artifacts

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Shrunken Head Used as Movie Prop Was the Real Thing

It was borrowed from university for John Huston's dark 1979 comedy 'Wise Blood'

(Newser) - A shrunken head used as a prop in a 1970s movie was made of real human skin, researchers have discovered. The head, known as a "tsantsa," was attached to a fake shrunken body in John Huston's dark 1979 comedy Wise Blood, People reports. Tsantas, talismans made of...

It 'Looked So New,' He Couldn't Believe It Was Ancient Treasure

Bronze Age trove likely left as offering in Swedish forest

(Newser) - A treasure trove of jewelry and other goods likely belonging to one or more high-status women was once intentionally left in a forest in what is now western Sweden. It only took 2,500 years to find it. Cartographer Thomas Karlsson was surveying the forest near the town of Alingsas...

River Dredging Brings Up a Possibly Revolutionary Find

Artifacts discovered in Georgia, including cannons and anchor, could be from late-1700s warship

(Newser) - What was supposed to be a routine dredging in the Savannah River turned up a handful of artifacts that might date back to the Revolutionary War. The AP reports that three barnacle-encrusted cannons, a rusty anchor, and a big piece of wood that could be a piece of a ship...

One of 3 Items Taken From Great Pyramid Is Found

The wood, lost for 70 years, was one of 3 items to emerge from the ancient wonder

(Newser) - Just three known objects have been recovered from Egypt's Great Pyramid, and one of those has been missing for 70 years. That is until an Egyptian archaeologist stumbled upon it in Scotland. Curatorial assistant Abeer Eladany was digging through the University of Aberdeen's museum collections late last year...

'Extensive' Attack Carried Out Against 70 Museum Treasures

Berlin's Museum Island targeted on anniversary of German reunification

(Newser) - At least 70 artifacts and artworks were targeted almost three weeks ago in what German newspaper Die Zeit describes as "one of the most extensive attacks on works of art and antiquities in the history of post-war Germany," per Deutsche Welle . The attack on Berlin's Museum Island,...

Whipping Post With &#39;Traumatic Legacy&#39; Comes Down
Courthouse Removes
Whipping Post
Jul 2, 2020 1:44 PM CDT

Courthouse Removes Whipping Post

Black people were disproportionately punished using the post in Delaware

(Newser) - An 8-foot tall whipping post was removed from a Delaware county courthouse square Wednesday after activists said it was a reminder of racial discrimination, per the AP . The state-owned post outside the Sussex County Courthouse in Georgetown was removed after an hour and a half of excavation and put in...

Discovery Alters Notions About Early Humans&#39; Travel
Discovery Alters Notions
About Early Humans' Travel
new study
May 11, 2020 12:02 PM CDT

Discovery Alters Notions About Early Humans' Travel

It appears they reached Europe earlier than thought, hung out with Neanderthals

(Newser) - Human bones from a Bulgarian cave suggest our species arrived in Europe thousands of years earlier than previously thought and shared the continent longer than realized with Neanderthals, per the AP . Scientists found four bone fragments and a tooth that detailed radiocarbon and DNA tests show are from four Homo...

A Late President, a Sword, and a Mystery

Cops says weapon used by William Henry Harrison was recovered; historian says no

(Newser) - A sword believed to have seen action in the American Revolution, been wielded by eventual President William Henry Harrison in the War of 1812, and gone missing from a Cincinnati museum is now said to be recovered after 40 years, though one historian refutes the claim. Fox News reports on...

Pompeii Gives Up a 'Sorcerer's Treasure Trove'

So much for good-luck charms

(Newser) - There was perhaps no better place for good-luck charms than Pompeii circa AD79. Too bad they didn't quite work. Archaeologists combing the ancient Roman city discovered dozens of charms within a "sorcerer's treasure trove," encased in hardened volcanic material from Mount Vesuvius' eruption that year, per...

Chess Piece in a Drawer for 55 Years May Sell for $1.3M

Piece has been identified as one of the famous Lewis Chessmen from the Viking era

(Newser) - A chess piece purchased for $7.50 by an antiques dealer in Scotland in 1964 has been identified as one of the 900-year-old Lewis Chessmen, among the greatest artifacts of the Viking era. Sotheby's auction house said Monday the chess piece is expected to bring between $670,000 and...

