Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

History

The lion may have been brought from China in the mid-1260s and modified in Venice between 1270 and 1290.

New Research

Was Venice’s Iconic Winged Lion of St. Mark’s Square Made in Ancient China?

New research suggests that the famous bronze statue may have originally guarded a Chinese tomb before arriving in Venice in the late 13th century

Austen wrote the letter to her older sister on April 11, 1805, from Bath.

A Rare Jane Austen Letter Is Heading to Auction

One of the English novelist’s poems and a first edition of her book “Emma” are also up for grabs during an upcoming Sotheby’s sale

The figurine is a little more than an inch tall.

Cool Finds

Curator Rediscovers Tenth-Century ‘Portrait’ of a Viking With an ‘Unusual, Ornate Hairstyle’

First unearthed in 1797, the small gaming piece was kept in storage at the National Museum of Denmark for more than 200 years until curator Peter Pentz found it

Joseph McNeil speaks about the Woolworth’s sit-in in a 2023 interview.

Joseph McNeil, Member of ‘Greensboro Four’ Who Protested Segregation at Lunch Counters, Dies at 83

McNeil and three other Black freshmen held a famous sit-in at Woolworth’s in 1960, which inspired peaceful protests across the country

Eldarir checked three large suitcases full of artifacts in 2020.

Man Who Tried to Smuggle 600 Looted Ancient Egyptian Artifacts in Three Checked Suitcases Is Going to Prison

Ashraf Omar Eldarir failed to declare the stolen goods when he entered the United States through New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in 2020

Firefighters are still assessing the damage, but several structures were destroyed in Chinese Camp.

Wildfire Sweeps Through Historic California Gold Rush Town Settled by Chinese Miners

Caused by a massive lightning storm, the 6-5 Fire destroyed the post office and several other buildings in the small town of Chinese Camp

Some of the impacted points and bladelets found at Obi-Rakhmat

New Research

Could These 80,000-Year-Old Stones Be the World’s Earliest Known Arrowheads?

A new study suggests that fragments unearthed at an archaeological site in Uzbekistan look like other examples of arrowheads created thousands of years later

The New York Public Library has one of Thomas Jefferson's handwritten copies of the Declaration of Independence in its collection.

America's 250th Anniversary

See Thomas Jefferson’s Handwritten Copy of the Declaration of Independence

The rare document will be on view for just three days at the New York Public Library next year in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary

Every page is stamped with the words "Pearl Harbor" at the top.

Cool Finds

She Found a Tattered Logbook in the Trash. It Turned Out to Be a Rare Record From the 1941 Pearl Harbor Attack

The National Archives has recovered the volume, which includes more than 500 pages of data from March 1941 to June 1942. It had been tucked away in storage for half a century

The James Carruthers was one of a dozen ships that sank during the "White Hurricane" that swept across the Great Lakes in November 1913.

Shipwreck Hunter Finds Large Freighter That Sank in Lake Huron During the ‘White Hurricane’ 112 Years Ago

The 529-foot-long vessel is submerged 190 feet deep, resting upside down on the American side of the lake

The gun is now part of a permanent exhibition about TIll at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson.

Traveling Along the U.S. Civil Rights Trail

The Gun Linked to Emmett Till’s Murder Is Now on Display at a Museum in Mississippi

The weapon is thought to have belonged to J.W. Milam, one of the two men who kidnapped, tortured and killed the Black teenager for whistling at a white woman in a grocery store in 1955

The plaster artifact is about one foot long, seven inches wide and one inch thick.

Cool Finds

This Christian Cross Found in Abu Dhabi Illuminates the Lives of Monks Who Lived 1,400 Years Ago

Researchers discovered the intricately decorated artifact at an archaeological site near a seventh-century C.E. monastery on the island of Sir Bani Yas

Revelers throw tomatoes during the annual Tomatina festival in Buñol on August 27, 2025.

How a Spontaneous Food Fight Became La Tomatina, Spain’s Annual Tomato-Throwing Festival

Thousands of people gathered in a small Spanish town this week for the event, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary

Young people in 1978 skateboarding at Kelvin Wheelies skatepark.

Archaeologists Are Digging Up Scotland’s Very First Outdoor Skatepark

Kelvin Wheelies skatepark, which hosted the country’s first national skateboarding competition, has been buried under rubble for decades

Ahu Tongariki, home to 15 moai statues, is one of Easter Island’s most iconic cultural landmarks.

New Research

Seasonal Waves Could Reach Some of Easter Island’s Massive Moai Statues by 2080, New Study Suggests

Researchers warn that rising sea levels could cause flooding that will endanger the historically significant statues, which were created by the Rapa Nui people between roughly 1300 and 1600 C.E.

Maritime archaeologists confirmed the wreck was the long-lost Frank D. Barker.

A Man Noticed a Strange Shape on Satellite Images. It Turned Out to Be a 138-Year-Old Shipwreck in Lake Michigan

While sailing through a heavy blanket of fog, the “Frank D. Barker” went off course and ran into a limestone outcropping in October 1887

Donald McPherson flew during the United States' Okinawa campaign in Japan.

Last Known Surviving American Ace Pilot From World War II Dies at 103

Donald McPherson shot down five planes in the Pacific theater in the final years of the war, earning him the title of “ace”

A crane lifts an ancient sculpture from Abu Qir Bay near Alexandria, Egypt.

Cool Finds

Ancient Statues Emerge From the Waters Off Egypt’s Coast, Where They’d Been Hiding for Thousands of Years

Several large sculptures were among the trove of artifacts that divers recovered from the waters near Alexandria, Egypt. Officials say the site may have been an extension of the nearby city of Canopus

Some scholars argue that the sprawling medieval tapestry is too fragile to be moved.

French Official Rules That 1,000-Year-Old Bayeux Tapestry Isn’t Too Fragile to Travel to London

The 230-foot-long medieval tapestry is scheduled to go on view at the British Museum next year, but critics worry that transporting the delicate artifact is too risky

Stonehenge at sunset. Construction of the iconic stone circle began around 3000 B.C.E. and continued in several phases.

A Neolithic Cow’s Tooth Helps Point to the Mysterious Origins of Stonehenge’s Iconic Stones

Isotope analysis of a molar from a cow’s jawbone found buried at the monument provides details of the life story of the animal—and how it may relate to the construction of Stonehenge

Page 15 of 127