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Weapons

A modern-day view of Stirling Castle, the Scottish stronghold where the skeleton was found in 1997

A Medieval Man’s Injuries Reminded One Archaeologist of Modern-Day Car Crash Victims. They Turned Out to Be the Work of an English Trebuchet

A skeleton unearthed in Scotland likely belongs to a soldier struck by a high-speed projectile during Edward I’s 1304 siege of Stirling Castle. The man suffered more than 160 fractures

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

The bronze sword measures nearly two feet long.

Cool Finds

A Man Unearthed a Mysterious Metal Object Sticking Straight Up From the Ground. It Turned Out to Be a 2,700-Year-Old Sword

Marcin Wiśniewski found the weapon while metal detecting in a forest near the Polish city of Gdańsk. Experts told him that it likely dates to between 900 and 700 B.C.E.

The five cannonballs ranged in size from grapefruit to cherry.

TSA Officers Found Five Cannonballs Stolen From a Civil War Fort in a Checked Suitcase at an Alabama Airport

The inert artifacts gave security officers in Gulf Shores a good scare. Investigators say the weapons came from Fort Morgan, which guards Mobile Bay

The secret listeners recorded conversations onto acetate discs.

British Intelligence Turned This Mansion Into a Bugged Spy Trap for Nazi Prisoners of War During World War II

Visitors can now tour the house, where German generals relaxed and gabbed upstairs while Jewish refugees working as spies and translators for the British government listened in from the basement

Located on the River Thames in London, the Tower of London has stood for nearly 1,000 years.

The Tower of London Plans to Turn Its Moat Into a ‘Green Classroom’ and Show Off Its Architecture Archives in a Major Renovation

The landmark, nearly a millennium old, has housed kings, hosted royal executions and safeguarded Britain’s crown jewels. New education centers aim to invite more people to learn about that history

Princess Ita was buried with this dagger.

Did These Ancient Egyptian Princesses Wield Weapons and Train in Martial Arts, Just Like the Men of Their Time?

A new analysis of their bones suggests they were buried alongside arrows, maces and daggers because they had repeatedly used those weapons in life

Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber and severed hand set a new record. 

Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber and Severed Hand From Famed Darth Vader Duel Sold For a Record $3.75 Million at Auction

The item, which became the most-valued on-screen Star Wars prop ever sold at auction, was born from cast-off parts from a camera shop

Researchers found evidence that the wound healed.

Roughly 100,000 Years Ago, This Man Got Stabbed in the Face—and Survived. He’s Likely One of the First Known Victims of an Attack With a Sharp Weapon

Researchers who investigated the remains of a young adult male found in the Qafzeh cave say the injury healed over time, which means the victim’s community may have tended to him

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

A 6-year-old boy found this single-edged sword in a field in southern Norway in April.

Cool Finds

A 6-Year-Old Boy Spotted Something Sticking Out of the Ground in a Field. It Turned Out to Be a Viking Sword

Henrik Refsnes Mørtvedt was on a school field trip when he found the roughly 1,200-year-old weapon. The single-edged blade will now be preserved at an Oslo museum

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

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

The golden artifact, a sword scabbard fitting perhaps belonging to an elite warrior leader 

Cool Finds

A Hiker in Norway Found an Elite Warrior’s Golden Sword Ornament. It Was Likely a Sacrifice to the Gods Made During a Time of Turmoil

Volcanic eruptions, climate change, crop failures, famine and plague all may have swept through Norway in the sixth century C.E., putting pressure on leaders and their communities

Magawa the rat detected unexploded ordnance in Cambodia

A Small Rodent Hero Left a Giant Legacy. Now, Cambodia Honors This Famous Bomb-Sniffing Rat With a Seven-Foot Statue

Magawa the African giant pouched rat cleared more 1.5 million square feet of land mines during his five-year career, making him one of the most successful bomb-sniffing rodents in the country’s history

This rendering shows what a polybolos might have looked like aimed at Pompeii's northern city walls.

Long Before Machine Guns, Ancient Roman Troops Used This 2,000-Year-Old Rapid-Fire Weapon in Pompeii, New Research Suggests

Ancient Roman forces may have used the polybolos to quell a rebellion at Pompeii in 89 B.C.E. The unique weapon was likely developed by a Greek engineer centuries earlier

The sling bullet measures just over an inch long.

New Research

Why Was This 2,000-Year-Old Sling Bullet Inscribed With the Word ‘Learn’?

The artifact is the first sling bullet of its kind unearthed at the ancient city of Hippos, though archaeologists have found dozens of other examples without inscriptions at the site

The three-foot-long iron sword is covered in sediment and shells.

Cool Finds

This Diver Stumbled Upon a Centuries-Old Sword Beneath the Mediterranean Sea. Years Later, He Found Another One Nearby

Shlomi Katzin, who unearthed a 900-year-old sword in 2021, recently discovered a similar artifact jutting out of the seabed off the coast of Israel

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