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Warfare

The quake rocked Kumamoto on the Japanese island of Kyushu.

This 400-Year-Old Impenetrable Japanese Castle That Survived a Samurai Siege Just Crumbled in an Earthquake

In 1877, a force rebelling against Emperor Meiji attacked Kumamoto Castle on Japan’s southern Kyushu island

A Texas man displayed the Civil War-era artifact as a conversation piece for years.

Cool Finds

A Man Used This Civil War Artifact as a Paperweight on His Desk. The Bomb Squad Told Him It Was Actually a Live Explosive

The device turned out to be an artillery shell designed for a Parrott rifle in the mid-1800s. Experts safely detonated it at a firing range near San Antonio

A man discovered the wreckage while picking berries.

Cool Finds

A Man Picking Berries in the Forest in Poland Might Have Stumbled Upon the Wreckage of an Allied Airplane From World War II

Experts are still investigating but note that an earlier discovery nearby identified part of the wing of a British Lancaster bomber

“This wreck is an absolute, untouched monument to 19th-century diplomacy and elite international relations in Europe,” says diver and researcher Pawel Truszynski.

Cool Finds

This Ship Sank in the Baltic Sea With Presents Bound for a Romanov Czar. Its Cargo Included Champagne, Luxury Mineral Water and Rare Meteorites

New research suggests that a shipwreck discovered off the coast of Sweden in 2024 may have been transporting gifts from the German Duchy of Nassau to Alexander II of Russia in the immediate aftermath of the Crimean War

A 1937 photo of Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, the maharaja of Nawanagar

This Indian Maharaja Saved Hundreds of Polish Orphans During World War II, Offering Them Refuge When No One Else Would

Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, ruler of the princely state of Nawanagar, opened his realm to young Poles who had been detained in Soviet labor camps as the children of the intelligentsia

Minted by Carausius, this silver denarius is dated to 287 C.E.

Cool Finds

Railway Construction Reveals a Coin Minted by a Roman Officer Who Proclaimed Himself ‘Emperor of the North’ in Britain 1,700 Years Ago

Archaeologists in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire unearthed a silver denarius bearing the name of Carausius, who ruled the breakaway state of Britannia between 286 and 293

At left, Tatiana, Anastasia and Olga Romanov pose for a photo with their father, Nicholas II, and two members of their retinue. At right, Anastasia kneels at the bottom of a human pyramid topped by the czar.

Thousands of Intimate Photographs Reveal the Everyday Lives of the Romanovs, Russia’s Last Imperial Family

The Bolsheviks executed the last czar, Nicholas II, and the rest of his family, including his famous daughter Anastasia, 108 years ago. Surviving snapshots open a portal into the royals’ private world

Graves of unidentified soldiers who died at the Battle of Camden

DNA Reveals the Identity of a Teenager Who Died in the Revolutionary War, Cracking a Nearly 250-Year-Old Cold Case

John Pumphrey was still a boy when he enlisted in the Continental Army in 1777. After archaeologists discovered his remains, a genetic genealogy analysis identified 20,000 DNA matches for living relatives

Individuals and objects associated with Irish contributions to the American Revolution (clockwise from top left): Surgeon and statesman James McHenry, Quaker spy Lydia Barrington Darragh, Commodore John Barry, a letter written by Irish-born printer John Dunlap, Continental Army officer Stephen Moylan, Pennsylvania politician James Smith, Delaware politician Thomas McKean, and Charles Thomson's proposal for the Great Seal

America's 250th Anniversary

How Tens of Thousands of Irish Immigrants Led the Patriots to Victory During the American Revolution

Soldiers of Irish heritage accounted for up to 50 percent of the Continental Army’s ranks. Driven from their homeland by British oppression, Irish-born rebels also served as spies, politicians and more

A nomad on his horse, from the sixth to seventh century 

Genghis Khan Is Remembered for His Vast Empire and Fearsome Warriors. This Exhibition Explores His Cultural Legacy

