Weapons

Eight-year-old Elise found the dagger tucked in a pile of stones in the school yard.

Cool Finds

Eight-Year-Old Norwegian Girl Discovers Neolithic Dagger at School Playground

The 3,700-year-old tool is made of flint, a material that doesn't occur naturally in the Scandinavian country

Lego Caveman comes armed with a toy wooden club.

Did Our Ancestors Actually Wield Clubs?

Inspired by pop culture depictions of cavepeople, an archaeologist searches for what is real and what is a myth

Archaeologists created replica stone points, then experimented with them by firing them at a goat carcass using different methods.

Cool Finds

Archery May Have Arrived in Europe Thousands of Years Earlier Than Thought

New archaeological research suggests Homo sapiens used bows and arrows 54,000 years ago in present-day France

The seven-inch artillery shell found at Gettysburg National Military Park

160-Year-Old Civil War Artillery Shell Found at Gettysburg

After clearing the area, park officials sent experts to safely detonate the object

The dako sword found at Tomio Maruyama

Cool Finds

Seven-Foot Sword Unearthed From 1,600-Year-Old Burial Mound in Japan

Archaeologists think the artifact was used to protect against evil after death

Archaeological artifacts as well as bone fragments up to 5,000 years old were discovered at two Spanish homes.

Police Discover Hundreds of Stolen Artifacts at Two Spanish Residences

The collection includes bones, Paleolithic tools, an ancient Roman loom and more

Microwear traces on a Bronze Age tool used for smoothing or polishing

New Research

Unearthed Near Stonehenge, This Toolkit Was Used for Goldwork 4,000 Years Ago

The toolkit was discovered in 1801—but until recently, researchers didn't understand its purpose

J. Robert Oppenheimer led the Manhattan Project, a mission to develop nuclear weapons during World War II.

U.S. Reverses 1954 Removal of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Security Clearance

The “father of the atomic bomb” was accused of being a communist

Environmental investigators found radioactive waste in samples taken from the playground of Jana Elementary School.

Radioactive Waste Found on Missouri Elementary School Grounds

The contaminants can be traced back to World War II's Manhattan Project

NATO troops from a battalion based in Fort Hood, Texas, train in Germany in September 1983, two months before the Able Archer 83 drill.

The 1983 Military Drill That Nearly Sparked Nuclear War With the Soviets

Fearful that the Able Archer 83 exercise was a cover for a NATO nuclear strike, the U.S.S.R. readied its own weapons for launch

A Long Island family sits in a "Kidde Kokoon" underground bomb shelter in 1955.

Digging Up the History of the Nuclear Fallout Shelter

For 75 years, images of bunker life have reflected the shifting optimism, anxieties and cynicism of the Atomic Age

Three spears have returned to southeastern Australia for the first time and are being displayed at the University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum.

Captain Cook and His Crew Stole These Spears. Centuries Later, They're Finally Back in Sydney

The artifacts are on display alongside modern spears created by the descendants of the Indigenous Dharawal people

Researchers unearthed 10-pound Civil War artillery shell at a national park in Georgia in February. Local authorities say they plan to safely detonate the bomb—a decision that angered some historians arguing for the artifact's preservation. 

Cool Finds

Unexploded Civil War Shell Unearthed in Georgia

Local authorities plan to safely detonate the ordnance, potentially destroying it in the process. The decision has sparked controversy among history buffs

Chalcidian helmets such as this one were often worn by ancient Greek warriors.

Cool Finds

These Ancient Greek Helmets Tell of a Naval Battle 2,500 Years Ago

Archaeologists in southern Italy discovered the headgear along with pottery, fragments and a shield near the likely remains of a temple to goddess Athena

Archaeologists have identified a rare ninth-century Viking sword discovered at a burial site on one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland.

Cool Finds

Rare Viking Sword Discovered in Grave on Scottish Island

The weapon is covered in rust and dirt, but a new X-ray analysis suggests it once boasted rich decorations

Inlaid with silver and brass, the ancient Roman dagger is in remarkably good condition.

Cool Finds

Amateur Archaeologist in Switzerland Unearths 2,000-Year-Old Roman Dagger

Lucas Schmid's find led to the discovery of hundreds of other ancient artifacts linked to a 15 B.C.E. battle between imperial and Rhaetian forces

The term “Crusade” has always been an anachronism—a way of looking back at complex, often disconnected movements with a wide array of motivations, membership, tactics and results and organizing them into a single coherent theology or identity. Pictured: A 19th-century painting of the 1177 Battle of Montgisard by Charles-Philippe Larivière

The Many Myths of the Term 'Crusader'

Conceptions of the medieval Crusades tend to lump disparate movements together, ignoring the complexity and diversity of these military campaigns

The ivory comb shows gazelle-like animals attempting to escape predators.

Cool Finds

1,500-Year-Old Ivory Beard Comb Found in Grave in Germany

The rare sixth-century grooming tool features intricate carvings of a hunting scene

The timbers of a 500-year-old ship rest on the floor of the Baltic Sea. Scholars and divers are studying the legendary wreck.

An Extraordinary 500-Year-Old Shipwreck Is Rewriting the History of the Age of Discovery

In the frigid Baltic Sea, archaeologists probing the surprisingly well-preserved remains of a revolutionary warship are seeing the era in a new way

A diver discovered the 900-year-old sword in a natural cove off the coast of northern Israel.

Cool Finds

Diver Discovers 900-Year-Old Crusader Sword Off Israel's Coast

The four-foot-long weapon is encrusted in marine organisms but otherwise in "perfect condition"

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