Decoding the Indus Valley script

Archaeologists decode the first known sentence in what may be the oldest written alphabet

This five-minute video details the accidental discovery and subsequent decoding of the first known sentence in what's believed to be the oldest written alphabet. The Canaanite sentence was found on a Bronze Age hair comb unearthed in Tel Lachish, a city of the ancient Biblical Kingdom of Judah, during a dig focused on excavating the kingdom's first Iron Age city. The Canaanite language developed sometime between 3,000 and 1,000 BCE.

Ready to try reading some Maya hieroglyphics?

The Mayan hieroglyphic script was the only true writing system developed in the Americas prior to European colonization. Examples of the millennia-old script have been discovered on stone pillars, pottery, and texts known as codices. Here’s a Maya writing system study guide for the high achievers among us.

Stonehenge was part of a much larger prehistoric landscape

Long before Stonehenge was built, the Salisbury Plain was already dotted with ceremonial sites, burial mounds, and large-scale earthworks. These landscape maps reveal a densely inhabited region shaped by sophisticated prehistoric communities with ambitious public projects.

The Royal Game of Ur, which dates back as far as 2600 BCE, is believed to be one of the oldest board games in the world.

Discover the deep history of Indigenous Hand Talk

This video explores Plains Indian Sign Language, part of a broader system known as Hand Talk that dates back centuries. It traces regional variations across North America—and how residential schools worked to suppress its use.

In 1963, a basement renovation in Turkey revealed a passageway to a hidden, multilevel underground city that once housed as many as 20,000 people

Urban planning in ancient Rome

Ancient Rome represents one of the earliest examples of coordinated urban planning from a central government for which researchers have access to contemporary records. This review from MIT showcases ancient Roman cities built on various types of grids, from rectangular outlines to those shaped around two intersecting axes, with several examples and maps provided for each.

Native Americans developed pottery and religion, and experienced population growth during the Woodland period

Between 500 B.C.E. and 1100 C.E., Indigenous peoples produced pottery and practiced animism, a spiritual worldview in which animals, plants, and natural forces are believed to possess sacred power. They moved seasonally to make the most of available resources.

Explore the Mayan temple at Copan

Copan is a Mayan temple located in western Honduras, where Mayans dwelled for roughly 2,000 years. The acropolis there was abandoned in the tenth century but rediscovered in the 19th, and excavations of its many structures and tunnels continue to reveal more about Mayan history. Click through to tour its major temple and tunnels in this informative, impressive interactive.

In 1963, a basement renovation in Turkey revealed a passageway to a hidden, multilevel underground city that once housed as many as 20,000 people

The role of textiles in South Asian art

Textiles play an essential role in the religious traditions of the Indian subcontinent, acting as portable shrines that can relay important allegories and depict spiritual iconography. This primer from Smarthistory breaks down how imagery is used on these textiles and helpfully provides high-quality images, allowing you to witness their beauty for yourself.

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

The popular myth behind the India pale ale

Legend has it that the beer style earned its name in the late 1700s and early 1800s, when one brewer realized he had to add more alcohol and hops to his beers to survive the long boat ride to India. But as this essay by one beer historian makes clear, the facts don't line up with that myth.

Charting the countries with large Sikh populations

While the vast majority of contemporary Sikhs live in Punjab, India, millions have moved elsewhere in the world, especially in anglophone countries. This chart shows which countries host the largest communities of the Sikh diaspora in the world.

India has a century-old parallel form of science fiction

One of its earliest works was Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain's 1905 feminist utopia "Sultana's Dream." This rich visual essay shows how the genre, while taking inspiration from its western counterpart, evolved from India's distinct cultural, social, and political realities.

How did the Inca build Machu Picchu?

How did the Inca, a people without iron or steel, build a city that has withstood hundreds of years of earthquakes and inclement weather? Machu Picchu stands atop steep landslide prone slopes and active fault lines and gets up to 80 inches of rain...

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

Video games are helping to preserve cultural heritage sites, further archaeological study

When Carmen Sandiego swept onto the video game scene in 1985, the deluxe version of the game included historic photographs from National Geographic and music from the Smithsonian. Read this article to learn about the overlap between gaming and ancient architecture.

The archaeological sites uncovered through London's Crossrail Project

The Crossrail Project is an underground train system in London, which saw 26 miles of new tunnels created over more than a decade. The project provided unique access to long-buried layers of London's history, and a massive parallel archaeological excavation took place.

The archaeological discovery that shifted scientists' understanding of human evolution

In 2003, archaeologists in Indonesia uncovered the remains of a 3-foot-tall skeleton that appeared to belong to a new type of human. Read this article to learn how the discovery of this 50,000-year-old skeleton upended the idea that human evolution...

During the Medieval Period, urban populations grew significantly

As workers moved from fields to cities throughout the era, large metropolises of enduring strategic importance were formed from Paris, France, to Baghdad, Iraq.

The global practice of public speaking

The epic "Gilgamesh and Aga," which dates back to 1900-1600 BCE, features a speech by the Mesopotamian hero Gilgamesh in which he tries to convince his city's all-male assembly to agree to fight an invading army. Surviving records indicate many ancient cultures, including those in China, India, and North America, had rich public speaking traditions, at least some of which survived time and colonization.

The ancient uses of asphalt

Asphalt is derived from bitumen, a naturally occurring byproduct of decomposed organic materials. As one of the thickest forms of petroleum, the substance has been in use by humans and their ancestors for at least 40,000 years for various purposes, including as a sealant, an adhesive, decoration, and more. Learn more about this ancient material here.

The renaissance in the ancient art of calligraphy

The ancient craft of calligraphy is experiencing a renaissance, with hundreds of societies devoted to the practice of fancy penmanship. The movement consists generally of two camps: people who use "pointed pen" (or fine line work) and those who deploy the "broad nib" (large, broad letters). Disruptive members are attempting to bridge the divide.

The Ancient Chinese harnessed solar power for heating and cooling 6,000 years ago

Neolithic Chinese homes faced south for winter sun warmth, while overhangs shielded them from high summer sun. These efforts also influenced urban planning, with cities aligning streets east-west for optimal solar exposure.

The canal became the first use of lock-and-lake system at a massive scale

The system centered around Gatun Lake, the largest human-made reservoir at the time, and two massive concrete locks that helped raise the ships 85 feet from sea level to the lake surface. The excavation was also the largest earth-moving project at the time, moving 240 million cubic yards of soil.

Yoga dates back to about 1500 BCE

The earliest known mention of the word is in the Rig Veda, one of the four canonical Hindu texts. Rishis, or sages, then documented its evolution in the Upanishads, the Hindu scriptures. Much of the modern understanding of Yoga comes from “Yoga Sutras of Patañjali,” which outlines the practice’s eight elements, including physical postures and breathwork.

Large igneous provinces are regions of massive ancient volcanic activity

Linked to some mass extinction events on Earth, LIPs contain significant amounts of igneous rock formed by the release of lava and gases over millions of years. India's Deccan Traps and the Siberian Traps are prominent examples of LIPs, whose climate-related impacts can serve as models for analyzing modern climate change.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

In its famous catalog, Sears sold $600 DIY house kits from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in an estimated 100,000 'Sears and Roebuck homes.'

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Poison ivy's characteristic rash is caused by an allergic response to an oily compound in the plant called urushiol.

Elk Cloner, the first computer virus to spread in public, was written as a practical joke by Richard Skrenta, a Pittsburgh high school student.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

Planarian flatworms are small, aquatic worms with exceptional regenerative capabilities. When cut, the worms can regenerate multiple bodies in a matter of weeks.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.