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A curatorial assistant found the wood fragments in a misfiled cigar box bearing the image of Egypt's old flag.

Cool Finds

Missing Great Pyramid Artifact Found in Cigar Box in Scotland

The wood fragments—among just three items ever taken from the Giza tomb—date to the fourth millennium B.C.

The portal currently features 613,458 entries documenting the people, events and places involved in the transatlantic slave trade.

Who Were America’s Enslaved? A New Database Humanizes the Names Behind the Numbers

The public website draws connections between existing datasets to piece together fragmentary narratives

The spectacled tyrant (Hymenops perspicillatus) inhabits harsh, dry deserts, which new research suggests tend to produce new species at a higher rate than lush, biodiverse places like the Amazon.

New Research

Earth’s Harshest Ecosystems May Birth New Species Fastest

A genetic study of nearly 1,300 different birds suggests places with fewer species spit out new ones more frequently than biodiversity hotspots

Submissions will be included in an online exhibition, “Reclamation: Recipes, Remedies, and Ritual,” set to open in January 2021.

Your Cherished Family Recipes Could Be Featured in a Museum Exhibition

The National Museum of Women in the Arts is asking the public to share recipes that document unique family histories

The winner (and one guest) will be invited to attend the Mona Lisa's annual inspection—one of the few times the work emerges from behind bullet-proof glass.

How You Could Be One of the Only People in the Room With the ‘Mona Lisa’

A Christie’s auction benefitting the Louvre offers a winning bidder the chance to attend the painting’s annual inspection

The cold and isolation of the Svalbard archipelago helps preserve the Arctic World Archive's contents.

Norway Preserves ‘The Scream’ for Future Generations by Burying Digital Copy in Arctic Coal Mine

The Munch masterpiece joins digitized art and artifacts from more than 15 countries in the “futureproof” Arctic World Archive

Grounded travelers, be thankful for these travel books released in 2020.

Holiday Gift Guide

The Ten Best Books About Travel of 2020

In a year of travel restrictions, these titles helped us channel our wanderlust

Fourteen years ago, a team of commercial fossil hunters discovered a dinosaur pelvis jutting out of a hillside on a private farm in Montana, and their discovery revealed an intertwined T. rex and Triceratops.

The Mystery of the ‘Dueling Dinosaurs’ May Finally Be Solved Now That They’ve Found a Home

The duo is headed to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, where researchers will soon determine whether the fossils were even sparring at all

To keep Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit from degrading, conservators designed a custom mannequin that allows air to circulate inside.

Secretary Lonnie Bunch on the Invisible Work of the Smithsonian’s Conservators

From deep cleaning to painstaking repairs, caring for Smithsonian’s 155 million objects requires serious TLC—and steady hands

Artist's rendering of the Edo Museum of West African Art's exterior

A New Museum of West African Art Will Incorporate the Ruins of Benin City

Designed by architect David Adjaye, the museum will reunite looted artifacts currently housed in Western institutions

A police barrier tape hangs in front of Dresden's Royal Palace, which houses the Green Vault.

Authorities Arrest Three Suspects in $1 Billion Dresden Jewel Heist

Investigators linked the November 2019 burglary to an organized crime syndicate

The photographs document daily life starting in the late 1920s. For additional information on the archive, contact collections@derrystrabane.com.

See Northern Ireland Through the Lens of a Pioneering Woman Archaeologist

Newly digitized photographs by educator and historian Mabel Remington Colhoun cover the 1920s through the 1980s

The National Museum of the United States Army opened on Veteran's Day, November 11, 2020.

A New Museum Delves Into the Complex History of the U.S. Army

The Fort Belvoir institution is the first museum dedicated to interpreting the story of the nation’s oldest military branch

In a typical year, the Columbus Washboard Company in Logan, Ohio, sells about 80,000 washboards.

Only One Factory in the United States Still Makes Washboards, and They Are Flying Off of Shelves

Sales of the antique tools have boosted since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with people wanting to avoid a trip to the laundromat

Left, 19th century visitors view Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851) by Emanuel Leutze; right, 21st- century visitors gaze upon the same work.

Celebrating 150 Years of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

An exhibition and a slate of virtual offerings commemorate the history of the iconic New York City institution

The prolific painter is the subject of a new exhibition in Muncie, Indiana.

Step Into Bob Ross’ Studio With This New, Interactive Experience

An exhibition in Indiana enables art lovers to explore the painter’s refurbished workshop

A KGB spy pistol used by female operatives and designed to look like a tube of lipstick

You Could Own a Lipstick Gun, a Poison-Tipped Umbrella and Other KGB Spy Tools

Next February, Julien’s Auctions will sell some 3,000 items from the shuttered KGB Espionage Museum’s collection

Those who missed the site-specific version of artist Koo Jeong A's density can now conjure it up at home, hovering over the couch or floating over their beds.

Innovation for Good: Game Changers

With Augmented Reality, You Can Now Superimpose Publicly Exhibited Artworks in Your Home

Art institutions are embracing AR during the Covid-19 pandemic—and making art more accessible in the process

Albrecht Dürer, Heksen (Witches), 1497 (left) and Albrecht Dürer, De fire hekse (The Four Witches), 1497 (right)

The Little-Known Story of 16th- to 18th-Century Nordic Witch Trials

An art exhibition in Copenhagen and a museum in Ribe revisit witchcraft’s legacy in Denmark and neighboring countries

Artist's rendering of The Starry Night, as seen in "The Lume" at Newfields

Step Into ‘The Starry Night’ and Other Vincent van Gogh Masterpieces

An upcoming installation at the Newfields museum in Indianapolis will immerse visitors in the Dutch artist’s paintings

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