Ötzi the Iceman: What a 5,300-Year-Old Mummy Reveals About Ancient Life
In September 1991, two hikers crossing the Ötztal Alps stumbled on a body face-down in the ice. He had been there for 5…
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Art
Creative masterpieces and artistic achievements that defy belief
13 Amazing Stories
The Mona Lisa Has No Visible Eyebrows — Renaissance Fashion Required Shaving Them
Look closely at the Mona Lisa: she has no eyebrows or eyelashes. Renaissance ideals of beauty included shaved foreheads …
One Man Spent 18 Years Carving the World's Largest Underground Cathedral by Hand
In Spain, a single Spanish monk hand-built one of the largest non-state-funded cathedrals on Earth — using almost enti…
Banksy Built a Shredder Into a Picture Frame That Destroyed the Art as It Was Sold
In 2018, Banksy's "Girl with Balloon" sold for $1.4 million at Sotheby's. The moment the gavel fell, the painting began …
Ancient Roman Concrete Has Grown Stronger Over 2,000 Years — Modern Concrete Cannot
Roman seawalls have stood for 2,000 years and are now stronger than the day they were built. Modern Portland cement degr…
The Eiffel Tower Was Originally Designed to Be Torn Down After 20 Years
Built for the 1889 World's Fair, the Eiffel Tower was supposed to be dismantled in 1909. It was saved by an unlikely use…
The 2,000-Year-Old Antikythera Mechanism Predicted Eclipses and Planetary Motion by Hand
In 1901, sponge divers off a tiny Greek island hauled up a corroded lump of bronze that turned out to be the most sophis…
A Japanese Artist Creates Hyper-Realistic Food Sculptures That Fool Even Cameras
Japanese plastic food (sampuru) sculptors create photorealistic models of meals so convincing that visitors often try to…
A Painting Donated to a Charity Shop Was Found to Be a Lost $26 Million Masterpiece
In 2014, a painting donated to a Connecticut charity shop for under $30 turned out to be Renoir's "Paysage Bords de Sein…
Michelangelo Painted the Sistine Chapel Ceiling Standing Up — Not Lying Down as We Thought
For centuries, popular belief held that Michelangelo lay flat on his back to paint the Sistine ceiling. In fact, he stoo…
The Phaistos Disc: A 3,700-Year-Old Mystery No One Has Solved
In 1908, Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier pulled a small clay disc from the ruins of a Minoan palace on Crete. Fired …
A Taped Banana Sold for $6.2 Million at Art Basel — Then the Buyer Ate It
Maurizio Cattelan's "Comedian" — a banana duct-taped to a wall — sold for $6.2 million in 2024. The artwork is, conc…