Smart News History & Archaeology

Guests play a throwback "Donkey Kong" game with an oversized controller at the Nintendo Museum.

Nintendo Switches Things Up With a New Museum That Embraces Nostalgia and Celebrates Gaming History

The Kyoto museum will feature interactive exhibits, gaming artifacts, workshop spaces and oversized controllers inspired by iconic video games

Underwater photos revealed the John Evenson's giant propeller.

This Shipwreck's Location Was a Mystery for 129 Years. Then, Two Men Found It Just Minutes Into a Three-Day Search

The "John Evenson" tugboat was helping another ship enter the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal in Wisconsin when it sank to the bottom of Lake Michigan in 1895

The Prometheus tree once stood in this grove on a mountain in Nevada.

How One Researcher Accidentally Killed One of the Oldest Trees in the World

In 1964, a graduate student cut down a bristlecone pine in Nevada. The tree, now known as Prometheus, turned out to be nearly 5,000 years old

Born in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln rose to the presidency in 1861.

Explore Abraham Lincoln's Life and Legacy Through Rare Copies of Historic Books and Documents

A new exhibition in New York City uses more than 200 texts and artifacts to contemplate Lincoln's rise to the nation's highest office

These ornate ear studs from the kingdom of Tabanan were among the 288 artifacts returned to Indonesia.

The Netherlands Has Returned 288 Stolen Artifacts to Indonesia

The Dutch seized the majority of the items in the aftermath of a brutal 1906 conflict that killed an estimated 1,000 Balinese

The chunks of cheese were found alongside ancient mummies in China in 2003.

New Research

The World's Oldest Cheese Was Buried in a Chinese Tomb 3,600 Years Ago. Now, Scientists Have Sequenced Its DNA

New research has revealed that the mysterious white substance found alongside three ancient mummies was once a soft cheese called kefir

Lines from tire tracks can be seen running through historic geoglyphs in the Atacama Desert.

Off-Road Drivers Are Destroying Ancient Artworks Stretching Across Chile's Deserts

As hundreds of motorists take to the desert, their tracks damage the massive geoglyphs made by Indigenous groups in northern Chile

James Fitzjames was a captain aboard the HMS Erebus. Now, researchers have identified his remains with DNA analysis.

DNA Reveals Identity of Officer on the Lost Franklin Expedition—and His Remains Show Signs of Cannibalism

Researchers recently identified James Fitzjames, a captain on the ill-fated HMS Erebus that went looking for the Northwest Passage in 1845

Some human bones, including this skull, found at the Tollense Valley battlefield were pierced with arrowheads.

New Research

These 3,000-Year-Old Arrowheads Are Pivotal Clues in the Mystery of 'Europe's Oldest Known Battlefield'

While no written records exist, new research has illuminated key details of the battle fought in northern Germany during the 13th century B.C.E.

The 200-year-old message was found inside a glass salt bottle.

Cool Finds

Students Stumble Upon a Message in a Bottle Written by a French Archaeologist 200 Years Ago

The mysterious missive was written by P.J. Féret, who conducted an archaeological dig at the same site in northern France in 1825

More than 650,000 people visit Kuwohi at Great Smoky Mountains National Park each year. The summit is topped by an observation tower accessible via a paved path.

The Highest Peak in Great Smoky Mountains National Park Will Now Be Called by Its Cherokee Name

In 1858, the mountain was named for a Confederate general. Now, it will once again be known as "Kuwohi"

The black "marble" tombstone is made of limestone that likely came from Belgium.

America's Oldest Surviving Tombstone Probably Came From Belgium

Researchers analyzed tiny fossils embedded in the limestone to determine the age and origins of the grave maker, which marked the final resting place of a prominent Jamestown colonist

Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick so angered authorities that they shut it down after just four days.

On This Day in History

Why the Debut Issue of America's First Newspaper Was Also the Publication's Last

On this day in 1690, "Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick" attracted colonial officials' ire by repeating a scandalous rumor and condemning a British alliance with the Mohawk

An artist imagines what Globidens alabamaensis would have looked like when present-day Texas was still submerged.

Rare Jaw Fossils Discovered in Texas Shed Light on a 20-Foot-Long Mosasaur

Unearthed last year, the remains could reveal new information on the extinct sea reptile, which crushed mollusks and shelled creatures with its large, round teeth

The researchers' A.I. model can spot geoglyphs' outlines 20 times faster than humans.

Cool Finds

See Newly Discovered Nazca Drawings That Depict Llamas, Human Sacrifices and More

An A.I.-assisted study identified 303 previously unknown geoglyphs in the Peruvian desert. The art features surprising figures, like orcas holding knives

The previously unknown composition was discovered in the collections of Leipzig Municipal Libraries in Germany.

Cool Finds

This Lost Mozart Composition Hasn't Been Heard for Centuries. Now, You Can Listen to It

More than 250 years after a teenage Mozart wrote "Serenade in C," a copy of the piece has surfaced in the collections of a German library

After inheriting the flag from his grandfather, Scott Stein decided to return it to the descendants of its original owner.

A Japanese Soldier's Son Receives a Memento of His Father, Who Was Killed During World War II

The so-called good-luck flag, which hung on an American veteran's wall for many years, returned home last month after nearly eight decades

Visitors touring the Galeón Andalucía in the town of Ramsgate, England, earlier this year

You Can Climb Aboard a Massive Reproduction of a 17th-Century Spanish Galleon That's Sailing Around the World

The Galeón Andalucía, which is now making its way to London, was designed to resemble the armed merchant vessels manufactured by Spain and Portugal between the 16th and 18th centuries

The Horned Serpent Panel, painted by the San people in southern Africa, shows a mysterious creature's tusks in blue at the upper right.

Remarkable 200-Year-Old Rock Painting May Depict a Strange Animal That Went Extinct 250 Million Years Ago

The Horned Serpent Panel from southern Africa predates the first Western scientific description of the dicynodont, a large mammal ancestor with tusks, by at least a decade

The temple walls' reliefs were restored to reveal colorful paint that decorated carvings of Egyptian gods.

See an Ancient Egyptian Temple's Brilliant Colors, Newly Revealed Beneath Layers of Dust and Soot

Experts are carefully uncovering traces of the original paint and fragments of gold leaf that once adorned the 2,000-year-old Temple of Edfu

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