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History

Ramesses III and his son in the afterlife

New Research

CT Scan Shows Pharoah Ramesses III Was Murdered by Multiple Assassins

A missing toe reveals that the god-king was killed by more than one plotter

A charred fragment of one of the Herculaneum Scrolls.

New Research

Metallic Ink Discovered in Ancient Scrolls Buried by Mount Vesuvius

New discovery may help researchers read ancient scrolls

This 12,000-year-old city could soon be inundated thanks to a hydroelectric dam.

Trending Today

These Are Europe’s Eight Most Endangered Cultural Landmarks

Unless things change, these historic sites could disappear from the map forever

Much of the bunker looks the same as it did when it was fully functional.

Switzerland

Switzerland’s Historic Bunkers Get a New Lease on Life

As the shadow of war fades, the country’s former fallout shelters now house everything from museums to cheese factories

Detail from King Tut's throne

New Research

New Evidence Shows King Tut’s Tomb May Have Its Own Chamber of Secrets

Scans in the boy-king’s tomb reveal there may be two rooms beyond its walls that contain metal and organic objects

Measuring human skulls in physical anthropology

When Museums Rushed to Fill Their Rooms With Bones

In part fed by discredited and racist theories about race, scientists and amateurs alike looked to human remains to learn more about themselves

Cool Finds

Today’s Google Doodle Celebrates Electronic Music Pioneer Clara Rockmore

The theremin virtuosa would have been 105 years old today

Velvalee Dickinson, suspected spy.

The Spy in the Doll Shop

The FBI was confounded by mysterious letters sent to South America, until they came across New York City proprieter Velvalee Dickinson

The FIFA World Football Museum opened in Zurich, Switzerland on Sunday.

Switzerland

These Five Objects Tell the Story of Soccer

Take an exclusive look inside the new FIFA World Football Museum in Zurich

Portrait of Benjamin Franklin

Ben Franklin Was One-Fifth Revolutionary, Four-Fifths London Intellectual

The enterprising Philadelphian was late to adopt the revolutionary cause, but infused America with English ideals

The Eleanor Roosevelt Monument in Riverside Park, New York, was dedicated at 72nd Street on October 5, 1996.

Cool Finds

It’s Way Too Hard to Find Statues of Notable Women in the U.S.

Only a handful of the country’s sculptures honor women

One hundred and eleven new buildings were constructed in the downtown area between 1931 and 1933. The vast majority took their cues from Art Deco, the era’s cutting-edge architectural trend.

How an Earthquake Turned This New Zealand Town into the Art Deco Capital of the World

Napier turned its tragic past into an architectural wonder

Virtual reality headsets at the 2015 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam allow visitors to view digital reconstructions of artifacts destroyed by ISIS.

The Heroic Effort to Digitally Reconstruct Lost Monuments

Scholars create a virtual archive of antiquities destroyed by extremists in Syria and Iraq

Steve Wozniak’s Apple I Booted Up a Tech Revolution

With only a circuit board, keyboard and tiny, blurry monitor, the circa 1975 computer looks crude by today’s standards

A human-headed winged bull from the eighth century B.C. Assyrian royal palace in Khorsabad. ISIS razed the city’s ruins last year.

The Race to Save Syria’s Archaeological Treasures

The deliberate destruction of antiquities by ISIS and others in the birthplace of human civilization is cultural genocide

Cool Finds

Happy 452nd Birthday, Galileo

The revolutionary who helped shape modern astronomy

Pre Rup Temple rises in the distance as a worker fills a cart during the rice harvest in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia.

Podcast: Farming Shaped the Rise and Fall of Empires in Cambodia

Beneath the country’s troubled history with the Khmer Rouge lies a complex agricultural legacy that reaches back centuries

Cool Finds

Digital Projections Show the Vivid Colors That Once Decorated an Egyptian Temple

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is adding a bright flourish to the Temple of Dendur

Mahmoud Hariri, from the city of Dara'a, is building a replica of the city of Palmyra from clay and wooden skewers.

Cool Finds

Syrian Refugees Are Recreating Demolished Monuments in Miniature

These artists are recapturing the iconic landmarks destroyed by militants

Much more recent tea.

New Research

Archaeologists Find World’s Oldest Tea in the Tomb of a Han Dynasty Emperor

No word on how it tastes, though it probably made a good cup 2,150 years ago

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