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A rare 1975 dime missing its "S" mint mark was auctioned for $506,250. Photo courtesy of GreatCollections Nov. 5 (UPI) -- A rare U.S. dime missing its mint mark was auctioned for $506,250, nearly 30 times the amount it sold for 46 years earlier. GreatCollections, which handled the auction of the "1975 No S Proof Dime," said the coin was purchased by an Ohio collector and his mother for $18,200 in 1978, and it remained with the family for nearly 50 years. The collector's family decided to have the dime auctioned, and it was given a Proof-67 grade by the...

Scientists have recently unlocked the secrets of the world's oldest map, a 3,000-year-old clay tablet known as the Imago Mundi, which is believed to show the location of Noah’s Ark. The ancient Babylonian artifact, etched with cuneiform—a script using wedge-shaped symbols—has puzzled archaeologists for centuries. Discovered in what is now Iraq in 1882, the tablet is housed at the British Museum, where it has become one of its famous collections. The Imago Mundi depicts a circular world map, illustrating early Babylonian ideas about the world's creation. The map is thought to show the entire known world at the time, with...

Two Australian mathematicians have called into question an old adage, that if given an infinite amount of time, a monkey pressing keys on a typewriter would eventually write the complete works of William Shakespeare. Known as the "infinite monkey theorem", the thought-experiment has long been used to explain the principles of probability and randomness. However, a new peer-reviewed study led by Sydney-based researchers Stephen Woodcock and Jay Falletta has found that the time it would take for a typing monkey to replicate Shakespeare's plays, sonnets and poems would be longer than the lifespan of our universe. Which means that while...

During the Roman period, Apsaros was an important port and garrison on the Colchis coast—a term that refers to a historical region on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, roughly corresponding to what is now western Georgia—Karasiewicz-Szczypiorski said. Apsaros, constructed around 2,000 years ago, was of particular importance in the time of the Roman emperors Trajan (who ruled from A.D. 98-117) and Hadrian (who ruled from A.D. 117-138).The votive plaque found during the 2024 excavation season at the site, which ran from mid-May to the end of July, is essentially a thin gold plate. It features a Greek inscription...

While digging to find an ancient settlement in southern Sweden, archaeologists made a completely unexpected discovery: an enormous Viking Age cemetery with more than 100 graves and several ship-shaped mounds...The cemetery was initially found in 2017 in the village of Tvååker, in southwestern Sweden, ahead of planned road construction. Although Tvååker is mentioned in historical sagas, the aboveground remains of this particular cemetery were lost to time until recently."The problem is that the land has been plowed and leveled to create pastures," Nordin said, "so all the occupation levels, above-ground remains, and burials have been plowed to pieces."During excavations carried...

The table was set. The pastries arranged. A white tablecloth dangled placidly in the early morning mist, surrounded by 12 golden-hued high-backed chairs. Five decades ago, a dozen friends gathered here, on the National Mall, for breakfast. They wore morning coats and floor-length dresses, dined on oysters, drank champagne and danced together as a string quartet played in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. The extravagant scene on July 19, 1974, drew in a Washington Post photographer, who captured the moment in an image that would ricochet around the country in newspaper reprints. But the people and circumstances at...

The 13-line inscription about the wrestler, which was found complete and intact measuring 120 cm (47 inches) by 50 cm (19 inches) and weighing half a ton, is believed to be 2,000 years old. The condition of the inscription makes it the first discovery of its kind for the region. The stone was found in the Harbor Bath where last year a Roman period statue was found. Tekocak said "Just like last year, the Harbor Bath has provided us with significant discoveries." The discovery suggests that the city was important as more than just a maritime trade centre.The inscription praises...

Reuters reports that a small house lacking an atrium but decorated with well-preserved frescoes has been discovered in the Roman city of Pompeii, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. The site has been named the House of Phaedra after the mythological queen of Athens, who is depicted in one of the paintings with her stepson Hippolytus, who refuses her advances. Other wall paintings depict patterns, scenes from nature, an encounter between a satyr and a nymph, and gods who may represent Venus and Adonis.

Live Science reports that nearly 3,000 poorly preserved coins were discovered by a metal detectorist in the Westerwald mountain range, in an area outside the borders of the Roman Empire and any known settlements of ancient Germanic tribes. The coins were unearthed by archaeologists who also recovered more than 200 unidentified thin silver fragments decorated with geometric designs from the site. The cache had been placed in a ceramic pot and hidden between two rocks. "Most of the coins are so called Antoniniani, which were the official silver coin in the Roman Empire in the third century [A.D.], but mostly...

Massive Hoard of Silver Pennies From Norman Conquest Valued at $5.6MA pile of 1,000-year-old silver pennies from the Chew Valley hoard, which was recently discovered by metal detectorists in Somerset. The treasure sheds new light on the post-Conquest period and the impact of the Norman invasion on England. The pennies were acquired by the South West Heritage Trust for £4.4 million ($5.6 million USD). The hoard of pennies is now the "highest value treasure on record". Courtesy of the British Museum A massive hoard of 1,000-year-old silver pennies found by a group of people learning how to use metal detectors...

