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Weapons

Demolition expert Thomas Zowalla after defusing the World War II-era bomb in Dresden

Specialists Carefully Defuse a 550-Pound Bomb in Dresden—Eight Decades After It Fell During World War II

After the ordnance was discovered, 18,000 people were evacuated from the city. Experts worked for several hours to safely dispose of the device

This Late Bronze Age spearhead mold was found in 2007 in a garden in the Czech Republic.

Cool Finds

A Czech Man Used This Stone in His Barn’s Foundations. It Turned Out to Be a Rare Bronze Age Spearhead Mold

The rectangular object dates to around 1350 B.C.E. and was likely created by members of the Central European Urnfield culture

Archaeologists think the cannon may date to the late 17th or 18th century.

Cool Finds

Construction Workers Digging in Northern England Stumble Upon a 2,200-Pound Cannon That May Be More Than 300 Years Old

Crews unearthed the artifact while working on a restoration project at Queen’s Gardens, a public park that was once the largest dock in the United Kingdom

The gun is now part of a permanent exhibition about TIll at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson.

Traveling Along the U.S. Civil Rights Trail

The Gun Linked to Emmett Till’s Murder Is Now on Display at a Museum in Mississippi

The weapon is thought to have belonged to J.W. Milam, one of the two men who kidnapped, tortured and killed the Black teenager for whistling at a white woman in a grocery store in 1955

This flint arrowhead was found embedded in a human rib at the Roc de les Orenetes site in northeastern Spain.

An Archer Shot This Bronze Age Human in the Back. 4,000 Years Later, the Arrow Is Still Embedded in the Victim’s Rib Bone

The attack took place during a period of conflict between groups living in the Pyrenees mountains in modern-day Spain

Archaeologists found the battlefield on private land a few miles away from Fort Ligonier in Pennsylvania.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Site Where George Washington Stopped a Friendly Fire Incident by Blocking Muskets With His Sword

In 1758, during the French and Indian War, the future president saved lives by stepping into the middle of a deadly skirmish in Pennsylvania

A romanticized 1975 depiction of Daniel Morgan's riflemen at the Battle of Bemis Heights in Saratoga, New York, on October 7, 1777

America's 250th Anniversary

How a Relentless, 484-Mile March From Virginia to Massachusetts Fueled the Legend of the Dashing Frontier Rifleman

In the early months of the American Revolution, Daniel Morgan and his soldiers raced north to join the Continental Army during the so-called Beeline March

The sword's hilt is made up of a six-and-a-half-inch guard, once-leather grip and nut-shaped pommel.

Cool Finds

This Medieval Sword Pulled From a Dutch Riverbed Is Marked With Intricate Copper Symbols

The artifact was remarkably preserved for a millennium in anaerobic clay on a private estate near the city of Montfoort

Both the sword and the sheath are made from some of the most valuable materials from Napoleon's era.

The Ornate Sword That Napoleon Commissioned During His Rise to Power Is Heading to Auction

Prior to his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, the French ruler gave the saber to one of his most trusted generals, whose family kept it for generations

The shorter sword was decorated with polished gems, two of which were carved with swastikas.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth 2,300-Year-Old Sword Decorated With Two Small Swastikas in a Celtic Necropolis

Found in France, the site featured more than 100 graves filled with ancient metal artifacts—including bracelets, brooches and two well-preserved swords

The antler fragment seen from multiple angles

New Research

This Intricately Decorated Deer Antler Was Used as a Battle Ax Before Being Repurposed as a Fishing Harpoon

During the sixth millennium B.C.E., carvers in present-day Sweden etched patterns into the artifact before redecorating it in a new style. It was likely deposited into a river as part of a ritual

Ronin the African giant pouched rat is one of more than 100 rats trained by a Belgian nonprofit to sniff out deadly land mines.

Super-Sniffing Rat Sets a New World Record for Discovering Deadly Land Mines—and He’s Just Getting Started

Ronin, a 5-year-old African giant pouched rat, has found 109 land mines and 15 other unexploded ordnances in Cambodia

Archaeologists recovered an assortment of artifacts from the San Esteban Rockshelter in western Texas, including dart tips, portions of a spear and an animal hide.

Archaeologists Uncover a ‘Monumental’ Hunting Kit in Texas That May Be the Oldest Found in North America Yet

The artifacts discovered in a cave—which include dart tips, a boomerang and a spear-throwing tool—were dated to as far back as 7,000 years ago

Archaeologists suspect that as many as 150 individuals may be buried at the site.

Mass Grave From Roman-Era Battle Discovered Beneath a Soccer Field in Vienna

Archaeologists think that as many as 150 individuals may have been hastily buried at the site, likely after a “catastrophic” military event

Jacek Ukowski and Katarzyna Herdzik, the metal detectorists who discovered the dagger

Cool Finds

Metal Detectorists Unearth Ancient Dagger Decorated With Tiny Stars, Crescent Moons and Geometric Patterns

Found at a beach in northern Poland, the nearly ten-inch-long artifact could be up to 2,500 years old. It had been lodged inside a lump of clay

Silas Deane, left, worked with Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, center, to secure gunpowder from Antoine Lavoisier, right. 

America's 250th Anniversary

How an American Merchant, a French Official and a Pioneering Chemist Smuggled Much-Needed Gunpowder to the Continental Army

The trio’s scheming became a crucial element of the fledgling nation’s success in the Revolutionary War

The double-edged sword was deliberately broken into three pieces.

Cool Finds

Metal Detectorists Stumble Upon a Rare 2,000-Year-Old Roman Sword in Poland

Researchers think the weapon, which had been deliberately broken and burned, was once part of a funerary ritual for a local warrior

X-ray images of the neck and cheek guards from a Roman helmet discovered at Løsning Søndermark

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover a Stash of 1,500-Year-Old Weapons—Including the Only Known Roman Helmet Ever Found in Denmark

The cache included swords, spears, lances and chainmail. Researchers think these items may have been buried as part of a ceremony or sacrifice

Experts determined that the Japanese hand grenade was inactive.

Staffers Find a Japanese Hand Grenade From World War II at a Museum in Kentucky

After police and the nearby bomb squad investigated to the scene, they announced that the weapon was inactive and safe

The helmet was made in the Corinthian style, though historians don't know whether the style actually originated in Corinth.

You Can Buy a 2,500-Year-Old Corinthian Helmet Worn by a Warrior in Ancient Greece

Experts think the well-preserved bronze artifact was made between 500 and 450 B.C.E. It will be sold at auction on January 25

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