STONES, BONES, AND WRECKS

New Program Trains Dogs to Sniff Out Art Smugglers

Every year, billions of dollars in ancient artifacts and other cultural objects are looted and sold around the world. A new project is training dogs to sniff them out.

Archaeologists Say They May Have Found the Skeleton of the Pirate "Black Sam" Bellamy

The bones were found near Bellamy's ship, the Whydah, which wrecked off the coast of Massachusetts in 1717.

This Mass Grave in England May Hold the Skeletons of Hundreds of Viking Invaders

In the late 9th century, Vikings across Scandinavia banded together to invade England.

Phil Arnold/Professional Coin Grading Service

Gold Worth Millions, Salvaged From a 19th-Century Shipwreck, Is Going on Display in California

And you can buy some of it.

Local Reporter May Have Found the Burned Remains of the Last American Slave Ship

The ship arrived in Alabama in 1859 in defiance of a law that prohibited importing slaves to the U.S. To hide the evidence of its illegal venture, its captain burned and sunk the ship, and its wreck has been lost to history. Until now.

Scientists Crack the Cryptic Code of a 2000-Year-Old Dead Sea Scroll

Haifa University researchers pieced together more than 60 tiny parchment fragments to decipher the document.

Buckingham Palace Was Built With Jurassic Fossils, Scientists Find

The British palace's limestone is riddled with mineralized microbes from 200 million years ago.

©Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello

Inside the Kitchen of Thomas Jefferson's Acclaimed—and Enslaved—Chef James Hemings

Hemings learned the art of French cooking in Paris and brought haute cuisine to America.

8 Amazing Things Discovered During the Expansion of the London Underground

Europe’s largest engineering project uncovered countless historic treasures, ranging from bones to Tudor bowling balls.

Construction Workers Discover World War II–Era German Burial Ground in Estonia

An estimated 35,000 German soldiers died in Estonia during World War II while fighting Soviet troops.

Scientists Accidentally Discover Ancient Hepatitis B in a 16th-Century Mummy

They thought they were studying the earliest evidence of smallpox, but found a different disease altogether.

Illustration by Eric S. Carlson in collaboration with Ben A. Potter

11,500-Year-Old Skeleton Reveals an Unknown Group of Ancient Migrants to the Americas

The infant's genome—the oldest complete genetic profile of a New World person—reveals the existence of a human lineage that was previously unknown to scientists.

Maritime archaeologists survey the Rouse Simmons shipwreck on the bottom of Lake Michigan.

Captain Santa’s Last Sail: The Mysterious Fate of the Christmas Tree Ship

The ship was a Christmas tradition in Chicago until one stormy night in 1912.

Australian Government, Copyright Commonwealth of Australia

Wreck of Australian World War I Submarine Found After 103 Years

Australia's first sub, the AE1, disappeared off Papua New Guinea on September 14, 1914.

Department Of Classics, University Of Cincinnati

Ancient Poop Contains First Evidence of Parasites Described by Hippocrates

It's the earliest physical evidence of ancient Greek parasites.

3500-Year-Old Mummy Discovered in Forgotten Egyptian Tomb

It might belong to an ancient Egyptian scribe, or to an important official named Djehuty Mes.

The Most Complete Fossil of an Early Human Relative Goes on Display

Ninety percent of Little Foot's skeleton has been recovered.

Photograph by Sofía Samper Carro. "Fishing in life and death: Pleistocene fish-hooks from a burial context on Alor Island, Indonesia," Antiquity, Sue O’Connor, Mahirta, Sofía C. Samper Carro, Stuart Hawkin, Shimona Kealy, Julien Louys and Rachel Wood.

These 12,000-Year-Old Fish Hooks Are the Oldest to Ever Be Discovered in a Grave

For prehistoric residents of Indonesia's rugged Alor Island, fishing was fundamental for both the living <em>and</em> the dead.

NOVA SCOTIA ARCHIVES AND RECORDS MANAGEMENT, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

A Mystery Shipwreck in Canada Might Be Tied to the 1917 Halifax Explosion

A century ago, a French cargo ship filled with explosives ignited spectacularly in Nova Scotia's Halifax Harbor. Researchers think that an unidentified schooner lying at the bottom of the harbor may have been another victim of the blast.

Courtesy of the Megiddo Expedition, Tel-Aviv University

3100 Years Ago, an Elite Family Stashed Their Silver Jewelry in a Beer Jug

The vessel's treasures likely belonged to an elite Canaanite family.

Prehistoric Women Were Stronger Than Some of Today's Elite Female Athletes

Who needs a gym when you haul grain and till fields all day?

Archaeologists Unearth the Victims of a Mysterious Massacre 400 Years Ago on an Australian Island

"A mutiny, a psychopath, and a brutal mass murder."

Archaeologists Find Traces of What Could Be the Oldest Wine in the World

They estimate it to be 8000 years old.

Rare 2000-Year-Old Sundial Sheds New Light on Ancient Roman Politics

Instead of tweeting, ancient Romans bragged in more permanent ways.

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