X-ray scans of Carreno de Miranda's 1681 portrait of the King Charles II of Spain reveal that the artist painted over an earlier portrait of the King when he was much younger [1200x1145]

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More than 10,000 years ago, a woman or young man made 2 trips separated by at least several hours, carrying a toddler in at least one direction. Their trackway, in what's now New Mexico’s White Sands National Park, stretch for 1,5 km and consists of more than 400 human prints [1377x1444]

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A 1,500-year-old arrow was discovered last week in Norway, nestled between rocks. The research team believes it was encased in ice and was then transported downslope when the ice melted [2048x1536]

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There are 5 temples in Kyoto, Japan, that have blood stained ceilings. The ceilings are made from the floorboards of Fushimi Castle where Torii Mototada and his remaining 380 samurai warriors killed themselves, in 1600, after a long hold-off against an army of 40,000 for 11 days [999x1432]

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The Sweet Track is a 5830-year-old Neolithic timber walkway, located in the Somerset Levels in England and discovered in 1970. It was originally part of a network of tracks built to provide a dry path across the marshy ground [1399x1024]

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The Ksar Draa in Timimoun, Algeria, is an ancient ruin that stands out in the middle of an ocean of dunes, and it's history has been lost over the centuries. The only news related to it is that for a certain period of time it was occupied by the Jews of the Timimoun region [745x998]

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Dr Irving Finkel holding a 3770-year-old tablet, that tells the story of the god Enki speaking to the Sumerian king Atram-Hasis (the Noah figure in earlier versions of the flood story) and giving him instructions on how to build an ark which is described as a round 220 ft diameter coracle [672x900]

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A 2000-year-old Roman silver dagger, that was discovered by an archeology intern in 2019 in Germany, before and after nine months of careful restoration work [2154x2011]

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A Viking era ring inscribed with the words 'for Allah', found in the grave of a woman who was buried 1200 years ago in Birka, 25 km west of modern-day Stockholm. The ring constitutes a unique material evidence of direct contact between the Vikings and the Abbasid Caliphate [2000x1357]

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The shaman of Bad Durrenberg are the remains of a 25-35 year old woman, who was burried 8600 to 9000 year ago in Germany. Around her, were the remains of an extraordinary head-dress, made from the bones and teeth of different animals such as deer, wild boar, crane and turtle [2077x1962]

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Modesty by Antonio Corradini is a marble sculpture completed in 1752 during the Rococo period. Corradini was commissioned by Raimondo di Sangro to sculpt a memorial for his mother in the Cappella Sansevero in Naples, where the marble sculpture remains today [768x865]

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A Viking era ring inscribed with the words 'for Allah', found in the grave of a woman who was buried 1200 years ago in Birka, 25 km west of modern-day Stockholm. The ring constitutes a unique material evidence of direct contact between the Vikings and the Abbasid Caliphate

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Joseph Ducreux (1735-1802) a French painter famous for his unorthodox self portraits [2099x1802]

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The world's oldest undeground station, Baker Street, England. 160 years apart [1412x1424]

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What the pyramid of Khafre looked like 4,500 years ago compared to today. The pyramids of Giza were originally covered with highly polished white limestones, with the capstones at the peak being covered in gold [1000x1135]

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This is one of many hair ropes used during the reconstruction of Higashi Hongan-ji Temple in 1895 in Kyoto. As there was no rope strong enough to hoist the temple’s massive wooden beams, in response, female devotees cut off their hair and braided it into strong and thick ropes [682x1631]

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The Swedish warship Vasa. It sank in 1628 less than a mile into its maiden voyage and was recovered from the sea floor after 333 years almost completely intact. Now housed at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, is the world's best preserved 17th century ship [1994x2048]

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One of the hundreds of elongated skulls that were discovered in 1928 at Paracas Peninsula in Peru. Cranial deformation was practiced by the Paracas civilization (800-100 BCE) by tightly wrapping the head in cloth, during the first few years of life, in order to elongate the cranium [2069x1592]

