This Is How They Wiped Themselves in Ancient Rome
A very gross but extremely informative look at the archaeology of toilet hygiene.
How Trading Card Collectors Have Fought Stereotypes
By making what may have been unseen visible, trading cards have often provided an opening into larger conversations on race, gender, and representation.
Bomber Plane or the Loch Ness Monster?
A Vickers Wellington plane was submerged for decades in the Loch Ness, till a group of Nessie hunters stumbled across mysterious sonar readings.
Martin Luther’s Monsters
Prodigies, or monsters, were opaque and flexible symbols that signaled that God was sending some message.
“Beating the Bounds”
How did people find out where their local boundaries were before there were reliable maps?
The Study of Human Anatomy and the Corpses of Vienna
For cultural and geographical reasons, the city was a great place to find bodies to dissect. But there was also the matter of one well-connected doctor.
How Renaissance Artisans Turned Live Animals into Silver
Lifecasting was the renaissance art of making sculptures using molds taken from real-life plants and animals.
Were George Washington’s Teeth Taken from Enslaved People?
We know a surprising amount about the dental history of the nation’s first president.
Insect Jewelry of the Victorian Era
The wing-cases of gold-enameled weevils hung from necklaces; muslin gowns were embroidered with the iridescent green elytra of jewel beetles.
The Dinosaur Bone Wars
1877 was a banner year for American dinosaurs: three major finds in the West turned the region into a "paleontologist's El Dorado."