The Past

Once a cosmopolitan faith, Islam valued intellectualism and modernity. It was derailed by various geopolitical and religious forces.

A new book by historian and author Paul Strathern argues that the Northern European Renaissance has long been overlooked.

Evolutionary pressures drove the formation of tribes who encoded their values in myths and symbols. Was this cooperation cursed?

Before Constantine received his history-defining vision, a pagan Sun god paved the way for Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry into the Eternal City.

Would you confess your crimes to a skeleton with “an unnatural ghastly glow”? One inventor thought you would.

Mansa Musa, perhaps history’s richest man, claims he ascended the throne of Mali after his predecessor sailed west and never came back. Could he have made it to the New World?

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

The Source Family, a radical 1970s utopian commune, still impacts what we eat today.

The chances that a newborn survives childhood have increased from 50% to 96% globally.

Glimpse into the ancient Maya empire through the writing of its own inhabitants.

As a physician, John Pringle helped reinvent hygiene; as a husband, he destroyed a woman’s life with his abuse.

Stone buildings in northern India reveal secrets of old structures that could save lives.

To protect yourself, you need an antifungal rather than an amulet.

Left-handed humans were likelier to get stabbed in the heart.

One hypothesis: “gossip traps.”

And her clothing tells an important story, says archeologist Rita Wright.

Science isn’t synonymous with technology; it’s about a way of thinking.

Mongol forces never fully conquered the continent, but they played a key role in its historical development.

It wasn’t merely an act of brutality; it was a condemnation for the afterlife.

Zombies aren’t a modern-day obsession. Throughout history, fear of the undead led to bizarre burial rituals all over the world.

Fortune cookies emerged from one of America’s darkest moments.

His plan to replace it with homegrown rice did not go well.

Just like with AI, people worried about job security and the spread of disinformation. Machines were destroyed and book merchants were chased out of town.

When Mongol traders came knocking, Sultan Muhammad II shaved off their beards. Three years later, his whole empire was annihilated.

Most male mammals have little or nothing to do with their kids. Why is our own species different?

Climate and ecological changes, as well as disruptions to the food chain, were already killing off the dinosaurs.

She apparently learned some valuable business skills as a former prostitute.

Steam cars hit the U.S. market in the 1890s but were largely extinct by the 1930s. Will technology bring them back?

The cathedral is being explored as never before.

It is easy to underestimate how much the world can change within a lifetime.