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The Herculaneum papyri are more than 1800 papyri that were carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (79 CE), constituting the only surviving library from antiquity that exists in its entirety. Now using new x-ray technique, these scrolls are being read for the first time in millennia [3072x4352]

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The early Bronze Age Grave 110 of a rich woman, from Franzhausen I cemetery in Austria. The woman, who died approximately 4000 years ago, was found buried with elaborate bronze ornaments and a unique headdress. Now housed at the Natural History Museum in Vienna [2696x2048]

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A Native American 28-foot canoe estimated to be 1,000 years old was recovered last week from southeastern North Carolina's Lake Waccamaw [1280x1753]

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Roman bird-shaped glass vessels were used as perfume bottles. The liquid was sealed inside the vessels and the tip of the tail had to be broken to remove the perfume. The one in the bottom picture (dated to the 1st century CE) is still intact and filled with the scented content [1279x1632]

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“Death blowing bubbles,” one of the several depictions of death created by Johann Georg Leinberger between 1729 and 1731 for the ceiling of the Holy Grave Chapel in Michaelsberg Abbey in Bamberg, Germany. The bubbles are symbols of the fragility of life [1080x1009]

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Years of restoration at the 2,200-year-old Temple of Esna, in Egypt, has revealed the vibrant original colors that have been covered by centuries of dirt, soot, and bird poop [1439x3019]

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A golden ram and a stone lion, found in a tomb at the archaeological site of Gonur Depe (dated from 2400 to 1600 BCE) in Turkmenistan. The finger in the background shows how small these figures are, demonstrating the extraordinary skill of the craftsmen [1900x1276]

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A nearly complete 1st century BCE carnyx found in 2004 at Tintignac, France (the one in the left picture, with a reconstruction in the right). Fashioned as a snarling boar, the carnyx was a war horn used by the Iron Age Celts between c. 200 BCE and c. 200 CE [1513x1536]

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More than 100 old books, manuscripts and documents, some 1,200 years old, were recently discovered in the attic of the St. Margaret Evangelical Church in Medias, Romania, by a team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Adinel Dinca from the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj [2048x1536]

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The graves of a catholic woman and her protestant husband, who were not allowed to be buried together because of their differing faiths. 1888 CE, located at Het Oude Kerkhof in Roermond, the Netherlands [1920x2553]

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In 1938, 17 brass and copper heads and the upper half of a brass figure (dated to the 14th-15th century CE) were found by accident during house building works at Ife in Nigeria. The realism and sophisticated craftsmanship of the objects challenged Western conceptions of African art [1061x1222]

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Xylaria Polymorpha is a saprobic fungus commonly known as dead man’s fingers

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The Castle of Coca is a castle located in the Coca municipality, central Spain. It was constructed in the 15th century and has been considered to be one of the best examples of Spanish Mudejar brickwork which incorporates Moorish Muslim design and construction with Gothic architecture [1349x1687]

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The physical change of the Roman emperor Nero as seen on the coins issued during his reign [348x388]

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A 15-foot-long dugout canoe discovered last fall in Wisconsin's Lake Mendota has been scanned with high-tech tools and dated to around 1,200 years ago [2987x2562]

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The Cosquer cave is a Palaeolithic decorated cave, located in France, that contains numerous cave drawings dating back as far as 27,000 years BP. The cave has more than 200 parietal figures and is also the only decorated cave whose entrance opens under the sea [2560x3253]

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The Norias of Hama are a series of 17 norias, historic water-raising machines for irrigation, along the Orontes River in Hama, Syria. They are notable for their medieval origins and for the enormous size of two of them, which were for nearly 500 years the tallest waterwheels in the world [600x882]

