Investigators say new DNA testing restored a name to a long cold case and brought answers to one California family.
-
-
How Boston’s 1729 Gravestone in Boston’s Granary Burying Ground Became One of the Oldest Known Markers for a Free Black Person in America
A restored headstone and a careful archival search brought the story of Boston, a formerly enslaved Black man, back into view nearly 300 years after his burial.
-
Why Dinosaur Fossils Still Turn up in the United States, From a Gettysburg Bridge Stone to Museum Displays and Track Sites That Preserve Prehistoric Life
Dinosaur traces in the U.S. surface in parks, museums, and even unexpected building stone.
-
How the La Brea Tar Pits Preserve the Story of Dire Wolves, Sabre Cats and Mammoths Locked in a California Ice Age Food Web
A single tar pit site reveals how predators, scavengers and mammoths all ended up in the same deadly Ice Age trap.
-
A Rare July 1776 Printed Declaration Turned up in Britain, Preserved for Centuries in Archives Few Scholars Realized Held One of America’s Earliest Independence Copies
Archivists in London identified an authentic early printing of the Declaration of Independence, one of only a handful known from that July 1776 run.
-
How Eagle Mountain Became a Desert Company Town for More Than 4,000 Miners, Then Fell Silent After the Iron Mine Closed and the Residents Left
Built in the Mojave Desert for postwar iron mining, Eagle Mountain later emptied out and became one of California’s starkest ghost towns.
-
Why the Wreck of the Hōfuku Maru Matters to American Wartime History After Its Hidden Prisoner Cargo and 800 Dead Were Finally Located
The World War II ship’s discovery off the Philippines confirms a long-missing grave and clarifies the fate of prisoners caught in a wartime bombing.
-
Why a Tiny Native American Pot Found at Mission San Francisco De Potano Matters, Since It Is the Only One of Its Kind in 7,000 Artifacts Recovered There
Archaeology students uncovered a rare, intact vessel at a former Spanish mission in northwest Gainesville, and researchers still do not know why it was buried.