 16

The musician’s former home in south London is scheduled to open to the public in late 2027 following an extensive restoration, which will transport visitors back in time to 1963

The bell, shaped like a boar's head, would have topped a long, thin pole.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Ancient War Trumpet That Once Struck Fear in the Hearts of Enemies on the Battlefield

Known as a carnyx, the instrument is only the third of its kind to be found in Britain. It was discovered in the territory of the Iceni tribe, which fought the Romans under the leadership of the queen Boudicca

The silver penny dates to the late 1130s.

Cool Finds

A Metal Detectorist Discovered the Earliest Known Coin Ever Produced in a Scottish Mint

Experts previously thought the first Scottish coins were minted in England, but this penny came from Edinburgh. National Museums Scotland has now acquired the historic piece of silver

A written description (left) of New Zealand flax (illustrated on the right) references an Indigenous name for the plant: “haragag.”

Newly Digitized Records Reveal How Indigenous People Shared Their Knowledge of New Zealand’s Plants With Captain Cook’s Crew

Long-overlooked documents housed at London’s Natural History Museum testify to the exchange of information between 18th-century European botanists and their Indigenous counterparts

A third-century B.C.E. Greek gold chain necklace similar to some of the missing objects

The British Museum Plans to Hire a Treasure Hunter. Duties Include Recovering Missing Artifacts Before They’re Lost to History

The museum announced in 2023 that 1,500 items were missing. More than 600 have since been found, and officials are now hoping to expand the recovery effort

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