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This whaling suit from Greenland, made some time before 1834, is the only complete suit of its kind in the world. The hunter crawled into the sealskin suit through the central hole, making it waterproof by pulling the hole closed. Now housed at the National Museum of Denmark [613x1312]

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The use of LIDAR technology on the sprawling metropolis of Calakmul, in southern Mexico, has allowed archeologists to peel away the rainforest and reveal the remains of an ancient Maya city nearly twice the size of the City of Vancouver [1439x1794]

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The Pine Trees screen is a pair of six-panel folding screens, by Hasegawa Tohaku, that depicts a view of Japanese pine trees in the mist, with parts of the trees visible and parts obscured. The screens, made in the late 16th century, were designated as a National Treasure of Japan in 1952 [1000x524]

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A burial mound at Marathon, Greece, containing the ashes of 192 Athenians who fell during the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE [984x1182]

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In ancient Rome, roads were dotted with white stones (cats' eyes) which reflected the moonlight, acting as street lights to help people walk on the street after dark. Pictured is a Roman road in Pompeii [526x877]

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A new research revealed this year that this obsidian mirror used by Queen Elizabeth I’s famed political advisor and occultist John Dee to 'speak' with angels has Aztec origin. The mirror was crafted in Aztec Mexico more than 500 years ago and is now on display at the British Museum [1200x1787]

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The mummy of king Tutankhamun was laid inside 3 coffins nested within each, with the innermost coffin made of 110.4 kg of solid gold. For the first time since his tomb was opened 100 years ago, the 3 coffins will be displayed together at the new Grand Egyptian Museum [1124x1967]

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Xylaria Polymorpha is a saprobic fungus commonly known as dead man’s fingers.

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The Roman Amphitheatre of Catania in Sicily, 2nd century CE. The city of Catania has been buried by lava a total of 17 times in recorded history, and in layers under the present-day city are the Roman city that preceded it, and the Greek city before that [1080x1251]

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Frog, by the Japanese artist Matsumoto Hoji. 1814 CE [1120x1578]

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Depictions of Medjed from the Greenfield papyrus (950s-930s BCE). Medjed (meaning The Smiter) is an ancient Egyptian god who shoots rays of light from his eyes, and who goes round about heaven robed in the flame of his mouth, commanding Hapi (Nile god), but remaining himself unseen [456x338]

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A pair of Levi's jeans from the 1880s found down an abandoned New Mexico mine have been sold at auction for a total of $87,400. They are flecked with wax over the legs from where the original owner labored under candle light [1153x1798]

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An early example of a successful cranioplasty (Peru, ca. 400 CE). The patient survived, as evidenced by the well-healed in situ cranioplasty made from a gold inlay. Now on display at the Gold Museum of Peru and Weapons of the World in Lima [1200x1448]

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A large Roman mosaic depicting a lion found in Salakta, Tunisia. 3rd century CE, now on display at Salakta archeological museum [640x535]

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Abuna Yemata Guh is a monolithic church located in the Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It is situated at a height of 2,580 metres (its entrance is highlighted by a red circle) and has to be climbed on foot to reach. It is notable for its wall paintings dating back to the 5th century [4312x2918]

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A 3,000-year-old clay pig found in 2020 at the Lianhe Ruins in China. When it was discovered, the pottery has gone viral as it looks similar to the pigs in AngryBirds. Now housed at the Sanxingdui Museum [1190x947]

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A 1800-year old ceramic horse. Han Dynasty (202 BCE– 9 CE, 25–220 CE), now housed at the Sanxingdui Museum in China [695x900]

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A 700-year-old well-preserved lacquer coffin dating back to the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368), discovered in east China's Jiangsu Province in 2018 [1920x2880]

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Khara-Khoto is an abandoned city in Inner Mongolia, China. Built in 1032, the city thrived under the rule of the Western Xia dynasty. It has been identified as the city of Etzina which appears in The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian explorer who travelled through Asia between 1271-1295 [1080x708]

