The Past

New research finds that dinosaurs were already adapted to living in cold climates before the end-Triassic mass extinction. But how?

Fossils of Australopithecus in a South African cave are one million years older than previously thought. This challenges the consensus that humans first evolved in East Africa.

Three out of four Russians accused of witchcraft were men.

The architecture and infrastructure found may well have required the greatest amount of skilled labor of any construction from the same time period in the entire continent. 

The weird and wild ways mummy fever swept through Europe.

Unlike other world rulers, Genghis Khan was laid to rest not inside an elaborate mausoleum but an unmarked grave somewhere in Mongolia. Maybe.

Before gunpowder was introduced to the West, medieval Arabs devised grenades using crockery.

In the Canaan religion, Yahweh was a lesser god, who was assigned the land of Israel. Here’s how he became “God Almighty.”

The ancient Maya enjoyed filling their teeth with gemstones. A new study reveals how the procedure was done and how it didn’t kill them.

In terms of sheer productivity, “-gate” has no peer. Wikipedia’s list of -gates has over 260 entries.

The long-standing debate over whether dinosaurs were more like birds or lizards is drawing to a close.

An elaborate device called the Mechanical Turk defeated Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte at chess. Edgar Allan Poe revealed the hoax.

Experimental archaeology is the practice of recreating past events using knowledge and tools available at the time. Sometimes, it involves elephants.

Robinson v. California helped to established a rehabilitative ideal: addiction should be dealt with as a therapeutic matter.

Before the war, medical experts treated the body as a sum of its parts. Conditions like wound shock and brain damage called for a change in perspective.

Privateers pillaged British merchant ships in the name of liberty — and profit.

Human sacrifice appears to be as old as humanity itself. Still, experts disagree on how and where the practice first originated.

Searching for truth in unorthodox ways can be a valuable exercise. But Anatoly Fomenko’s alternate world history is just plain weird.

To the ancient Greeks, exotic animals were proof of mythological creatures. To the ancient Romans, they were oddities and adversaries.

A recent advance in 3D imaging techniques helped spark the biggest ever discovery of North American cave art.

Was there an intelligent, technologically advanced species long before humans existed? Could there have been a dinosaur civilization?

Black cat crossed your path?

Were Hitler’s SS henchmen willing executioners fueled by racial propaganda or mindless servants vying for promotions?

Speculation about the existence of aliens goes all the way back at least to the Greek philosophers. Their arguments will sound familiar.

The simulation gave researchers some of the first concrete data linking climate change to human evolution and speciation.

They were more like blue whales with a mean bite.

The Mayan calendar is revered for its impeccable accuracy. Now, a recent excavation in Guatemala reveals how the system developed over time.

A toxicological study shows that the victims of human sacrifice consumed coca leaves and ayahuasca before they were killed, but not for reasons we originally thought.

The underground burial tombs were used at least as far back as 2500 B.C.

“Immodest Acts” tells the story of Benedetta Carlini, a lesbian nun who claimed to be a mystic visionary but failed to convince the leaders of her faith.