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Cultural Heritage

Underwater archaeologists recovered 30 wooden poles used as supports for prehistoric pile dwellings.

Cool Finds

3,000-Year-Old Submerged Settlement Discovered in Switzerland

Traces of a prehistoric pile dwelling suggest humans inhabited the Lake Lucerne area 2,000 years earlier than previously thought

This plaque depicts musicians, a page holding a ceremonial sword and a high-ranking warrior. It numbers among the thousands of works looted by British forces during an 1897 raid of Benin City.

Germany Will Return Benin Bronzes to Nigeria in 2022

Culture Minister Monika Grütters describes the move as a “historic milestone”

Restoration work on the western facade of the Parthenon in 2015

Why Proposed Renovations to Greece’s Acropolis Are So Controversial

Scholars voiced concern about planned aesthetic changes and a lack of adequate accessibility measures for people with disabilities

Yeondeunghoe is the Korean celebration of the Buddha’s birthday.

Ten Cultural Experiences to Put on Your Post-Pandemic Bucket List

From a lantern festival in Korea to camel racing in Oman, these traditions have us dreaming of future travel

Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze at the University of Cape Town's Jagger Reading Room on April 18.

Why the Cape Town Fire Is a Devastating Loss for South African Cultural Heritage

The inferno destroyed much of the University of Cape Town’s special collections, including rare books, films, photographs and records

The trove of smuggled artifacts included stone arrowheads, knives and other tools.

U.S. Authorities Return 523 Smuggled Pre-Hispanic Artifacts to Mexico

Investigators seized the cache of illegally imported objects in 2016

Los Angeles-based architect Michael Maltzan's design is reminiscent of a sun-sculpted ice formation.

Groundbreaking New Center Unveils World’s Largest Collection of Inuit Art

More than 20,000 works from artists across the Canadian Arctic are on display at Qaumajuq, a new museum-within-a-museum at the Winnipeg Art Gallery

“[The ring's] sentiment reflects the high mortality of the period, the motif and inscription acknowledging the brevity and vanities of life,” says scholar Mark Redknap.

Cool Finds

Trove of Treasures, From Gold Skull Ring to Tudor Coins, Unearthed in Wales

The macabre jewelry is a unique example of “memento mori” art, which aimed to remind viewers of their mortality

Workers felling 150-year-old oak trees in the Villefermoy forest, near Echouboulains, France, on March 15. The wood will eventually used to reconstruct Notre-Dame Cathedral's roof and spire.

Hundreds of Centuries-Old Trees Felled to Rebuild Notre-Dame’s Iconic Spire

French authorities cut down some 1,000 historic oaks as part of the Paris cathedral’s ambitious reconstruction process

Artists Roderick and Rozell Sykes founded St. Elmo Village, a creative enclave that could become a Los Angeles historic landmark, in 1969.

How Los Angeles Plans to Preserve the City’s Black Cultural Heritage

Just 3 percent of L.A.’s historic landmarks commemorate African American history. A new three-year project hopes to change that

The William F. Winter Archives and History Building in Jackson, Mississippi

Mississippi Returns Hundreds of Native Americans’ Remains to Chickasaw Nation

Decades after their bones were placed in storage, the state has repatriated the remains of 403 Indigenous ancestors

Wildlife often reclaims areas deemed uninhabitable for humans, such as Nomans Land, Massachusetts, which was once a US Navy testing site.

This Uninhabited Island Off of Massachusetts Is Littered With Bombs

Whether wildlife refuge, research destination or restored traditional homeland, the fate of Nomans Land is up for debate

Rioters enter the U.S. Capitol's rotunda as chemical irritants fill the corridor on January 6, 2021.

History of Now

Curators Seek $25,000 to Repair Artworks Damaged in U.S. Capitol Attack

Rioters vandalized six sculptures and two paintings, in addition to smashing windows, breaking furniture and spraying graffiti

A crew in Richmond, Virginia, removes a statue of Confederate naval officer Matthew Fontaine Maury on July 2, 2020.

The U.S. Removed Over 160 Confederate Symbols in 2020—but Hundreds Remain

Following mass protests against racial injustice, watchdog group records new push to remove racist monuments from public spaces

Chinchero is an agrarian town about 45-minutes outside of Cusco known for its striking landscape of snow-capped mountains and lagoons connected by a system of wetlands, as well as its Inca ruins and famous Sunday market.

The Uphill Battle to Stop Peru From Building a New Airport Near Machu Picchu

Opinions are divided in the agrarian town of Chinchero, where the airport is slated to open in 2025

A woman reaches for a copy of Life on a New York City newsstand in 1936.

How Magazines Helped Shape American History

Explore 300 years of the periodical in an encyclopedic exhibition opening at the Grolier Club in New York City

Engineers concluded that the museum building (above: the Assyrian Hall in February 2019) was structurally sound and could be repaired. But much work would need to be done.

Iraq’s Cultural Museum in Mosul Is on the Road to Recovery

The arduous process, says the Smithsonian’s Richard Kurin, is “a victory over violent extremism”

Researchers discovered 29 graves at the original site of the North Greenwood Cemetery, which operated in Clearwater, Florida, between 1940 and 1954. Pictured: An aerial view of Clearwater, circa 1930–45

Florida Archaeologists Find 29 Unmarked Graves at Site of Razed Black Cemetery

Authorities moved the historically African American burial ground to make way for a high school and city pool in the 1950s

All over New Orleans, thousands of "house floats" were decorated in lieu of parade floats amid the paradeless 2021 Mardi Gras celebrations.

A Mardi Gras Like No Other Seeks to Bring New Orleans Together—From a Distance

The carnival season holds the possibility for renewal during the Covid-19 pandemic

Archaeologists are conducting excavations ahead of a controversial tunnel plan set to move this highway, the busy A303, underground.

Newly Unearthed Bronze Age Graves Underscore Stonehenge Tunnel’s Potential Threat to Heritage

A critic of the controversial project points out that construction could lead to the loss of half a million artifacts

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