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A 25,000-year-old engraving of a woman at Cussac cave in France. The cave, which was discovered on September 30, 2000 by amateur speleologist Marc Delluc, contains over 150 Paleolithic artworks as well as several human remains [1182x1493]

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After she was publicly flogged and her daughters raped by Roman soldiers, Queen Boudica of the Iceni destroyed 3 entire cities. Londinium burned with such ferocity that a blackened scorch-layer still runs under modern London, named by archaeologists the 'Boudican Destruction Horizon' [2080x2810]

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Meet Abdel Kader Haidara, the man who risked his life to save almost 400,000 ancient manuscripts from Timbuktu from being destroyed by the jihadists. These manuscripts, which some date back to the 11th century, deal with myriad subjects such as medicine, astronomy, and sex [3072x4088]

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A flintlock rifle with a twisted barrel and heart shaped bore from 1765, formerly owned by George IV, now part of the Royal Collection Trust [2000x1612]

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The skull of a viking man with filed teeth, found in a mass grave in Dorset. The purpose behind filed teeth remains unclear but some researchers believe that the teeth carvings were likely dyed (probably with red) to frighten opponents in battle or to show their status as a great fighter [1392x924]

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This small bronze purse (4.3x3.3 cm) was found with six gold coins still inside in the Celtic oppidum (settlement) at Manching, Germany. It was originally sealed with an organic material, presumably a leather strap. Ca. 200 BCE [900x969]

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An 18th century CE ivory dildo complete with contrivance for simulating ejaculation and its own discreet cloth bag. The didlo was hidden in the seat of a Louis XV armchair found in a convent near Paris. Now housed at the Science Museum in London [720x1203]

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Meymand is a very ancient village in Iran. It is believed to be a primary human residence in the Iranian Plateau, dating back to 12,000 years ago. Many of the residents live in the 350 hand-dug houses amid the rocks, some of which have been inhabited for as long as 3,000 years [960x1257]

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Viking ice skates, made from leather and horse-bone, found in York. The skates weren’t blades designed to bite the ice like today’s nimble models. They were likely used very much like skis, with accessory poles used to balance while the user skidded across frozen ground or water [2048x1365]

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Qasr Al-Farid meaning ‘the Lonely Castle’ is the largest rock-cut tomb at the archaeological site of Hegra, in Saudi Arabia. Nabataean Kingdom, 1st century CE [1080x1350] (there's a human for scale)

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The Punic cothon of Carthage, in modern-day Tunisia, as it would have appeared in the 3rd century BCE compared to today [1200x1690]

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The Meditating Frog is a painting by the Japanese monk Sengai Gibon (1750–1837 CE), Edo period [1360x850]

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An Egyptian mummy displayed in Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta. The mummy is that of a man who lived during the Old Kingdom period of Egypt, in c. 2300 BCE [3251x2063]

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One of the three Roman pools of Gafsa, in Tunisia, two of which are open. Built in the 2nd century BCE, they are about five meters deep and are fed by hot water springs [683x1024]

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A Chinese export porcelain crab tureen. 1736-1795 CE, now housed at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts [4192x2915]

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The prison cell at Narni sotterranea, a series of underground rooms that were discovered at Narni, Italy, in 1979. Its walls are covered in coded writing, drawings and cryptic masonic symbols mainly left by Giuseppe Andrea Lombardini, an inquisition guard imprisoned for heresy in 1759 [1475x2111]

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‘Slug’ by Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754-1799 CE), who was a Japanese painter of the Maruyama school. Ink on paper, Edo Period [1992x2048]

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The Palmyra Castle in the province of Homs, Syria, thought to have been built by the Mamluks in the 13th century on a high hill overlooking the historic site of Palmyra [1125x1131]

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One of the 4000-year-old well-preserved wagons unearthed in the Lchashen village in the vicinity of Lake Sevan. Made of oak, they are the oldest known wagons in the world. Now on display at the History Museum of Armenia [1600x1067]

