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Cool Finds

Archaeologists pose in front of the 180-year-old cabin in Hagerstown, Maryland.

Log Cabin Excavation Unearths Evidence of Forgotten Black Community

Artifacts recall a thriving Maryland neighborhood that was once a stop on the Underground Railroad

The footprints found at White Sands National Park are more than 10,000 years old.

New Research

Fossilized Footprints Found in New Mexico Track Traveler With Toddler in Tow

Prehistoric tracks detail a moment when mammoths, sloths and humans crossed paths

The deceased's mummified remains were wrapped in burial linen and laid to rest in a wooden coffin.

Cool Finds

Ancient Egyptian Coffin Opened for the First Time in 2,600 Years

The sarcophagus is one of 59 unearthed at the Saqqara necropolis in recent months

An artist's recreation of what the Roman home may have looked like in its prime

Cool Finds

Ancient Roman Villa Discovered Beneath Italian Apartment Complex

Come November, the 2,000-year-old dwelling will open as a multimedia museum

Archaeologists inspect the Anglo-Saxon warlord's grave.

Cool Finds

Newly Unearthed Warrior’s Grave Poised to Redraw Map of Anglo-Saxon England

Nicknamed the “Marlow Warlord,” the six-foot-tall man was buried on a hill overlooking the Thames sometime in the sixth century A.D.

This Maliwawa Figure shows a kangaroo or similar animal.

New Research

Newly Documented Aboriginal Rock Art Is ‘Unlike Anything Seen Before’

The ancient paintings depict close relationships between humans and animals

Ella Fitzgerald performs in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1961.

Cool Finds

Listen to a Lost Ella Fitzgerald Recording

In 1962, the singer returned to Berlin to reprise a famous 1960 concert. The tapes were forgotten—until now

Bruce Crane, A Winter Sunset c.1880s (top) and Edward Hopper, Old Ice Pond at Nyack, c.1897 (bottom)

Some of Edward Hopper’s Earliest Paintings Are Copies of Other Artists’ Work

Curator Kim Conaty says a new study “cuts straight through the widely held perception of Hopper as an American original”

A 15-year study of scans taken in 2004 revealed unseen details, including a hairpin.

Art Meets Science

Is There a Hidden Drawing Beneath the ‘Mona Lisa’?

Newly detailed high-resolution scans show traces of a charcoal underdrawing

Dionysus is the Greco-Roman god of wine, ecstasy and theater.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists in Turkey Unearth 2,400-Year-Old Dionysus Mask

The terracotta likeness was likely used in rituals associated with winemaking

This book, printed in 1634, contains what may be the first Shakespeare play to reach Spain.

Cool Finds

Rare Edition of Shakespeare’s Last Play Found in Spanish Library

The dusty volume may be the first copy of the Bard’s dramatic works to circulate on Spanish soil

Archaeologists unearthed shards of pottery, wine jugs, floor tiles and traces of crops, among other artifacts.

Cool Finds

Sourdough Bread Oven, ‘Air Freshener’ Found at Medieval Irish Monastery

During the 13th century, French monks created a Cistercian community at Beamore in County Meath

One of the 14 sealed coffins found at the Saqqara necropolis

Cool Finds

Trove of 27 Sealed Sarcophagi Unearthed in Egypt

Authorities say the 2,500-year-old coffins, found during excavations at the Saqqara necropolis, have likely remained unopened for millennia

This illustration depicts a giant planet the size of Jupiter, WD 1856 b. The planet is about seven times larger than the white dwarf star that it orbits every 34 hours.

This Giant Planet Is Orbiting a Dead Star

In a first, NASA astronomers have discovered a planet orbiting a ‘dead’ white dwarf star

Researchers identified seven prehistoric human footprints at Alathar, a dried-up lake bed in Saudi Arabia.

New Research

Human Footprints Found in Saudi Arabia May Be 120,000 Years Old

If confirmed, the footfalls would represent the oldest evidence of Homo sapiens’ presence on the Arabian Peninsula

A newly discovered Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Oulton, England, includes more than 200 graves.

Cool Finds

This Anglo-Saxon Cemetery Is Filled With Corpses’ Ghostly Silhouettes

All that remains of several individuals buried in a 1,400-year-old graveyard are shadowy traces of their skeletons

The Knights Templar constructed the Saint Stanislaus chapel in the Polish village of Chwarszczany during the 13th century.

Cool Finds

Crypts, Tunnel Discovered Beneath Knights Templar Chapel in Poland

Last fall, an archaeological investigation revealed tantalizing structures hidden below the 13th-century building

Drone images show the location of a council circle found on an ancestral Wichita site in Kansas.

New Research

Drone Imaging Reveals Pre-Hispanic ‘Great Settlement’ Beneath Kansas Ranch

The 164-foot-wide earthwork is the sixth ancestral Wichita “council circle” discovered in the region

Storm Francis uncovered more petrified tree stumps in Wales' Cardigan Bay, 15 miles south of the sunken forest in Borth.

New Section of Petrified Forest Uncovered on Wales Beach After Storm

The petrified forest in Borth appears in a myth written in the oldest surviving Welsh manuscript

This painting depicts the night the Phoenix steamboat caught fire on Lake Champlain.

Cool Finds

Lost Pieces of 19th-Century Steamboat Wreck Found in Vermont

Divers discovered the Phoenix’s hull in 1978, but the vessel’s wheels remained lost—until now

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