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Death

Elisenda of Montcada founded the Royal Monastery of St. Mary of Pedralbes in 1327. She was buried there after her death in 1364.

Archaeologists Excavating a Monastery in Spain Identified the Remains of a 14th-Century Queen—and Multiple Skeletons Buried in the Wrong Graves

The tomb of Elisenda of Montcada has long fascinated experts. But the team was surprised to learn that burials supposedly belonging to a medieval knight and abbess held entirely different individuals

The mosaic in 2007, before being repaired

The Gouged-Out Testicles of This Bull Mosaic in Italy Are Just Two More Victims of Tourists Abusing Monuments for Luck

It’s common for visitors to touch intimate areas portrayed in artworks, but the phenomenon puts cultural icons at risk

Researchers found evidence of degenerative joint disease, trauma and other health problems.

Whalers Didn’t Just Sing Sea Shanties and Seek Adventure. Proof of Laborers’ Grueling Work Is in Their Skeletons, Buried in the Arctic

Remains buried on Svalbard show the brutal toll whaling took on men in the 17th and 18th centuries. Climate change threatens these kinds of archaeological sites across the Arctic

The exterior of the reconstructed chapel in Historic St. Mary's City, Maryland

Groundbreaking DNA Analysis Identifies 1.3 Million Living Relatives of Colonial Maryland’s Earliest Settlers

Experts compared DNA from 49 skeletons buried in a cemetery in St. Mary’s City to genetic data shared by 11.5 million 23andMe users. They also identified what may be the remains of the colony’s second governor

The Plain of Jars is an archaeological site with thousands of stone jars in Laos.

A Discovered Trove of Bones and Teeth Yields New Clues to the Century-Old Mystery of ‘Death Jars’ in Laos

Scientists found bones of 37 people inside a giant stone jar at one of Southeast Asia’s most puzzling archaeological sites. The find suggests a multigenerational burial practice

Archaeologists discovered the burial in Colchester, a city in Essex, England, which served as the first capital of Roman Britain. 

Cool Finds

A Woman Buried in an Elaborate Roman Coffin With Precious Grave Goods Was ‘Clearly Cherished by Her Family and Her Community,’ Archaeologists Say

A new exhibition in Colchester, England, site of the first capital of Roman Britain, explores the “Lexden Lady” and her collection of treasures

On the day of the Birmingham church bombing—September 15, 1963—white assailants also killed 13-year-old Virgil Ware (left) and 16-year-old Johnny Robinson (right).

Traveling Along the U.S. Civil Rights Trail

The 1963 Birmingham Church Bombing Killed Four Young Black Girls. But They Weren’t the Only Victims of Racial Violence in the City That Day

Hours after the attack, a police officer shot 16-year-old Johnny Robinson in the back. Then, a white teenager mortally injured 13-year-old Virgil Ware as he rode on the handlebars of his brother’s bike

A 19th-century painting of HMS Erebus, one of two ships involved in John Franklin's 1845 expedition to the Arctic

New Research

This Sailor From the Franklin Expedition Died in the Arctic in a Uniform That Didn’t Belong to Him. Now, DNA Has Revealed His Identity

New research has identified four members of the doomed 1845 search for the Northwest Passage, including the owner of a paper-stuffed wallet that has long mystified historians

The funerary practice of pouring gypsum into ancient coffins means that imprints of clothing and bodies remain in burial sites in York, England.

Cool Finds

In the Ancient World, This Pigment Was Worth More Than Gold. Archaeologists Discovered It Buried With Babies in Roman Coffins

A funerary custom in Roman Yorkshire of pouring liquid gypsum over bodies before burial preserved traces of Tyrian purple

A tooth from the Jerash mass grave site

New Research

Dead Bodies Filled a Mass Grave When the First Plague Pandemic Struck This Early Medieval City. New Research Explores the Identity of the Victims

Researchers analyzed isotopes and DNA in the teeth of remains found in a mass grave from the Plague of Justinian, which swept through the Byzantine Empire

The Boyd Family Memorial Window (The Falls) by Tiffany Studios will be auctioned in New York in June.

This Dazzling Tiffany Stained-Glass Window Adorned a Church for More Than a Century. Now It Needs a New Home

The Second Congregational Church of Winsted in Connecticut will auction off the colorful artwork featuring a stunning waterfall and sunset

The Green-House at Green-Wood opened in April.

This New York City Cemetery Restored a Victorian Greenhouse to Welcome Visitors to Its Historic Grounds

Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn grew out of the 19th-century “rural cemetery” movement that transformed graveyards from cramped and dark to sprawling and beautiful

Traffic fatalities increased by about 15 percent on major album release days, according to a new study.

On Major Music Release Days, Stay Extra Vigilant While Driving. Car Crash Deaths Seem to Spike When Top Artists Drop New Albums

A new study found a correlation between big album release days and traffic fatalities. While the research can’t prove the new music caused the accidents, the work hints at a major distractor while driving

The altar was found in Hidalgo, Mexico.

This Millennium-Old Sacrificial Altar in Mexico Belonged to a Civilization That Thrived Before the Aztecs

Surrounded by human skulls, the artifact was uncovered at the site of the Toltec people’s capital in central Mexico ahead of construction of a new railway project

Now part of Dry Tortugas National Park, Fort Jefferson was built starting in 1846.

This Soldier Died of Yellow Fever During a Hurricane 153 Years Ago. Archaeologists Just Found His Grave

George Tupper, a 22-year-old from Massachusetts, was nearly a year into his military service when a yellow fever outbreak struck Fort Jefferson

Archaeologists have discovered at least five seated burials in Dijon, France.

Archaeologists Are Mystified by These 2,000-Year-Old Bodies Found Seated Upright and Facing West in France

Researchers previously discovered 13 sets of human remains buried in a similar manner at the same grave site in Dijon

Ramses' wooden coffin is the centerpiece of the exhibition.

See Ramses II’s Intricately Decorated Coffin and Rare Treasures From His Reign at This New Immersive Exhibition

Now on display in London, “Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold” features 3,000-year-old artifacts alongside virtual reality experiences that transport museumgoers to the 13th century B.C.E.

The illustration depicts the scribe Ramose and a jackal figure that may represent the god Wepwawet.

Cool Finds

The Egyptians Used an Ancient Version of Wite-Out to Correct Their Mistakes on This Papyrus Scroll 3,300 Years Ago

An ancient artist applied a white substance to an illustration of a jackal, slimming down its appearance, according to researchers at the Fitzwilliam Museum in England

This 1804 depiction of Jane McCrea's death cemented a dramatized version of her killing in the public imagination.

America's 250th Anniversary

A Native Soldier Allied With the British Killed a Young White Woman in 1777. Propaganda Transformed Her Into a Martyr of the American Revolution

The patriots weaponized Jane McCrea’s death to demonize their enemies and paint Indigenous people as uniquely violent

Little Foot's skull was distorted and damaged, so researchers spent years digitally reassembling the bones to understand what the individual's face might have looked like 3.67 million years ago.

New Research

See How Scientists Reconstructed the Face of Little Foot, a Human Ancestor Who Lived 3.67 Million Years Ago

For the first time, researchers have digitally reconstructed the facial fragments of the individual, who belonged to the Australopithecus genus

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