Death

This picture taken on July 26, 2020 shows a cemetery undergoing demolition amidst ongoing construction at the historic City of the Dead.

Activists Work to Protect Cairo's City of the Dead From Demolition

Historic graves are being moved or destroyed as Egypt builds new roads and bridges

A portrait of Prince Alemayehu in July 1868

Buckingham Palace Refuses to Repatriate Remains of Ethiopian Prince

Taken from his home as a small child, Prince Dejatch Alemayehu died in England at age 18

Tina Turner performing in Illinois in 1987

Women Who Shaped History

Tina Turner, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll, Left an Indelible Mark on Music History

The barrier-breaking singer, who died this week at 83, influenced countless musicians who followed in her footsteps

A close-up view of the Titanic's bow

See the Titanic in Stunning Detail With New 3D Scan

Researchers collected 16 terabytes of data to create the very first full-sized 3D scan of the wreckage

To allay any suspicions, an English colonist took a drink from one container, then surreptitiously offered another filled with poisoned wine to the Powhatans. 

Untold Stories of American History

Was the 1623 Poisoning of 200 Native Americans One of the Continent's First War Crimes?

English colonists claimed they wanted to make peace with the Powhatans, then offered them tainted wine

Bone fractures suggest that structural damage killed the two Pompeii residents.

These Two Ancient Pompeii Victims Died in an Earthquake—Not a Volcanic Eruption

Archaeologists have found the bodies of two men who perished in the days before Mount Vesuvius erupted

Starring Bel Powley as Miep Gies; Joe Cole (of “Peaky Blinders” fame) as her husband, Jan; and Liev Schreiber as Otto, “A Small Light” draws heavily on Gies’ memoir and the showrunners’ original research.

Based on a True Story

'A Small Light' Tells the Story of Miep Gies, Who Hid Anne Frank From the Nazis

The new series dramatizes the risks Gies and other helpers took to protect the Jewish residents of the Secret Annex

“I try not to claim that Washington definitely countenanced” the burning of New York City, says historian Benjamin L. Carp. “However, I do think the evidence is suggestive.”

Untold Stories of American History

Did George Washington Order Rebels to Burn New York City in 1776?

A new book points out that the general was happy when the city burned and expressed regret that more of it was not destroyed during the fire

A diver takes a rubbing of John Greer’s gravestone underwater at Dry Tortugas National Park.

Cool Finds

Quarantine Hospital and Cemetery Found Underwater Off the Coast of Florida

Before it was submerged, a small island was home to 19th-century yellow fever patients

By reading brain waves, researchers found support for the idea that dying people may see their life flashing before their eyes or have out-of-body experiences.

Surging Brain Activity in Dying People May Be a Sign of Near-Death Experiences

Researchers found that two of four comatose patients had brain waves that resembled consciousness after they were taken off life support

Gordon Lightfoot performing in Beverly Hills, California, in 2019

Gordon Lightfoot, Legendary Folk Musician, Dies at 84

The Canadian singer-songwriter is known for hits like "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," "If You Could Read My Mind" and "Early Morning Rain"

Researchers uncovered 50 burials dated to roughly the second century C.E.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Necropolis Near Parisian Train Station

Residents of Lutetia buried their dead at Saint-Jacques between the first and fourth centuries C.E.

A lithograph of the 1870 Great Mississippi Steamboat Race

When Deadly Steamboat Races Enthralled America

In July 1852, the "Henry Clay" caught fire during a contest on the Hudson River, killing an estimated 80 people

An American submarine sank the Montevideo Maru in 1942, causing Australia's largest loss of life at sea.

Searchers Find WWII Ship That Sank With More Than 1,000 Allied POWs Aboard

Unaware that the "Montevideo Maru" was transporting prisoners, an American submarine torpedoed the Japanese ship in 1942

A 1960 portrait of Harry Belafonte 

Harry Belafonte, Groundbreaking Singer, Songwriter and Activist, Dies at 96

A Smithsonian curator reviews Belafonte’s legacy, from breaking racial barriers in the entertainment industry to 70 years of civil rights activism

Excavations at Oaklawn Cemetery in downtown Tulsa have revealed 62 unmarked graves, some of which may be linked to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

New DNA Analysis Could Help Identify Victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre

Experts have linked six genetic profiles sequenced from exhumed remains to 19 potential surnames in seven states

The C.F. Curtis was one of three ships, all owned by Hines Lumber Company, that sank in 1914.

Two 100-Year-Old Shipwrecks Found in Lake Superior

Both vessels sank during a storm in November 1914—but a third is still missing

An etching of Black families gathering the dead after the Colfax Massacre published in Harper's Weekly, May 10, 1873

Trending Today

The 1873 Colfax Massacre Set Back the Reconstruction Era

Occuring 150 years ago, one of the worst incidents of racial violence after the Civil War set the stage for segregation

Archaeologists unearthed the foundation of the original 1818 church.

DNA Evidence Sheds Light on One of America's Oldest Black Churches

New research links human remains in Williamsburg, Virginia, to the first permanent building of the First Baptist Church

The hair strands were found inside decorative tubes.

New Research

Ancient Europeans Took Hallucinogenic Drugs 3,000 Years Ago

Hair strands from the Bronze Age reveal the first direct evidence of drug use in Europe

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