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Extraordinary people, discoveries, and places

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The royal tombs of Ur revealed the golden splendor of Mesopotamia

Leonard Woolley’s excavation of Ur yielded an archaeologist’s dream: a series of intact burials from one of the world's most important ancient cities. The discovery—one of several high-profile archaeological finds in the 1920s—made headlines not just for the quantity and craftsmanship of the objects found, but also for the light they shed on the grisly nature of Sumerian burial practices.

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IMAGE BY SCIENCE HISTORY IMAGES, ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Why the U.S. once set off a nuclear bomb in space

It was 1962. Spectators held "watch-the-bomb parties" in Hawaii, and photographers debated the best camera settings for capturing a thermonuclear explosion in outer space. They needn't have bothered: Operation Starfish Prime wasn't exactly subtle.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PAUL NICKLEN, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

This cave was the final resting place for a menagerie of Ice Age beasts

Their exquisitely preserved bones, trapped for centuries under water, are painting a more detailed picture of the strange world inhabited by Naia, an Ice Age girl also found in the cave who is the oldest, most complete human skeleton yet discovered in the Americas.

CRUCIAL INSIGHTS

PHOTOGRAPH BY REBECCA HALE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

These green books are poisonous—and one may be on a shelf near you

These toxic books, produced in the 19th century, are bound in vivid cloth colored with a notorious pigment known as emerald green that's laced with arsenic. Now a museum conservator is working to track down the noxious volumes.

A COLOR TO DIE FOR

PHOTOGRAPH BY RONAN DONOVAN

Inside the harsh lives of wolves living at the top of the world

Our writer spent 30 hours traveling with Arctic wolves and gained a new appreciation for these predators of the tundra. "The wolves watched me silently," he writes, "but they were talking to each other with flicks of their ears, the posture of their tails. They were making decisions. And after a few moments they decided to come closer. "

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QUOTE

Stars may twinkle, but they don't just vanish—so when a distant, giant star pulled a disappearing act for about 200 days, it took astronomers by surprise.

—Nadia Drake

From: Mystery object blotted out a giant star for 200 days

PAID CONTENT FOR SPAIN TOURISM BOARD

PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHIEU PALEY

Delve into legend of the lamia in Basque Country

Fishing villages along the Basque coastline whisper of creatures from age-old maritime culture. The lamia is believed to be a siren or mermaid-like mythical monster that lures in sailors; either rewarding or drowning them, depending on their luck. Even to this day, a history of paganism and ritual in the towns that surround Bay of Biscay keeps these watery entities in retreat.

PHOTOGRAPH BY Y. KOYUNCU AND M. ÖNAL, ANTIQUITY PUBLICATIONS LTD

A secret tunnel reveals the procession of ancient gods

Assyrian deities of thunder and the moon were revealed by archaeologists in an underground chamber originally discovered by looters—an unprecedented find that may point to the use of "soft politics" in a frontier region of the world's most powerful empire almost 3,000 years ago.

AN UNUSUAL DISCOVERY

OTHER GREAT READS

The enduring wisdom of 'Goodnight Moon' (New York Times) ››

The messages that survived civilization's collapse (BBC) ››

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