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A Mughal emerald and gold ring, 16-17th century CE, sold at Christie's in 2019 [700x680]

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An old photo showing a 4000-year-old Sumerian classroom in Iraq [1427x1039]

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A 17th century ottoman three-mast tent made of silk and gilded leather. Now on display at the Turkish Chamber in the Dresden Armoury [959x637]

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An aerial view of the Dunlough Castle, which is perched at the top of 100m cliffs above the Atlantic Ocean and next to a fresh water lake on the northern tip of Mizen Peninsula. Founded in 1207 by Donagh O’Mahony, Dunlough is one of the oldest castles in southern Ireland [1080x1351]

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Rani Ki Vav is a stepwell, located in the town of Patan in India, that is designed as an inverted temple highlighting the sanctity of water. Its construction is attributed to Udayamati, the spouse of the 11th-century Chaulukya king Bhima I. Silted over, it was rediscovered in the 1940s [678x1387]

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A gun hidden within a bible, made for Francesco Morozini, Doge of Venice (1619-1694). The owner of the bible could pull the silk bookmark to shoot while the book was still closed. Now on display at the Museo Correr in Venice [811x705]

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A cabin on board the Aachen, a 19th-century steamship hit by a torpedo in July 1915. Now located at the bottom of the Baltic Sea [2250x1500]

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The mysterious architectural stone models at the archaeological site of Awkimarka in Peru. They measure between 40 and 50 cm. Date and purpose unknown [1637x2070]

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The 17th century Shah Jahan Mosque in Pakistan, notable for its geometric brick work [1365x2048]

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Windcatchers in the skyline of the Old City of Yazd in Iran. Thought to have originated from Persia thousands of years ago, windcatchers are tall chimney-like structures whose purpose is to cool the interior of the building by harnessing the cool breezes and redirecting them downwards [1777x2003]

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Two baby boys, whose bodies were covered in red ochre and buried under a mammoth bone about 31,000 years ago in what is now northeastern Austria, are the earliest known identical twins [1440x1798]

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The earliest known manufactured mirrors (approximately 8000 years old), found at the Neolithic site of Catalhoyuk in Turkey. These mirrors were made from obsidian (volcanic glass), and had a convex surface and remarkably good optical quality [1599x2323]

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The ceiling of the 2000 years old hypostyle hall of the temple of Hathor in Dendera, Egypt [1536x2048]

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The giant two-handed sword that belonged to the Bavarian Prince-Elector Maximilian II, made from a sawfish snout, 1689

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In 2006, a massive monolith of the earth goddess Tlaltecuhtli was discovered in an excavation at the Templo Mayor in Mexico City. The monolith, which still retains its original polychromy, measures 4.17 by 3.62 m and weighs 12 tons, making it the largest Aztec sculpture ever discovered [3007x5320]

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In 1987, a 6500-year-old tomb was found at the site of Xishuipo in China. The tomb contained the body of a tall adult male flanked by 2 clamshell mosaics, a tiger design to the right and a dragon design to the left. The burial was accompanied by the bodies of 3 young children [998x1774]

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The Nanhai One is a Chinese merchant ship with over 60,000 items on board, which sank into the South China Sea in the 12th century. Discovered in 1987, the ship was raised in 2007 and placed in a custom-made saltwater tank where archaeologists continue to study and excavate the wreck [1190x1562]

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The 1900-year-old Pantheon which features the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. At noon on 21 April (traditional date of birth of Rome), the sun’s ray through the oculus would strike the entrance doorway so that the Emperor entering the building would be bathed in the sunlight [2483x3677]

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The 2,300-year-old Grand Theatre of Ephesus, in Turkey, before and after excavation [1200x1500]

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The remains of a prehistoric house from the bronze age settlement of Akrotiri in Santorini, Greece. The settlement was destroyed in the Theran eruption sometime in the 16th century BCE and buried in volcanic ash [1080x1304]

