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Homotherium Skull
Cast of the skull of a scimitar-toothed cat (genus Homotherium) which appeared across Africa, Eurasia and the Americas during the Pliocene (c. 5 million - c. 2,6 million years ago) and the Pleistocene (c. 2,6 million- c. 12,000 years ago...
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Maya Spouted Jar
This spouted vessel is one of the most elegantly sculpted stone containers in the corpus of Maya art. Its form with the vertical spout parallel to the central axis of the main chamber is known from the late 1st millennium B.C. and is especially...
Definition
Jean Lafitte
Jean Lafitte (also spelt Laffite, c. 1780 to c. 1820 CE) was a Franco-American leader of pirates and privateers who captured merchant vessels of various states in the Gulf of Mexico from 1810 to 1820. Lafitte proved an invaluable ally for...
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The First Ghost Stories | Dr. Irving Finkel
Learn how the near-universal belief in ghosts goes back to the beginning of time. Discover how the oldest known writing, in cuneiform script on tablets of clay, gives us a full picture of the ancient Mesopotamian ghost experience: who might...
Article
Ten Juneteenth Myths
The celebration of Juneteenth – originally known as "Freedom Day" – began on 1 January 1866 in Texas and, since then, a number of myths have grown up around the event it commemorates: the issuance of General Order No. 3 in Galveston Texas...
Article
History of Juneteenth
Juneteenth is an annual event celebrating the end of chattel slavery in the United States in commemorating the issuance of General Order No. 3 (which included the line "all slaves are free") in Galveston, Texas on 19 June 1865. In 2021, Juneteenth...
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Pieces of Eight from the Whydah
A quantity of silver pieces of eight taken from the Whydah shipwreck. The ship was captained by the pirate Samuel Bellamy, aka ‘Black Sam’ Bellamy, who died in the wreck off Cape Cod in 1717. The wreck was re-discovered in 1984. (Image taken...
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Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice by Canaletto
A c. 1730 oil on canvas painting, Entrance to the Grand Canal, Venice, by the Italian artist Canaletto (1697-1768). (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston)
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United States Expansion after the Treaty of Paris in 1783
A map illustrating the expansion of the United States of America following the Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783), which ended the War of the American Revolution, recognized U.S. independence, and granted it sizeable additional territory...
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Presentation of Captives to a Maya Ruler
This carved limestone relief, dated 23 August 783 CE, depicts three scribes being presented as prisoners to a Maya ruler. The captives are identified as scribes by the stick-bundle the first one holds (the traditional implements of scribes...