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Before this discovery, there was a 4,000-year-old gap in archaeological evidence of human activity in the area. Jesse Jokinen/MuseovirastoA drone photo on the excavation area on the west side of Kammarlahti. A newly discovered ancient settlement submerged in a Finnish lake is giving fresh clues about life for humans in the Stone Age. At the bottom of Lake Kuolimo in Kammarlahti, a town in southeast Finland, archaeologists uncovered the remains of a settlement believed to be about 8,000 to 9,000 years old, according to a release from EurekAlert....

“I didn’t want to be dominated by anyone,” the supercentenarian said. OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images The world’s oldest person recently told reporters the secret behind her longevity: being single. Italy’s Emma Morano, who celebrated her 117th birthday on November 29, officially received the Guinness World Records distinction of being the oldest person in the world this past May after the former record holder, New York City’s Susannah Mushatt Jones, passed away....

Erik the Red didn’t let a murder charge or a banishment (or two) hold him back from settling the world’s largest island. Wikimedia CommonsA depiction of Erik the Red, one of the most feared Vikings among a host of fearsome Vikings. The Vikings had their glory days from around 800 until well into the mid-1000s as they picked up the pieces from a fractured Europe. The Romans were down and out....

In 1970s Brooklyn, idealistic cop Frank Serpico blew the whistle on bribery and crime within the force. It almost cost him his life. In the opening scene of the 1973 film Serpico, Al Pacino, who stars as the titular character Frank Serpico of the New York police department, tensely draws his revolver. Frank Serpico is about to make an arrest at a heroin dealer’s apartment. He kicks in the door and waits for his fellow cops to assist....

Archaeologists have discovered a colossal buried statue of Ramses the Great. Like this gallery?Share it: Share Flipboard Email And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts: 1 of 9Egyptian workers look at the site of a new discovery by a team of German-Egyptian archeologists in Cairo’s Mattarya district. Statues of the kings and queens of the nineteenth dynasty (1295 - 1185 BC) were unearthed in the vicinity of the Temple of Ramses II in what was the old Pharonic city....

From 1940 to 1944, Corrie ten Boom and her family used their home in the Netherlands as a hiding place for Jews who were fleeing the Nazis. The watchmakers had a secret. In their home above the family shop on Barteljorisstraat in the Dutch city of Haarlem, they had built a safe room. There, Corrie ten Boom, her sister, and their father would save the lives of some 800 Jews fleeing the Nazis....

Discover the gruesome truths and the perpetuated fabrications about human sacrifice in the Aztecs Mayan, Incan, and Hawaiian civilizations. Wikimedia Commons In modern minds, the term “human sacrifice” conjures up macabre satanic rituals performed by bloodthirsty barbarians. In the ancient Americas, however, cultures now considered to be highly influential and civilized saw human sacrifice as a necessary part of everyday life. Whether it was to appease the gods or ensure success in battle and agriculture, for the following peoples, the lines between sacrifice and simple survival were often blurred....

Even after a cancer diagnosis, hip surgery, and 14 stitches to the head, Jimmy Carter hasn’t let age or illness keep him from building houses with Habitat for Humanity. Erik S. Lesser/Getty ImagesFormer U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, attach siding to the front of a Habitat for Humanity home in LaGrange, Georgia in 2003. For many, building homes for Habitat for Humanity is a once or twice in a lifetime experience....

Kathryn “Kitty” Lutesinger told the police about a fellow Manson Family member who bragged about stabbing someone. That someone? A murder victim at Sharon Tate’s house. Sue Terry/Los Angeles Public LibraryKitty Lutesinger sewing on Temple Street during Manson’s trial for the Tate-LaBianca murders. The Manson Family was many things: brainwashed, impassioned, misguided, violent. Another thing it was, was numerous. The core group numbered around 30, sometimes drifting into the hundreds. The goal was to reach 150,000 members — all the better to control the world after the supposed race riots....

Famadihana is a ritual where families exhume the bones of their dead relatives, rewrap them with a fresh cloth, and dance with the wrapped corpses. After an epidemic of the Black Plague reemerged in Madagascar, officials warn that the practice of dancing with dead bodies may heighten the risk of spreading the disease. The ancient tradition of “Famadihana,” or dancing with the dead, may be helping to spread the Famadihana currently ravaging Madagascar, reports Newsweek....

