Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Cool Finds

Vecchio Sultano, Salvador Dalí, 1966

Cool Finds

A Man Bought This Colorful Illustration of a Sultan for £150. It Turned Out to Be a Salvador Dalí Original That Could Sell for $40,000

An art dealer attending a house clearance sale spotted the Surrealist’s signature in the corner of the work, which depicts a scene from “One Thousand and One Nights”

Based on the fragment, experts digitally reconstructed the piece of torso armor.

Cool Finds

Rare Fragment of 3,200-Year-Old Bronze Chest Armor Unearthed in Czech Republic

Bronze armor made by skilled craftsmen was reserved for elite warriors, according to experts from the Brno City Museum

Researchers found a 4,000-year-old handprint on the bottom of a "soul house," a clay funerary object popular during Egypt's Middle Kingdom period.

Cool Finds

See a Stunningly Well-Preserved, 4,000-Year-Old Handprint Left Behind by an Ancient Egyptian Potter

The find “takes you directly to the moment when the object was made,” says curator Helen Strudwick

The site was occupied by an unknown Celtic tribe.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Ancient Celtic Settlement Filled With Jewelry, Amber and Coins in the Czech Republic

The 62-acre settlement was likely established in the fourth century B.C.E. Researchers think it may have served as a major trading hub

Roughly a quarter of all the shoes found at Magna are longer than 11.8 inches.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Keep Finding Massive Shoes at an Ancient Roman Fort—and They Have No Idea Why They’re So Big

Discovered near Hadrian’s Wall in northern England, the oversized leather footwear has left researchers puzzled

The portrait is dated to 1844, making it the oldest known portrait of Davidge.

Cool Finds

A Rare Portrait of Maryland’s Medical Hero Was Rediscovered in a Mussels Joint

The painting depicts John Beale Davidge, a physician known for his ideas about yellow fever and founding the University of Maryland School of Medicine

The excavations are taking place at the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula while crews install an elevator to make the landmark more accessible.

Cool Finds

The First Major Excavation at the Tower of London in Three Decades Is Shedding New Light on the Iconic Landmark’s History

Archaeologists have discovered the skeletal remains of at least 25 individuals and possibly as many as 50, as well as various artifacts and architectural remnants

The Barbados threadsnake is just three to four inches long and about the same width as a strand of spaghetti. Pictured here in 2006, the species was officially described in 2008.

Scientists Feared the World’s Smallest Snake Had Gone Extinct. They Just Found It Again

When fully grown, the Barbados threadsnake is only three to four inches long—shorter than many earthworms

Anthropologist Aleksandra Pudło (left) and archaeologist Sylwia Kurzyńska (right) carefully excavated the knight's skeleton.

Archaeologists Discover Mysterious Medieval Knight Buried Beneath an Ice Cream Parlor in Poland

The well-preserved skeleton was buried under a rare limestone tombstone, which suggests the individual may have been an important member of Gdańsk society during the Middle Ages

This flint arrowhead was found embedded in a human rib at the Roc de les Orenetes site in northeastern Spain.

An Archer Shot This Bronze Age Human in the Back. 4,000 Years Later, the Arrow Is Still Embedded in the Victim’s Rib Bone

The attack took place during a period of conflict between groups living in the Pyrenees mountains in modern-day Spain

Researchers found scrape marks on a slope at Dinosaur Ridge, a fossil-rich site west of Denver.

Dinosaurs Gathered to Perform Mating Dances With Kicks and Spins at This Site in Colorado—and You Can Go See It for Yourself

Paleontologists have discovered what appears to be one of the largest dinosaur courtship arenas in the world, just 15 miles west of Denver

The engraving depicts a boat featuring a palanquin-like structure.

New Research

Does This Ancient Rock Carving Depict One of Egypt’s Earliest Rulers?

New research suggests the engraving, which shows an elite individual sitting in a boat, may be up to 5,100 years old

The tomb was found in an acropolis to the right of Caana, the central architectural complex at Caracol, which is more than 140 feet tall.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Treasure-Filled Tomb Belonging to the First Known Ruler of a Maya City in Belize

Te K’ab Chaak was a wealthy warrior king who rose to power in 331 C.E. His burial is the first royal tomb found in the ancient city of Caracol

The box given to Brand contained records from the Dutch East India Company.

Cool Finds

Stolen Historic Documents Surface in Attic—Ten Years After an Employee Used Them as Collateral to Borrow Money

The thief likely took the trove when he worked for the Dutch National Archives in 2015. Recently, someone found them in storage and contacted art detective Arthur Brand

Scientists found a partial dinosaur vertebra inside a geological core sample that measures just 2.5 inches in diameter.

‘Nothing Short of Magical’: Scientists Discover a Dinosaur Bone Nearly 800 Feet Beneath a Parking Lot at a Denver Museum

The partial vertebra appeared inside a 2.5-inch-diameter column of rock that researchers drilled, earning the title of the oldest and deepest dinosaur fossil found in Denver

Archaeologists and volunteers excavating the site in Willersey

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Traces of an Iron Age Settlement and Roman Villa in England

The excavation, which followed the discovery of two Roman swords in 2023, is providing historians with fresh insights into Britain’s ancient history

Scholars with the "Constructing the Limes" project led the research on the newly discovered site.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Roman Army Camp in the Netherlands—15 Miles Beyond the Empire’s Northern Border

Researchers think the camp was built during the second century C.E. Stretching across 22 acres, it was identified using a computer model developed by an archaeology student

One of the lion's head discs discovered in the grave

Cool Finds

Four Bewildering Bronze Lions’ Heads With Slightly Different Facial Expressions Found in Ancient Roman Grave in Israel

Similar examples of ancient lion artifacts appear to have been used as door knockers. But the newly discovered discs may have served a different purpose

Archaeologist Geórgea Layla Holanda examines a funerary urn found beneath a tree in the Brazilian Amazon.

Fishermen in the Brazilian Amazon Discover Enormous Funerary Urns Beneath a Toppled Tree

The ceramic vessels contained the bones of pre-Columbian Indigenous people, as well as fish, frog and turtle remains

On June 10, state and tribal officials recovered the vessel from the water.

Cool Finds

This Dugout Canoe Made From a 12-Foot-Long Log Was Found Bobbing in a North Carolina River

The newly discovered vessel is one of 79 known dugout canoes that have been unearthed throughout the state

Page 11 of 282