At Heart of Lake Titicaca, an Ancient Treasure Trove

Evidence suggests ritual sacrifice by the Tiwanaku

(Newser) - To the Aymara people of the Andes, Lake Titicaca is a mystical being. It's a belief that dates back hundreds of years to the Inca—and beyond, as evidenced by treasure pulled from the lake's depths, per Live Science . Divers have discovered gold medallions marked with a ray-faced...

After Locals Told of the Cave, It Was Sealed&mdash;Until Now
After Locals Told of the Cave,
It Was Sealed—Until Now
in case you missed it
Mar 10, 2019 12:15 PM CDT

After Locals Told of the Cave, It Was Sealed—Until Now

Some 200 Mayan artifacts found below Chichen Itza

(Newser) - This "extraordinary" story could have been published 50 years ago. That's when locals at the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza told an archaeologist about a cave there, but he had its entrance sealed, possibly to safeguard what was inside. The AP reports his brief report on it languished...

Collector Had 'Staggering' Number of Human Bones

2K bones represent 500 humans, likely Native Americans

(Newser) - It was a collection "unlike anything we'd ever seen." That's how the head of the FBI's art crime unit describes some 42,000 artifacts discovered in the rural Indiana home of Don Miller during a 2014 raid . Almost five years later, Tim Carpenter of the...

Hobby Lobby's Smuggled Artifacts Headed Back to 'Rightful Owner'

3.8K of the ill-begotten artifacts are heading back overseas on Wednesday

(Newser) - Hobby Lobby's "passion for the Bible" may have made it a bit overzealous when it came to purchasing antiquities from other lands. The arts and crafts retailer obtained thousands of illegally smuggled artifacts from Iraq in 2010—then subsequently agreed to send them back —and now that...

600-Year-Old Scroll Has Game of Thrones Link

Canterbury Roll is being published online for the first time

(Newser) - A 600-year-old scroll describing the wars that inspired Game of Thrones might not be done making its mark on history. For the first time, the Canterbury Roll—detailing England's history until the Middle Ages—is being published online, making it accessible to the world, reports News.com.au . (The...

Uproar Leads to Probe of 95-Year-Old 'Indiana Joan'

Some say Joan Howard's antiquities collection is illegal

(Newser) - Her collection of ancient artifacts, worth more than $750,000, includes a Roman dagger, Neolithic ax heads, a mummy mask, and a crucifix from the era of Jesus Christ—treasures unearthed in Egypt, Syria, Israel, and beyond. But her boasts about them have some red with anger rather than green...

Ice Ax That Dug Into Trotsky's Skull No Longer Under a Bed

Keith Melton says he bought it, and that it will be displayed in America

(Newser) - "Who knows if it is the real ax?" says Leon Trotsky’s grandson, Esteban Volkov, dismissively to the Guardian. Keith Melton, for one. The private collector says he staunchly believes that an ice pick he recently purchased and plans to display at the International Spy Museum in Washington is...

After 106 Years in Antarctica, Fruitcake Still Looks 'Like New'

Too bad it smells like 'rancid butter'

(Newser) - It's a good thing scientists weren't especially hungry when they stepped inside one of the earliest structures built in Antarctica recently. On a shelf in a hut in Cape Adare sat a "perfectly preserved" fruitcake apparently untouched for more than a century, reports Stuff.co.nz . Made...

Museum Won't Return Spears, Despite Claim of Personal Ties

Rodney Kelly is trying to get Aboriginal artifacts returned to Australia

(Newser) - The British and the Aborigines first crossed paths in 1770, when famed English explorer James Cook landed in what is now Sydney. It was a violent meeting, and Cook departed with some of the Gweagal's spears—and the UK's Cambridge University says it won't give up the...

Dead Sea Scrolls Cave Discovered, but Someone Got There First

Looters got there 70 years before researchers

(Newser) - Israeli researchers have discovered what they believe is the first new Dead Sea Scrolls cave uncovered in more than 60 years—but looters got there long before them. The site at the Qumran cliffs, an Israeli-controlled site in the West Bank, has yielded artifacts including pieces of pottery, broken scroll...

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