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This German-made 12th century blade, adorned in Sweden, was discovered in 1975 buried under a tree in Siberia, Russia. It's theorized that it could have belonged to Ivan the Terrible, and came from the royal armoury as a gift at the time of the conquest of Siberia [719x1581]

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Two baby boys, whose bodies were covered in red ochre and buried under a mammoth bone about 31,000 years ago in what is now northeastern Austria, are the earliest known identical twins [710x886]

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Rujm el-Hiri is an ancient megalithic monument made up of more than 42,000 basalt rocks arranged in concentric circles with a 4.6 m tall tumulus at its center. The monument was built between 3000 and 2700 BCE on the Golan Heights, Syria [1964x1458]

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A Victorian archery outfit belonging to Mrs Fanny Giveen. C. 1855, now part of the collection of the Museum of London [823x1062]

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In 1602, Queen Elizabeth I wrote a letter to the Emperor Wanli of Ming seeking trade with China, intending for the letter to be delivered that same year. The letter never made it to China until 1984. (full letter in modern English in the comments) [750x630]

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A Roman villa that was found 10 metres under the church of Santa Maria Assunta at Positano, Italy, in 2004 and opened to the public in 2018. The Villa, hidden for centuries, was buried under the ashes and mud of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE [1536x2048]

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1000 years ago some Viking craftsman lost all his equipment in the lake Mastermyr on the island of Gotland. In 1936 the wooden chest containing all the tools were found at the bottom of the former lake, which now had turned into a bog. Now on display at the Swedish History Museum [1322x1172]

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A 6,000-year-old Stone Age burial of a woman with a baby cradled in her arm discovered in 2015 in the central Netherlands city of Nieuwegein. It is the oldest infant burial ever found in the Netherlands [2117x1922]

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A centuries-old wooden statue was recently discovered by a group of Dutch shrimp fishermen off the coast of Texel. A municipal archaeologist for that region believes that the statue came from a warship, possibly during the 80 Years' War, which stretched from the mid-1500s to mid-1600s [1536x3007]

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Michelangelo's Moses is a marble sculpture made in 1513–15. One of the many details of this masterpiece is one very small muscle in the forearms that contracts only when lifting the pinky, otherwise it is invisible. Moses is lifting the pinky, therefore that tiny muscle is contracted [6293x4127]

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In the small village of Nashtifan, Iran, some of the oldest windmills in the world still spin. Made of natural clay, straw, and wood, the windmills have been milling grain for flour for an estimated 1,000 years [800x476]

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First European map of Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire, made in 1524, and a mural of the city made by Diego Rivera in 1945. The city, which was built on an island in what was then Lake Texcoco, left Hernan Cortes' men in awe and many of them wondered if they were dreaming [1878x2634]

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The earliest swords so far known in the world, found at Arslantepe Mound in Turkey. The swords, which are dated back to between 3300 and 3000 BCE, are composed of arsenic-copper alloy and among them, three swords were beautifully inlaid with silver [980x980]

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A Roman mosaic depicting a fish. 1st century CE, now housed at the State Historical Museum in Moscow [894x644]

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A newspaper ad from 1865 of an 18 year old man looking for a wife [605x1341]

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The Eyes of Sibiu are the iconic eyebrow dormers on the roofs of Sibiu's houses in Romania. Built mostly between the 15th and 19th centuries, the eyes, which were used as a ventilation system for the houses' attics, have given Sibiu the nickname of The City Where Houses Don't Sleep [1199x1806]

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A rose quartz covered incense burner. Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Reign (1736-1796 CE), now housed at the Nanjing Museum in China [973x851]

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The surviving parts of the Colossus of Constantine, an early-4th-century statue depicting Constantine the Great, which originally occupied the west apse of the Basilica of Maxentius in Rome. The Colossus has been reconstructed to its full 12-metre height in Milan's Fondazione Prada [1409x2374]

