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Romans' Beasts of Burden: Camels?

Archaeologists find animals' bones across northern Europe

(Newser) - The Roman Empire may have brought camels a long way from home to serve as its beasts of burden, archaeologists say. Researchers have found Roman-age camel bones at 22 sites across northern Europe, USA Today reports. What's more, "antique literature and iconographical sources inform us about the uses... More »

Gingrich More 'Nutty Professor' Than Historian

Noah Feldman is amused by Gingrich's academic past

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich's attacks linking President Obama to Saul Alinsky delighted Harvard law professor Noah Feldman. "What excites me is not the preposterousness of the statement," though indeed, it was preposterous, he writes for Bloomberg . "What I love was the absurdity of Newt Gingrich apparently believing that... More »

O'Reilly: Lincoln Book Has Just 4 Errors, 2 Typos

Says his enemies are 'full of rage at our success'

(Newser) - Bill O’Reilly vigorously defended his book, Killing Lincoln, yesterday, after the National Park Service lambasted it for historical inaccuracies . “Our enemies are full of rage at our success,” he said on his show. He said the book contained "four minor misstatements, all of which have been... More »

O'Reilly's Lincoln Book Slammed for Historical Boo-Boos

Ford's Theatre superintendent writes scathing 4-page letter

(Newser) - Bill O'Reilly's book, Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever, has sold nearly a million copies and currently sits at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list . Only problem is, it's riddled with errors, according to a scathing review from the National Park Service... More »

Researchers to Build Computer Designed in 1830s

The world shall at last know if the Babbage Analytical Engine would have worked

(Newser) - Quick when was the first programmable computer designed? If you said the early 19th century … well, you probably looked at the headline. But you might be right, and researchers in Britain are currently planning to test that theory. They’re about to spend 10 years and millions of dollars... More »

New Theory: Van Gogh Was Murdered

Local boy shot him, authors of ' Van Gogh: The Life' suggest

(Newser) - The accepted explanation for Vincent Van Gogh's death may be all wrong. While the standard story is that the artist shot himself in a field, managing to return to a nearby inn before he died, a new 900-page book paints a very different picture. In Van Gogh: The Life,... More »

Mount Everest's Mystery: Should We Solve It?

Two British adventurers may have climbed it first

(Newser) - A long-frozen roll of film may solve one of Mount Everest's most enduring mysteries. England has long been caught in the romance of two British adventurers who scaled the mountain with a team in 1924 and were last seen a few hundred yards from the peak. Did George Mallory... More »

Eva Peron Helped Nazis, Hid Jewish Treasure: Book

And Simon Bolivar was a racist, it alleges

(Newser) - A new book is giving Argentina a new reason not to cry for Eva Peron: She helped a number of Nazis who fled Europe after World War II, and was rumored to have harbored treasures taken from their Jewish victims. The accusations come from The Politically Incorrect Guide to Latin ... More »

Vikings Left Greenland Because of ... Climate Change

Sinking temps may have forced them out, says study

(Newser) - We’re far from the first humans to grapple with climate change: It seems several populations were forced to leave Greenland when things got too cold for comfort, according to a new study. The Saqqaq people arrived in Greenland some 4,500 years ago, and were gone when weather cooled... More »

How You Can Join Hunt for Genghis Khan

Online volunteers examine satellite images of Mongolia

(Newser) - Armchair history buffs, take note: A University of California scientist needs all the help he can get finding the tomb of Genghis Khan. The only thing participants need to join the Valley of the Khans Project is a computer and an Internet connection, reports the Washington Post . Under the program,... More »

Luddites Didn't Hate Technology

They were actually just labor protesters with pizazz

(Newser) - The word “Luddite” is bandied about a lot these days, usually to denote someone steadfastly opposed to the march of technology; it’s “simultaneously a declaration of ineptitude and a badge of honor,” observes Richard Conniff in Smithsonian Magazine . There’s just one problem: the real Luddites... More »

New Mexico Celebrates a 'Terrorist'

Columbus celebrates Pancho Villa, who once sacked the town

(Newser) - Think New York City will ever name a park after Osama bin Laden or hold a parade in his honor? Before you answer, consider Columbus, New Mexico, which today celebrates “Raid Day,” a festival commemorating the day in 1916 when Pancho Villa raided the town with 500 soldiers,... More »

The Dark Past of Valentine's Day

Roman festival involved voluntary beatings for fertility

(Newser) - Valentine's Day may seem awash in saccharine, wine, and roses, but its origins are darker than its modern-day Hallmark reality—they lie partially in the pagan Roman celebration of Lupercalia, a fertility festival wherein bachelors sacrificed a goat and dog, ripped the skin off, and whipped women with them. Women... More »

Russia Ignores Tolstoy Centennial

Literary giant saddled with controversy 100 years on

(Newser) - On the 100th anniversary of his death, one of the world’s most celebrated authors hardly got a nod from his home country. Leo Tolstoy died Nov. 20, 1910, having been excommunicated a decade earlier by the Russian Orthodox Church. For decades, the Soviets saluted him (ignoring his Pacifism and... More »

Virginia's History Texts Riddled With Errors

Historians discover loads of mistakes in Five Ponds books

(Newser) - Did you know that colonial Virginians commonly wore full suits of armor? Or that New Orleans started off the 1800s as a US harbor (rather than a Spanish one)? These are just a few of the dozens of errors historians have found in Virginia’s textbooks. Virginia ordered a review... More »

Columbus Was Polish King's Son: Historian

We've had it wrong 500 years, says researcher

(Newser) - Christopher Columbus’ origins have long been shrouded in mystery—was he Italian? Spanish? Greek? None of the above: In fact, his father was a Polish king, argues Columbus expert Manuel Rosa in a new book. Rosa holds that the adventurer's father was Vladislav III, who was not killed in 1444... More »

Textbook Says Thousands of Slaves Fought for South

Author Joy Masoff read about it on the Internet

(Newser) - A Virginia 4th-grade textbook has come under fire for claiming that thousands of slaves fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War—something an overwhelming majority of historians say isn’t true. The book’s author, Joy Masoff, isn’t a trained historian, and says she did most of her... More »

Buzz Lightyear Was 1st Man on Moon: 20% of Brit Kids

Survey finds kids in UK know more about celebrities than history

(Newser) - Another day, another staggering study on British knowledge, this one focused on the wee ones. A fifth of children ages 6 to 12 believe the first person to walk on the moon was actually Toy Story spaceman Buzz Lightyear, not Neil Armstrong, according to a survey of thousands of schoolchildren.... More »

Treasure Hunters Flock to Sleepy French Town

But Rennes-le-Chateau locals think they're 'pitiable'

(Newser) - No treasure has ever been found in Rennes-le-Chateau. But Remy Martinez is convinced it’s there. He believes, he tells the LA Times , that Visigoths hid vast wealth under the tiny French town, in an underground labyrinth that also contains an ancient Jewish temple and the body of Jesus Christ... More »

Americans Flunk History

One-quarter of Americans don't know who got the short end of Revolution

(Newser) - On July 4th, Americans from all walks of life will gather to celebrate their independence from … someone or other. According to a new poll, more than 1 in 4 Americans can’t name England as the country the colonists fought in the Revolutionary War, CNN reports. That figure includes... More »

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