History | Smithsonian Magazine

What Were the Best History Movies of the Decade?

These ten films (plus one documentary) each took the past and translated it in a way worth remembering

Did Lightning Inspire This Scottish Stone Circle?

New geophysical evidence points to ancient burn marks that could have coincided with the building of Scotland’s Callanish standing stones

Twelve Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2019

The list includes a sorceress' kit, a forgotten settlement, a Renaissance masterpiece and a 1,700-year-old egg

How This Mining Town in Greenland Helped Win WWII

Ivittuut held the world’s largest reserve of naturally occurring cryolite, a mineral that was used in the manufacturing of fighter planes

This Burial Site Near Stonehenge Was Packed With Arrows

One of the most iconic burial sites in Britain was discovered in Amesbury, near Stonehenge: the Amesbury Archer. The archer got his name from the amount of arrow heads found in his grave

What Were the Best History Movies of the Decade? — What Were the Best History Movies of the Decade?

These ten films (plus one documentary) each took the past and translated it in a way worth remembering

Did Lightning Inspire This Scottish Stone Circle? — Did Lightning Inspire This Scottish Stone Circle?

New geophysical evidence points to ancient burn marks that could have coincided with the building of Scotland’s Callanish standing stones

Twelve Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2019 — Twelve Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2019

The list includes a sorceress' kit, a forgotten settlement, a Renaissance masterpiece and a 1,700-year-old egg

How This Mining Town in Greenland Helped Win WWII — How This Mining Town in Greenland Helped Win WWII

Ivittuut held the world’s largest reserve of naturally occurring cryolite, a mineral that was used in the manufacturing of fighter planes

This Burial Site Near Stonehenge Was Packed With Arrows — This Burial Site Near Stonehenge Was Packed With Arrows

One of the most iconic burial sites in Britain was discovered in Amesbury, near Stonehenge: the Amesbury Archer. The archer got his name from the amount of arrow heads found in his grave

Women Who Shaped History January 2, 2020

Hattie Caraway, the First Woman Elected to the U.S. Senate, Faced a Familiar Struggle With Gender Politics

December 31, 2019

Ten Things We've Learned About Britain's Monarchs in the Past Ten Years

December 31, 2019

Fifty Years Ago, the Murder of Jock Yablonski Shocked the Labor Movement

December 30, 2019

A Photographic Tour of Abandoned Cold War Sites

Based on a True Story December 30, 2019

What Were the Best History Movies of the Decade?

December 27, 2019

How This Abandoned Mining Town in Greenland Helped Win World War II

Cool Finds December 27, 2019

Twelve Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2019

December 26, 2019

Archaeologists Are Unearthing the Stories of the Past Faster Than Ever Before

December 26, 2019

Our Top Ten Stories of 2019

December 26, 2019

Fifty Years Ago, the Idea of a Museum for the People Came of Age

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January 3, 2020 4:13PM

Cool Finds

This Demon, Immortalized in 2,700-Year-Old Assyrian Tablet, Was Thought to Cause Epilepsy

January 3, 2020 1:18PM

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Archaeologists Excavate 200 More Chinese Terracotta Warriors

January 3, 2020 10:56AM

What We Can Learn From Ötzi the Iceman's Hunting Pack

January 3, 2020 9:36AM

Cool Finds

Researchers Recover an Early Copy of a 19th-Century Gay Rights Essay

January 2, 2020

Volunteers Digitally Revive Japan's Shuri Castle Following October Fire

January 2, 2020

Start of 2020 Ushers Thousands of Once-Copyrighted Works Into the Public Domain

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