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Some of the hundreds of rock carvings etched into the stone of hilltops in the western part of India's Maharashtra state. The petroglyphs may date back to 10,000 BCE, and they come from the hands of people who belonged to an as-yet-unknown civilization [1024x1450]

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The 3,200-year-old tomb of Queen Nefertari, also called the Sistine Chapel of Ancient Egypt. The paintings, which are found on almost every available surface in the tomb, are considered to be the best preserved and most eloquent decorations of any Egyptian burial site [1080x1144]

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1100 years ago a young and bored Viking carved the outline of his right foot on the floorboards of the Gokstadt ship, which was discovered in 1880 in Norway [1024x1258]

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The Maya Codex of Mexico is one of only 4 known extant Maya codices, and the only one that still resides in the Americas. Made between 1021 and 1154 CE, the manuscript charts the movements of the planet Venus and is the oldest known surviving book of the Americas [1279x1953]

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Tollense valley battlefield in northern Germany is considered Europe’s oldest battlefield site. 3300 years ago, some 4000 warriors from Central Europe fought in a battle on the site leaving behind thousands of bone fragments, bronze, wooden and flint weapons, and gold and bronze objects [3070x7579]

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The Great God of Sefar painting in Sefar, Algeria. Round Head Period, 9550-7550 years old [1327x2000]

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Garima Gospels are 2 Gospel Books written in Ge’ez and held at the Abba Garima Monastery on a mountain over 2000 m high in Ethiopia. Garima 2, the earlier of the two, is believed to be the earliest surviving complete illuminated Christian manuscript and is radiocarbon dated to 390–570 [1919x2848]

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A book which was part of the evidence Henry VIII and his lawyers gathered in the 1530s to help win an annulment from Catherine of Aragon and ultimately to break with Rome, was found in 2015 on the shelves of the library at Lanhydrock, a National Trust mansion in Cornwall [3000x3796]

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Bronze Age lurs from Denmark. These horns are wind instruments cast in bronze 3,000 years ago. Usually found in pairs, 39 have been recovered from peat bogs, where it’s thought they were placed as votive offerings. Now housed at the National Museum of Denmark [1340x962]

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A Roman gold snake bracelet found on the arm of a woman who was killed by Mount Vesuvius’ eruption in 79 CE near Pompeii, inscribed on the inside 'DOMINVS SVAE ANCILLAE' which means From a master to his slave girl. [720x549]

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Picture of Teddy Roosevelt’s diary entry from the day both his wife and mother died in 1884. Roosevelt marked the day in his diary with a big “X” noting, “The light has gone out of my life” [740x1120]

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The Egyptian-French archaeological mission of the European Institute of Underwater Archeology, working in Alexandria, discovered the wreck of a warship from the Ptolemaic period, and the remains of a Greek funerary area dating back to the beginning of the 4th century BCE [3331x4446]

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A reconstruction of the Arch of Ctesiphon as it may have appeared in the 6th cent. compared to its remaining ruins today in Iraq. The arch, which was built either by Shapur I (242-272) or Kosrau I (531-579), is the largest single-span vaulted arch of unreinforced brickwork in the world [1155x1422]

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An old photo of a Maya ball court marker in the shape of a macaw's head, located in the municipality of La Union, Copan in western Honduras [1019x1012]

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Letter from the peers of England urging the Pope to annul Henry VIII's first marriage. The pope was struck by its peremptory tone, the nobles complaining of the delay in issuing an annulment and warning that a refusal would result in extreme measures being taken for the good of the kingdom [500x505]

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Dardanelles Gun is a Ottoman super-sized bombard built in 1464 by Munir Ali and modelled after the Orban bombard that was used for the Ottoman besiegers of Constantinople in 1453. In 1807, the gun was still in use against the failed Dardanelles Operation by the British Royal Navy [800x526]

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