The Royal Armouries Museum will show nearly 250 rare artifacts—from saddles to early paper money—that reveal a side of the Mongol Empire that’s often neglected

Mushroom clouds from atomic bombs over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right) 

The Lost Memoir of a Hiroshima Survivor Was Rediscovered. Now, It Will Be Published as a Book and Adapted for Film

Nearly 80 years ago, Kiyoshi Tanimoto documented the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing during World War II. His manuscript was recently found in a U.S. library

An early 20th-century depiction of the Battle of Little Bighorn

A Century and a Half After Custer’s Last Stand, the Battle of Little Bighorn Continues to Mystify

The June 1876 firefight resulted in the deaths of George Armstrong Custer and 267 of his men. Historians continue to debate exactly how the Lakota Sioux and the Northern Cheyenne secured their victory over the U.S. Army

A painting of the Hannah, a Continental schooner that captured a British vessel in September 1775

America's 250th Anniversary

How Angry, Out-of-Work Fishermen Saved the Patriots During the American Revolution

The British punished rebellious New Englanders by depriving them of their livelihood. This led unemployed mariners to enlist in the patriot cause

Archaeologists discovered musket balls thought to have been fired during the Battle of Bunker Hill.

America's 250th Anniversary

In June 1775, the American Patriots Faced Off With the British at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Archaeologists Are Uncovering Evidence of the Fighting 251 Years Later

Researchers discovered gun parts, musket balls and other artifacts in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood

Archaeologists discovered the artifacts on Liberty Hill, a strategic hilltop near Fort Ticonderoga.

America's 250th Anniversary

Archaeologists Unearth Hundreds of Artifacts at Fort Ticonderoga, the Site of America’s First Offensive Victory of the Revolutionary War

The objects were discovered on Liberty Hill, the place where many Continental Army soldiers heard the text of the Declaration of Independence for the first time

The two-wheeled wagon found in the grave is a particularly rare find.

Cool Finds

Construction in Germany Revealed the ‘Princely Grave’ of a Celtic Warrior Who Was Buried With Weapons and a Two-Wheeled Wagon

Archaeologists say the find proves “the previously only assumed presence of a local Celtic elite.” Grave goods also included gold jewelry and a jug imported from modern-day Tuscany

Workers recovered this cannon from the Savannah River in 2022.

Cool Finds

Workers Dredging the Savannah River Stumbled Upon 19 Cannons That Had Been Underwater Since the Revolutionary War

The centuries-old artifacts emerged from the riverbed between 2021 and 2022. Experts spent several years carefully restoring 17 of them, which will make their public debut in a new exhibition

This painting, titled Excelsior, shows Liberty and Justice as allegorical figures. A new exhibition “moves past symbolism to center the real expertise and labor of women who navigated a world of blurred allegiances to help found the United States,” says Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of the New York Historical.

America's 250th Anniversary

During the Revolution, American Women Fought for Freedom, Spied on the British, Cared for the Sick and Fell in Love. A New Exhibition Reveals Their Rich Wartime Stories

Now on view at the New York Historical, “Revolutionary Women” spotlights figures with connections to the state, including a Jewish chocolatier, a Mohawk leader and a woman who disguised herself as a man to enlist in the Continental Army

The USS Herring entered service in 1942 and completed eight war patrols.

This American Submarine Lost During WWII—Along With 83 Crew Members—Has Been Discovered in the Pacific Ocean

The honors-earning USS “Herring” sank in 1944 after taking down Japanese ships

Elisenda of Montcada founded the Royal Monastery of St. Mary of Pedralbes in 1327. She was buried there after her death in 1364.

Archaeologists Excavating a Monastery in Spain Identified the Remains of a 14th-Century Queen—and Multiple Skeletons Buried in the Wrong Graves

The tomb of Elisenda of Montcada has long fascinated experts. But the team was surprised to learn that burials supposedly belonging to a medieval knight and abbess held entirely different individuals

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