Thomas Coleman Younger fought with Quantrill’s Raiders during the Civil War and then joined the James-Younger Gang to rob banks and stagecoaches. The U.S. Civil War ripped a chasm across the country. And out of the abyss came great violence — sanctioned and otherwise. For Cole Younger, the conflict birthed his career as a guerilla fighter and prepared him for a life as an outlaw. Operating on the fringes of society, Younger and his brothers spent the war years terrorizing the Midwest....

The newly grown plants — named Adam, Hannah, Uriel, Boaz, Jonah, and Judith — sprouted from ancient seeds sourced from historical sites in Israel. PixabayJudean dates were ubiquitously grown in the region until the 19th century and famed for their long shelf life. Who would have known that seeds from 2,000 years ago would still be able to grow into trees today? This was proven by a team of scientists who were able to grow multiple date palms in Israel by using ancient seeds harvested from historical sites in the Judean desert....

Yes, the Playboy mansion grotto was featured in a Weezer music video. But that spectacle pales in comparison to the natural splendor of Italy’s blue grotto. While the Playboy mansion‘s infamous grotto might get the most attention in the pop culture realm, natural grottos off the coast of Italy (and around the world) are a source of wonder for millions and a major tourist hotspot. Italy’s Blue Grotto and Emerald Grotto are natural sea caves that illuminate seawater with a mystical glow with either bright blue or deep green hues, respectively....

The discovery could be the long-lost Clotilda, the last known slave ship to bring live slaves to the U.S. AL.comThe wreckage found by Ben Raines, who claims that it is the long lost Clotilda. Thanks to a little amateur sleuthing, a local news reporter in Alabama may have uncovered a long-lost part of American history. Ben Raines, a reporter with AL.com, spent hours listening to accounts from local old-timers and pouring over historical records in an attempt to locate the Clotilda, the last American slave ship known to have brought cargo – that is, living human beings like Cudjo Lewis – back to the U....

Jeanne Calment lived long due to a heavy reliance on chocolate, olive oil, cigarettes, and cheap red wine. Jeanne Calment spent her life doing almost everything that doctors advise against if you want to live a long life. She smoked, she drank, she played with guns, she ate excessive amounts of sugar and red meat, and she never ate breakfast, save for a cup or two of coffee. She also lived to be 122 years, five months, and 14 days old....

In 1964, the FBI tried to blackmail Martin Luther King Jr. into ending his civil rights campaign with a letter that threatened to expose proof of his extramarital affairs — and apparently even encouraged him to kill himself. It was 1964. Martin Luther King Jr. had already established himself as a household name and leader of the civil rights movement. In the spring, King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) had launched a massive campaign to end racial discrimination in St....

Mauna Kea Observatory Occupying a vast 500 acres on Hawaii’s Big Island, the Mauna Kea Observatory is currently the world’s largest array of optical, infrared, and submillimeter astronomical equipment. Combined, the light-gathering ability of the telescopes on MKO is sixty times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope. Mauna Kea houses more telescopes than any other single mountain peak observatory. Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) The Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array comprises a total of 66 radio telescopes and is located in Northern Chile’s Atacama Desert....

“They were in the break room eating a tin of almond cookies. I guess they struck gold.” Peninsula Humane Society/SPCAA bank customer encountered a pair of juvenile raccoons inside the bank while using its ATM machine. An unusual break-in occurred at a bank in Redwood City, California — and the trespassers were two furry juvenile raccoons. According to IFL Science, a pair of young raccoons were spotted inside a branch of the Peninsula Bank when a client saw the mischievous animals while withdrawing money from the ATM outside in the early morning....

The hippo was warded off by a stone-throwing bystander, and the boy was rushed to the hospital. Buena Vista Images/Getty ImagesHippos are the deadliest large land animal on Earth, responsible for 500 deaths each year in Africa. It’s not something people think about much in the West, but hippos are some of the most dangerous creatures on the planet. To those who live in regions where the amphibious animals roam free, however, this is not an easy fact to forget — especially when these fearsome creatures attack....

The “suicide game” involves completing 49 twisted tasks before taking your own life to “win.” A 14-year-old in Mumbai, India flung himself from the roof of a seven-story building on Saturday in order to win a terrifying game that is apparently spreading around the world. According to the Mumbai police, the boy is India’s first reported Blue Whale Challenge casualty. Though rumors of the seemingly oxymoronic “suicide game” were originally thought to be a hoax, this boy’s death — along with numerous other casualties — shows that the hashtag can indeed have real and deadly consequences....