Articles tagged as European History

A famous Enlightenment era writer and philosopher, Voltaire made a splash with his first play, Oedipe.

How Voltaire Went from Bastille Prisoner to Famous Playwright

Three hundred years ago this week, the French philosopher and writer began his career with a popular retelling of Sophocles’ ‘Oedipus’

November 20, 2018

Cool Finds

It’s True: Ancient Gauls Embalmed the Severed Heads of Their Enemies

Chemical analysis shows that ancient accounts of the warriors preserving heads using pine resin are accurate

November 12, 2018

Cool Finds

Listen to the Moment the Guns Fell Silent, Ending World War I

A new exhibit at the Imperial War Museum uses seismic data collected during the war to recreate the moment the Armistice went into effect

November 9, 2018

Drawing inspiration from the myth of werewolves, the Nazis inspired real soldiers and civilians to fight at the end of the war.

The Nazi Werewolves Who Terrorized Allied Soldiers at the End of WWII

Though the guerrilla fighters didn’t succeed in slowing the Allied occupation of Germany, they did sow fear wherever they went

October 30, 2018

Halloween

A Brief History of Ireland’s Fortune-Telling Mashed Potato Dish (Recipe)

Try your luck with this side, traditionally served on Halloween

October 26, 2018

Congress approved the government decree to move the fascist dictator from his spot in the civil war mausoleum, but obstacles remain

October 23, 2018

New Research

Europe’s First Dogs Disappeared After Neolithic Farmers Arrived With Their Own Pups

Genetic analysis shows ancient canines from the Near East slowly replaced indigenous dog populations of that period

October 22, 2018

Women who consorted with Nazi soldiers were attacked, shunned and deported after the war

October 19, 2018

Venice, one of the cities most at risk, has already installed submerged floodgates aimed at combating flooding, but it’s one of the few to take such preventative action

Rising Seas Pose Imminent Threat to Dozens of Historical Sites Across the Mediterranean

Venetian canals, Phoenician port city of Tyre and Croatia’s Old City of Dubrovnik are amongst the sites at risk of flooding, erosion

October 17, 2018

General Director Taco Dibbits with "The Night Watch"

You’ll Be Able to Watch Rembrandt’s Most Ambitious Work Be Restored In-Person—or Online

Experts at the Rijksmuseum estimate the process of conserving “The Night Watch” is expected to take several years

October 17, 2018

Radar data pinpoints the remains of the Viking ship

Cool Finds

Rare Viking Ship Burial Found in Norway

Ground-penetrating radar detected the remains of a 66-foot long boat along with the traces other burial mounds and five longhouses

October 16, 2018

Cool Finds

You Thought Modern Life Was Bad. This Neanderthal Child Was Eaten By a Giant Bird

It’s not known if the bird killed the child or scavenged its remains, but finger bones found in Poland show they went through a bird’s digestive tract

October 11, 2018

New Research

Residue of Opium Poppy Found in Bronze Age Juglet

Whether the opium was consumed or used as oil for perfume or for anointing remains unclear

October 5, 2018

The contemporary Wolf Hall manor stands on the same property as the lost 16th-century estate

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Foundations of Wolf Hall, Where Henry VIII Fell for Jane Seymour

The team’s finds include a network of Tudor-era brick sewers, the foundations of two towers and ornate tiles

October 4, 2018

Researchers discovered hnefatafl game pieces made of whale bone in upper- and middle-class Vendel graves.

Viking Chess Pieces May Reveal Early Whale Hunts in Northern Europe

The board game hnefatafl, commonly called Viking chess, pits an attacking player against another trying to defend the king

October 4, 2018

The space, originally designed by priest and mathematician Guarino Guarini, includes a spectacular and intricate wood and marble dome

October 1, 2018

Massive, Awe-Inspiring Sculptures Dot the Former Yugoslavian Countryside

In his new book, photographer Jonathan “Jonk” Jimenez seeks out unique monuments commemorating Yugoslav’s National Liberation Struggle

September 17, 2018

A few pages from the recently digitized codex.

Cool Finds

See Leonardo da Vinci’s Genius Yourself in These Newly Digitized Sketches

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has made ultra high-resolution scans of two codices available online

August 31, 2018

A skull with other bones of a victim's body is classified by anthropologists following an exhumation of a mass grave at the cemetery of Paterna, near Valencia, Spain,

Archaeologists Open One of Many Mass Graves From the Spanish Civil War

The excavation comes amid a push to deal more openly with a difficult chapter of Spain’s history

August 30, 2018

New Research

Climate Change Likely Iced Neanderthals Out Of Existence

Climate records gathered from stalagmites in Romanian caves show two extremely cold dry periods correspond with the disappearance of Neanderthals

August 29, 2018