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History

The Bayeux Tapestry, an 11th-century masterpiece of medieval embroidery, famously narrates the events leading up to and including the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.

New Research

Archaeologists Say They’ve Located Harold II’s Lost Manor House

A latrine found in Bosham, England, has helped identify the location of the king’s long-lost residence, offering new insights into medieval life before the Norman Conquest

The 315-page police docket from 1904 is bound in red leather with gold accents.

Rooted in the American West: Food, History and Culture

This 120-Year-Old Police Docket Documented Crimes Like Reckless Horse Riding

Discovered in a thrift store, the historic docket lists incidents that occurred in the town of Casper, Wyoming, in 1904—including “reckless riding [of a horse]” and “keeping a house of prostitution”

The cache pit was discoverd on a hill overlooking the Knik Arm, a thin brach of the Gulf of Alaska.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Rare 1,000-Year-Old Food Storage Pit in Alaska

Initial findings suggest the cache was used to preserve moose and caribou meat in the harsh climate of southeastern Alaska

Ernest Shackleton salutes from the Endurance on August 1, 1914, when the ship set sail from London on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Ernest Shackleton’s Famous Job Ad, ‘Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey,’ Is Probably a Myth

Citizen historians have spent decades searching for the original text of Shackleton’s advertisement. Now, some say it might never have existed

Nepal is raising the fee for the first time in about a decade.

The Price to Climb Mount Everest Will Rise to $15,000 This Year

Foreign climbers who want to try reaching the top of the 29,032-foot-tall peak will face higher permit fees in Nepal starting in September

Seals with the signs and symbols of the Indus Valley civilization are waiting to be deciphered.

Officials Are Offering $1 Million to Anyone Who Can Decode This Ancient Script

The enigmatic Indus Valley civilization left behind a script that today’s historians haven’t yet deciphered. While amateur theories abound, scholars are increasingly relying on computer science to crack the code

 French President Emmanuel Macron announced the move this week.

The ‘Mona Lisa’ Is Moving to a Room of Her Own at the Louvre

As part of a massive renovation, the Leonardo da Vinci portrait will get its own gallery space accessible from a separate entrance

The coins are marked with the faces of nine Roman emperors.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover 141 Ancient Gold Coins Depicting Nine Roman Emperors in Luxembourg

Three of the coins are particularly rare: They portray Eugenius, an illegitimate emperor who reigned for just two years in the late fourth century C.E.

The spike is inscribed, "Presented to Col. Frederick Mears by the city of Anchorage in commemoration of the building of the Alaska Railroad 1915-1923."

The Alaska Railroad’s Golden Spike Hammered in by President Harding Will Return to Its Home State

The spike’s installation marked the completion of the Alaska Railroad in 1923. It’s spent most of the time since then in the hands of private owners

The tokens are roughly the size of a half-dollar coin and feature markings etched into their surfaces.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Tokens That Roman Soldiers Used to Play Strategy Games

The lentil-shaped objects were unearthed in Hadrianopolis, an ancient city in modern-day Turkey, that once hosted a Roman fortress

The marble head dates to Egypt's Ptolemaic period (305 to 30 B.C.E.), but it was found in a seventh-century C.E. house.

Cool Finds

See the Haunting Stone Face of a Ptolemaic Statue Unearthed Near the Ancient Egyptian City of Alexandria

The statue was found at Taposiris Magna, an archaeological site where some researchers suspect Cleopatra and Mark Antony are entombed

The golden helmet of Coțofenești at the Drents Museum

Art Thieves Blew Up a Dutch Museum’s Door to Steal an Ancient Golden Helmet From Romania

The blast took place in the middle of the night, allowing the burglars to abscond with four valuable objects connected to Romania’s cultural heritage

Experts determined that the Japanese hand grenade was inactive.

Staffers Find a Japanese Hand Grenade From World War II at a Museum in Kentucky

After police and the nearby bomb squad investigated to the scene, they announced that the weapon was inactive and safe

Researchers from the the Polytechnic University of Milan are mapping the castle's subterranean structures.

Cool Finds

Secret Passageways Recorded in Leonardo da Vinci’s Sketches Discovered Beneath a Medieval Castle in Milan

Using ground-penetrating radar and laser scanners, researchers identified subterranean structures just a few feet below the ground. The pathways may connect Sforza Castle to a nearby basilica

Researchers discovered 614 stone plaques and fragments at Vasagård West, an archaeological site on the Danish island of Bornholm.

New Research

Neolithic Farmers May Have Buried These Mysterious Stones to Bring Back the Sun After a Volcanic Eruption

Using ice core samples, researchers linked a natural disaster with a trove of nearly 5,000-year-old artifacts discovered at an archaeological site in Denmark

The gold medal still has its original ribbon and leather case.

This Rare Gold Medal From the 1904 Olympics Sold for More Than $500,000

The artifact, from the first Games held in the United States, reaped the third-highest price ever fetched for an Olympic medal at auction

The helmet was made in the Corinthian style, though historians don't know whether the style actually originated in Corinth.

You Can Buy a 2,500-Year-Old Corinthian Helmet Worn by a Warrior in Ancient Greece

Experts think the well-preserved bronze artifact was made between 500 and 450 B.C.E. It will be sold at auction on January 25

This copy of the Declaration was printed by Robert Luist Fowle of New Hampshire.

This Rare Printing of the Declaration of Independence Could Sell for $4 Million

Made by a printer in New Hampshire, this 1776 broadside edition was created to disseminate America’s founding document to the public

An elite resident of Pompeii used these baths to entertain guests.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists in Pompeii Discover Private Spa Where Dozens of Guests Bathed in Luxury 2,000 Years Ago

The well-preserved thermal bath complex was unearthed at a lavish home likely owned by a member of the ancient city’s elite

The exhibition includes a re-creation of Mount Vesuvius' eruption in 79 C.E.

What Was Life Like in Pompeii Before Mount Vesuvius Erupted Nearly 2,000 Years Ago?

An immersive new exhibition in Australia uses artifacts, sounds and projections to recreate the ancient Roman city

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