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Kristina Killgrove
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7 Ancient Roman Curses You Can Work into Modern Life
"Never do better than the mime."...
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Archaeologists Make Rare, Gruesome Find in Portugal
A team recently excavated three graves located at the edge of a medieval cemetery....
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6 Archaeological Finds Made by Badgers
Archaeology badger don’t care if it's mucking up our knowledge of the ancient past....
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Are These the Skeletons of the First European Colonists in the U.S.?
Unearthed in St. Augustine, Florida, the remains may date back to the Spanish settlement of the city in the mid 16th century....
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How the Global Bird-Poop Trade Created a Traveling Mummy Craze
Bird poop has been a favored fertilizer for centuries—and, it turns out, is an excellent preserver of human flesh....
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15 Mummies You Can See Around the World
This list is for the more macabre among you....
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Skeleton of a 19th-Century British Man Reveals He Wore a Corset
Medicine and fashion may have collided in this tuberculosis treatment....
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13 Cool Facts About Ötzi the Iceman
Nicknamed Ötzi, the Iceman, and Frozen Fritz, the body of a man who was around 40–50 years old when he died in the Copper Age. In honor of the 25th anniversary of his discovery, here are 13 surprising facts about Ötzi....
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Irish Teeth Reveal the Chemical Signature of the Great Famine
Researchers analyzed 20 sets of human remains from one of the many workhouses where entire families were institutionalized—and made to work long hours—as a "remedy" to poverty....
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A Brief History of Bog Bodies (and Butter)
The combination of cool climate and anoxic water in these northern bogs makes conditions right for long-term preservation....
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15 Intriguing Facts About the Antikythera Mechanism
This week, a team of researchers announced new insights about this singular artifact, which has fascinated the world for decades....
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13 Offbeat Ancient Recipes from Around the World
Porpoise porridge, anyone?...
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Matchsticks Once Sickened and Deformed Women and Children
The ravages of "phossy jaw"—necrosis of the jaw bone caused by phosphorus poisoning—may have been discovered in a young teenager's remains....
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Just How Old Is C-Section Birth?
And when did women and babies start surviving it?...
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6 Practical Ways Romans Used Human Urine and Feces in Daily Life
The emperor Vespasian reportedly defended his tax on urine by saying "pecunia non olet"—money doesn’t stink....
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Teeth and Bones from Ancient Rome Hold Clues to Migration and Slavery
Bioarchaeologist Kristina Killgrove writes for mental_floss about her research on skeletons from Rome, just published today....
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