The Navajo Nation is mourning the loss of John Kinsel Sr., a revered Navajo Code Talker who passed away peacefully at the age of 107. Kinsel’s remarkable life and contributions to both his community and the United States during World War II will forever be remembered. Born in the heart of Lukachukai, Arizona, Kinsel dedicated his life to his family and his heritage. He built a home for his loved ones in the very land where he grew up, embodying the values of resilience and commitment to family that are central to Navajo culture. Remarkably, he never left his hometown,...

An amateur historian has discovered a long-lost short story by Bram Stoker, published just seven years before his legendary gothic novel Dracula. Brian Cleary stumbled upon the 134-year-old ghostly tale while browsing the archives of the National Library of Ireland. Gibbet Hill was originally published in a Dublin newspaper in 1890 - when the Irishman started working on Dracula - but has been undocumented ever since. Stoker biographer Paul Murray says the story sheds light on his development as an author and was a significant “station on his route to publishing Dracula”. The ghostly story tells the tale of a...

Archaeologists have found evidence of an Assyrian military campaign against Judaea that resulted in the siege of Jerusalem.The campaign was launched in 701 B.C., when Sennacherib was king of Assyria and Hezekiah was king of Judaea. Sennacherib launched the campaign because he considered Hezekiah a vassal king who should obey the Assyrians, but Hezekiah refused and rebelled against him.The Assyrians conquered much of Judaea and laid siege to Jerusalem but, for reasons that are unclear, failed to take the city. The Hebrew Bible claims that the "the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and...

Four newly translated Japanese texts describe how ritual samurai beheadings were supposed to take place during the Edo period and later.When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. This 1860 photo shows a samurai with a raised sword. Four newly translated texts shed light on how samurai carried out the death ritual of Seppuku. (Image credit: Heritage Images / Contributor via Getty Images) Four texts that discuss how the samurai carried out Seppuku, a ritual death in which a fellow samurai would usually behead another, have been translated into English...

Description: Known across the world by many names such as: "Gypsies", "Roma", "Romani", "Sinti", etc... ; the Gypsies played a crucial role in the development of the Balkans & the history of many of the countries that inhabit the region today such as: Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Greece, Bosnia, Albania, Macedonia, and many others outside of the region. Yet, when talking about history, very rarely are the Roma mentioned or talked about. In this video we go over the origin of the Roma in India, their migration across the Silk Road and into the Balkans, their life in the Balkans...

Vehicle tracks have torn through the geoglyphs of Alto Barranco. Image courtesy of the Atacama Desert Foundation Acollection of gigantic artworks carved into the Atacama Desert centuries ago has been destroyed by thunderous parades of 4x4s, quadbikes, and all-terrain motorcycles. Located in the Tarapacá region of present-day northern Chile, the geoglyphs of Alto Barranco were made by the region’s Indigenous people along the migration route between the Oasis of Pica and the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The etchings were created between 900 and 1450 CE by removing darker surface rocks and pebbles from the ground, revealing a lighter sandy...

A 1,000-year-old Viking "wallet" containing dozens of silver coins was recently discovered by British historians on the Isle of Man, officials announced Monday.Metal detectorists John Crowe and David O'Hare discovered the "hoard" of treasure — around 36 whole and fragmented coins — while searching on private land earlier in the year, the Manx National Heritage organization said on social media...What is even more interesting is that the coins were minted under multiple different Irish and English rulers, with the majority from the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066 AD), as well as English kings Aethelred II (978-1016 AD) and Canute...

Two faculty members condemned “white ownership” of Shakespeare and the state’s manipulation of black history during an “Appropriation Series” at Arizona State University last week. The scholars are pushing for changes in curriculum and leadership that reflect more “diverse” voices. During the panel, they spoke to eleven ASU students in the audience and other faculty members via Zoom. English Professor Ruben Espinosa argued that Shakespeare’s legacy has been manipulated for purposes of exclusion and viewed through a lens of “white superiority.” He said that for the Jan. 6 “insurrectionists” at the U.S. capitol, Shakespeare represents a symbol of “white exceptionalism”...

Goodbye to ‘Marx at the Mall,’ ‘Global Transgender Histories,’ Dua Lipa Harvard has canceled over 30 fall semester courses encompassing 20 departments, but the History and Literature department took it on the chin the hardest. According to The Crimson, Hist-Lit Director of Studies Lauren Kaminsky said class offerings dropped from 19 to 13 classes after five lecturers either departed or chose to do something else. The canceled Hist-Lit courses include “British Soft Power from Shakespeare to Dua Lipa,” “Marx at the Mall: Consumer Culture & Its Critics,” “Global Transgender Histories,” “Indigenous Genders and Sexualities in North America,” “The Making of...

I was vilified for criticizing the Dewey Decimal system. We librarians need to stop perpetuating its systemic racism in our libraries. Almost a decade ago, my colleagues and I wrote an article for SLJ entitled “Are Dewey’s Days Numbered?” in which we made the argument that the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system had lost its relevance. We took a bold stance, and the backlash was swift. Fellow librarians would wait outside the rooms I was speaking in at conferences, backing me into corners to demand that I stop talking about alternative systems.