The Battle of Iwo Jima
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, by Joe Rosenthal. The Battle of Iwo Jima took place in 1945 during the final months of World War II. To this day, it is considered one of the most iconic clashes of the…
Category History
Plague victims in medieval mass grave were arranged with care by ‘last chance’ hospital’s clergy
A close-up shows part of the mass grave at Thornton, where the deceased were carefully positioned and placed in an organized manner without any overlapping. Archaeologists in England recently uncovered new details about a medieval mass burial of victims of…
Why do women have orgasms?
The reason for the female orgasm has long eluded scientists. Men need them for reproduction; women don’t. So why do female orgasms exist? Scientists studying this issue are divided, said David Puts, a biological anthropologist at Penn State University. Some…
Ancient game board could be a missing link tied to the Egyptian Book of the Dead
In the New Kingdom, the fate of the deceased in the afterlife was reportedly affected by success in playing senet with underworld opponents. Here, a game board for senet, though not the board from the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in California.…
Who Wrote The Pledge Of Allegiance? Inside The Controversial History
From its anti-immigrant origins to the Nazi-esque salute children used to make while saying it, this is the dark history behind the Pledge of Allegiance that you didn’t learn in school. Library of Congress Students pledging allegiance to the flag…
The Real-Life Dog That Inspired Buck From ‘The Call Of The Wild’
Jack London became so enamored with a dog he met while prospecting for gold in the Yukon Territory that he used their bond to create one of the 20th century’s most iconic works of literature. Jack London’s The Call of…
Bermuda Triangle theory busted: 1925 ship Cotopaxi found near Florida
The SS Cotopaxi, before its disappearance in December 1925. The identification of a nearly 100-year-old shipwreck has debunked a popular conspiracy theory: that the Bermuda Triangle was somehow involved with the 1925 disappearance of the SS Cotopaxi. The steam powered…
800-year-old spiral rock carvings marked the solstices for Native Americans
The spiral patterns that appear prominently in the rock carvings are thought to be a symbol among ancestral Pueblo peoples for the sky or the sun. The Pueblo people created rock carvings in the Mesa Verde region of the Southwest…
Ancient Greek “Curse Tablets” Found Inside 2,500-Year-Old Water Well
These 30 “curse tablets” meant for the dead show what lengths Athenians would go to hex their enemies. Jutta Stroszeck/German Archaeological InstituteTablet curse containing incantation against the newlywed Glykera, focusing on her vulva, by someone jealous of her marital bliss.…
Ancient ‘outlaw temple’ discovered in Israel
A bird’s-eye view of the temple, taken at the end of the 2013 excavation season. The discovery of an Iron Age temple near Jerusalem has upended the idea that the ancient Kingdom of Judah, located in what is now southern…
1,200-year-old ‘gumdrop’ might have belonged to elite gamer at UK monastery
The 1,200-year-old glass game piece looks good enough to eat. What looks like a tasty, blue gumdrop decorated with white frosting is actually a 1,200-year-old glass “king” piece that may have belonged to an elite gamer, according to Durham University,…
Trial begins for archaeologist accused of forging earliest portrayal of Jesus’ crucifixion
One artifact was said to show the earliest depiction of the Christian crucifixion, but experts said its iconography suggests it was created much later than its supposed date in the third century A.D. A criminal trial has begun of an…