History

Here we bring you the fascinating world of history, U.S. history, archeological history, anthropological, natural, and historical figures. To know where we’re going we must first understand where we’ve been.

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Weapon Chest With Tools for Making Ammunition Found in 500-Year-Old Shipwreck in Sweden

Sonja Anderson / Smithsonian MAGAZINE

In the summer of 1495, a warship caught fire while traveling to the coastal city of Kalmar, Sweden. The vessel sank, taking the soldiers on board—about 100 German mercenaries—down with it.

Now, over 500 years later, researchers are learning more about the Griffin, Danish-Norwegian King Hans’ doomed flagship, through underwater investigations. Their latest discovery—a specialized weapon chest—provides new insights into the soldiers’ activities, according to a statement from Stockholm University.

The partially disintegrated wreckage of the Griffin, also known as the Griffin-Hound or Gribshunden, lies on the seafloor near the island of Stora Ekön in Sweden’s Blekinge archipelago. Recreational divers first discovered it in the 1970s, though it wasn’t reported to authorities until several decades later, per Arkeonews’ Leman Altuntaş.

Maritime archaeologists from Södertörn University have been studying the site since 2013. Last spring, they conducted a series of dives in partnership with researchers from Stockholm University. Read more here.

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Bottles of 250-Year-Old Cherries Discovered Beneath George Washington’s Home

Aaron Boorstein – smithsonianmag.com

George Washington’s legacy is famously colored by myths: He never did wear wooden dentures, for instance, and he didn’t skip a silver dollar across the Potomac River.

One of the most widely known myths is about a young Washington damaging his father’s cherry tree. As the story goes, he bravely confessed to the act: “I cannot tell a lie … I did cut it with my hatchet.”

While the cherry tree story is fictional, a real cherry storage artifact was recently unearthed at Mount Vernon, Washington’s home in Virginia. In the historic mansion’s cellar, archaeologists found two glass bottles full of 250-year-old cherries.

The dark green bottles were sealed, and both still contained liquid. Cherry remains—such as stems and pits—were “preserved within the liquid contents, which still bore the characteristic scent of cherry blossoms familiar to residents of the region during the spring season,” according…Read more here.

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This Chinese American Aviatrix Overcame Racism to Fly for the U.S. During World War II

Susan Tate Ankeny / Smithsonian MAGAZINE

Hazel Ying Lee circled the biplane, looking for anything suspicious. Missing something on a precheck could cost you your life. She checked the engine and confirmed that no oil had collected in its lower cylinder.

Starting a Fleet biplane involved choreography. Lee grasped the propeller with one hand and pulled it backward. “Just walk it through. You don’t need to use force,” her instructor, Al Greenwood, yelled from the cockpit. She repeated the process four times; each time, she heard the click that told her she’d done it correctly. Then, with both hands on the propeller, she raised her left leg forward. Swinging it behind her for leverage, she pulled, and the unique thumping that identified the Kinner engine began.

After climbing onto the wing and into the cockpit, Lee inspected the instrument panel, starting with the fuel. The tank held close to three hours of fuel when full. Read more here.

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“Bizarre” Patterns Unearthed – Cambridge Study Challenges Traditional Views on Human Origins

By University of Cambridge – SciTechDaily

A new study from the University of Cambridge suggests that interspecies competition significantly influenced the evolutionary trajectory of hominins, resulting in a “bizarre” evolutionary pattern for the Homo lineage. This research also proposes revised timelines for the emergence and extinction of various early human ancestors.

Conventionally, climate is held responsible for the emergence and extinction of hominin species. In most vertebrates, however, interspecies competition is known to play an important role. Now, research shows for the first time that competition was fundamental to “speciation” – the rate at which new species emerge – across five million years of hominin evolution.

The study, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, also suggests that the species formation pattern of our own lineage was unlike almost anything else. Read more here.

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