Stones, Bones, and Wrecks

One of the mysteries of Easter Island's moai statues is why islanders dragged them to the coast. Now, scientists think they may be markers for hidden water sources.

The inmates at Alcatraz Prison had lived above a network of potential escape routes leftover from the island's days as a military fortification.

Archaeologists aren't sure how ancient people moved the rocks used to make Stonehenge 4000 years ago. But now, part of the mystery has been solved.

© Changkun Park, Electron Probe Micro Analyzer, Korea Polar Research Institute

It might not bite or jump, but this long-dead spider is unsettling for another reason: Its eyes still appear to be illuminated.

Pipe layer Jannick Vestergaard and engineer Henning Nøhr hold up the sword they found.

Archaeologists think the sword's owner may have been defeated in battle during the power struggles and strife that marked the medieval era.

A stone circle like this one was recently shown to be a replica.

Scientists' suspicions were outweighed by the excitement of finding another recumbent stone circle.

The sea delivers a surprise for beach-goers this holiday season.

The expensive delicacy has ancient origins.

Another nearby tomb remains sealed.

A. R. Coster, Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

It was shot down by a Polish pilot in 1944.

Ilya Bobrovskiy, the Australian National University

Organisms called 'Dickinsonia' defied classification for decades.

Wellcome Images, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0

But only a full excavation will prove its identity for sure.

Mummified penguins occasionally turn up, too.

The watch belonged to a Russian immigrant who planned to settle in the Bronx and become a dentist. He didn't make it.

One contains the eerie inscription: "When you see me, weep."

All that stood between them and better stone tools was a little hill. And yet.

New Study Reveals Why Easter Island's Statues Are Positioned Along the Coast

Laser Scans Detect Hidden Buildings and Tunnels Beneath Alcatraz Prison

Scientists Solve an Ancient Stonehenge Mystery: Where the Massive Rocks Came From

After 110 Million Years, This Spider Fossil's Eyes Are All Aglow

A (Still-Sharp) Medieval Sword Was Pulled from a Sewer in Denmark

Historians Studying an ‘Ancient’ Scottish Stone Circle Learn It Was Built in the 1990s

Remains of Late 19th-Century Shipwreck Found on Jersey Shore

People Have Been Dining on Caviar Since the Stone Age

Dozens of Cat Mummies, Plus 100 Cat Statues, Discovered in 4500-Year-Old Egyptian Tomb

Wreckage of a World War II Nazi 'Flying Bomb' Found in English Forest

A 2400-Year-Old Ship Seen Only in Ancient Greek Art Was Found at the Bottom of the Black Sea

Scientists Find Fossil of 150-Million-Year-Old Flesh-Eating Fish—Plus a Few of Its Prey

A 2.63-Carat Diamond Was Unearthed by a Grandmother at an Arkansas State Park

Archaeologists Uncover World's Oldest Known Brewery in Israel

Fossilized Fat Shows 550-Million-Year-Old Sea Creature May Have Been the World's First Animal

Endeavour, Captain Cook's Lost Ship, Might Have Been Found—Solving a Centuries-Old Mystery

There Could Be Hundreds of Frozen Corpses Buried Beneath Antarctica's Snow and Ice

Ice Age Wolf Pup and Caribou Mummies Discovered in Yukon

Fishermen Caught a 10,500-Year-Old Giant Irish Elk Skull—Antlers and All

11 of the Oldest Foods and Drinks Ever Discovered

The Long-Buried 16th-Century Theater Where Shakespeare's Earliest Plays Were Performed Will Reopen

A Pocket Watch From the Titanic Surfaces and Sells for $57,500

Hunger Stones Bearing Ominous Messages Have Resurfaced in Drought-Stricken Europe

Homo Erectus Might Have Been Really 'Lazy'