Stones, Bones, and Wrecks

Drone image above the H.M.S. Erebus shipwreck.

Sunken vessels captivate us. They inspire grief, wonder, romance—and horror. Here are stories of famous ships that went under, leaving a changed world in their wakes.

Researchers removing pterosaur skeleton from the beach.

The pterosaur fossil discovered on Scotland's Isle of Skye shows that flying reptiles grew to great sizes more quickly than previously believed.

Roughly 1500 years ago, someone in Sicily suffered from intestinal worms. Here’s why researchers are excited about that.

Most shipwrecks can usually be blamed on weather, currents, or mechanical failures. For others, the Bermuda Triangle could be the culprit.

One of the beheaded skeletons in Fleet Marston.

Were they all executed criminals, or were some decapitated after death (possibly to prevent haunting)? Researchers aren’t sure.

The Panagyurishte Treasure's gold phiale is on display in a Bulgarian museum.

Stuffed with gold, silver, and precious jewels, these fabulous hoards were buried by people who forgot to retrieve them.

This hand contains one of Saint Nicholas’s fingers.

Over the centuries, relic fragments of what are said to be St. Nick’s bones have been acquired by an impressive number of churches around the world.

A small fort along Hadrian's Wall in northern England.

Stonehenge is there, of course. So are Iron Age farms, Bronze Age burial mounds, Industrial Age coal mines, and more.

Workers sift for treasure at Sutton Hoo in 1939.

The Sutton Hoo ship burial excavation was meticulously captured by two amateur photographers. Now, you can see their work online.

Not everyone is buried six feet under the verdant grass of a cemetery. Some choose to spend eternity at the bottom of the ocean or the top of a high rise.

The wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald isn't the only ship to have met an early end on the Great Lakes.

A photo of the skeleton taken when it was originally excavated from the burial site.

The skeleton, unearthed at an archaeological site near Japan’s Seto Inland Sea, had almost 800 injuries.

An illustration of what Australotitan cooperensis may have looked like.

Sauropod dinosaurs are known for their impressive size—and Australia’s newly discovered species doesn’t disappoint.

John Gregory's actual skull alongside a 3D rendering of his head.

Nobody made it out of Sir John Franklin’s 1845 expedition alive. But now we know just how far one sailor got.

A photograph of Harriet Tubman taken by Harvey B. Lindsley in the 1870s.

The Underground Railroad conductor honed her wilderness skills around the cabin her father built in the 1840s.

Nicola White discovered this antique gold and sapphire ring while mudlarking on the River Thames.

London's mudlarks hunt for treasures in the River Thames's tidal sands, finding everything from Roman pottery to human bones.

People have long believed that a 1954 cemetery relocation process in Clearwater, Florida, was incomplete. They were right.

The massive brewery uncovered in the ancient Egyptian city of Abydos was capable of producing 5900 gallons of beer at a time.

A gold figurine unearthed by a metal detectorist in England turned out to be the centerpiece of King Henry VIII's long-lost crown.

Construction of a new park in Mayfield, Manchester, uncovered a bathhouse used by factory workers 150 years ago.

Last September, an unnamed bird-watcher found a trove of 1300 Celtic gold coins dating back to the 1st century CE.

A portion of the skull wall at Huei Tzompantli.

Aztec peoples considered human sacrifice an integral, life-sustaining ritual, and the sacrificial skulls were prominently displayed.

A glamour shot of the mummy at the Argonne National Laboratory.

It’s far from the first time an ancient mummy has been scanned, but this technology isn’t any old X-ray.

National Trust, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

Henry VIII nearly lost his life while jousting in 1536. Now, archaeologists have located the site of the history-making accident.

7 Famous Shipwrecks

Largest Pterosaur of Its Era Discovered on Scotland's Isle of Skye

Intestinal Worms Just Helped Researchers Identify an Ancient Roman Chamber Pot

10 Mysterious Incidents at the Bermuda Triangle

Archaeologists Just Unearthed Dozens of Ancient Beheaded Skeletons in a Tiny British Village

11 of the Most Dazzling Hoards Ever Discovered

7 Places You Can See St. Nicholas's Bones

New Interactive Tool Lets You Explore England's Hidden Archaeological Wonders From the Comfort of Home

Explore the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial Through These Newly Digitized Photos From the Dig

11 Graves in Unexpected Places

11 Shipwrecks That Haunt the Great Lakes

3000-Year-Old Remains in Japan Belong to the World’s Oldest Known Shark Attack Victim, Study Finds

Meet 'Cooper,' a Recently Discovered Sauropod Believed to Be Australia’s Largest Dinosaur Species

A Skull From the 1845 Franklin Expedition Was Just Identified Using a Descendant’s DNA

Archaeologists Have Located the Site of Harriet Tubman’s Family Home in Maryland

Extreme Mudlarking: How London Fortune Hunters Unearth Thames Treasures

Researchers Uncover 29 Graves at the Original Site of a Razed Black Cemetery in Clearwater, Florida

Ruins of Industrial Brewery Unearthed in Ancient Egypt City

Amateur Treasure Hunter Discovers Henry VIII’s Missing Crown Ornament

Early Victorian Bathhouse Unearthed Beneath Manchester Parking Lot

Bird-Watcher in England Discovers a Hoard of 1st-Century Celtic Coins

Archaeologists Uncover a Wall Made of 119 Skulls at Mexico City’s Huei Tzompantli

Researchers Used Advanced X-Rays to Reveal Secrets of an Ancient Egyptian Mummy—Without Unwrapping It

Archaeologists Discover the Jousting Yard Where Henry VIII Had His Historic Accident