Archaeology & History New Research Reveals the Earliest-Known Organic Red Dye Dating Back 15,000 Years A study of 10 beads from a Levant cave shows the earliest use of dye from the rubiaceae plant. By Richard Whiddington, Nov 12, 2023
Archaeology & History Cold Plunges Are All the Rage Now—But Archaeologists in the U.K. Just Found a Plunge Pool From the 18th Century The plunge pool was found underneath a historic social club. By Richard Whiddington, Nov 11, 2023
Archaeology & History A Finnish Man Inspecting a Pipe Trench Discovered a Christian Burial Site Dating Back to the Swedish Crusades A shaft of iron sticking out of the ground turned out to be a 12th-century sword. By Richard Whiddington, Nov 7, 2023
Auctions A Nautical Chart Sold at Auction for $239,000 Is Revealed as the 4th Oldest of Its Kind and Is Now Tagged at $7.5 Million The map depicts the waterways of the Mediterranean and beyond. By Richard Whiddington, Nov 2, 2023
Art World A Forgotten Bust Found Propping Up a Storage Shed Could Net $3 Million for a Tiny Scottish Town The auction record for a Bouchardon bust was set in 2012 by the Louvre. By Richard Whiddington, Nov 1, 2023
On View See Sharon Stone’s New Paintings—Colorful Abstractions That Reflect Her Inner World The works are making their East Coast debut at "Welcome to My Garden." By Richard Whiddington, Oct 31, 2023
Archaeology & History A 21-Year-Old Student Has Deciphered the First Word from the Herculaneum Scrolls, Charred in the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius Computer scientist Luke Farritor won $40,000 as part of a competition to decode the scrolls. By Richard Whiddington, Oct 31, 2023
Pop Culture Is This Painting of a Young Girl Haunted? Every Owner Seems to Think So Delayed flights, malfunctioning wi-fi, and even a fatality have surrounded the painting. By Richard Whiddington, Oct 31, 2023
Art & Exhibitions More Than 300 Photographs From Elton John’s Legendary Art Collection Are Going on View at the V&A Museum The show will be the largest photography exhibition the museum has staged to date. By Richard Whiddington, Oct 30, 2023
Art History This 15th-Century Painting Might Actually Depict a Prehistoric Tool, New Research Suggests The object depicted was long thought to be a stone. By Richard Whiddington, Oct 29, 2023
Auctions A ‘Star Wars’ Spacecraft Model, Found Hidden Away in Storage, Rakes in a Whopping $3.1 Million at Auction It was the highest price ever paid for an onscreen "Star Wars" prop. By Richard Whiddington, Oct 28, 2023
Art & Exhibitions ‘Scent of Eternity’: The Smell of Egyptian Mummies Is the Focus of a Denmark Museum Exhibition An aromatic balm used in the mummification of an ancient Egyptian has been recreated for the show. By Richard Whiddington, Oct 27, 2023
Art & Tech Artists May Have a New Weapon in the Fight Against A.I. Generators—a Data ‘Poisoning’ Tool The tool has been created by the same team behind Glaze. By Richard Whiddington, Oct 26, 2023
Art World Did Duchamp Steal Credit for ‘The Fountain’ from a Woman Artist? Historian Glyn Thompson has tracked down the only two surviving examples of the same urinal make and model. By Richard Whiddington, Oct 25, 2023
Art & Exhibitions A Contested Artifact Suggests Jesus Had a Brother. It’s Now at the Center of an Immersive Biblical Exhibition in Texas The object's lender was previously tried and acquitted of forging artifacts. By Richard Whiddington, Oct 25, 2023