The archaeological sites uncovered through London's Crossrail Project

While constructing the tunnel connecting the UK and France, satellite positioning systems were supplemented by paleontologists on either side of the tunnel, who analyzed fossils to ensure excavation was at the correct depth.

Essential pipes, sewers, and cables lie buried beneath New York City

The Department of Design and Construction offers a tour of its work sites, explaining the complex systems that exist underground. Gas, electrical, telecom pipes, and many others, sprawl out underneath the entire city, with dozens of maps that help workers know where they're placed. This layout is unusual compared to the rest of the country, where wires are often present and visible above ground.

The Large Hadron Collider repurposed an excavation tunnel built for the Large Electron-Positron Collider, which was used until 2000 and whose construction involved the largest civil engineering project in Europe before the Channel Tunnel.

Watch animations of the creation and excavation of dinosaur tracks

The discovery of a dinosaur trackway in the UK emerged from a controlled explosion that removed limestone from an Oxfordshire quarry. The footprints provide unique insights into dinosaur behavior and movement, with marine fossils suggesting a lagoon-like environment.

The wild, early history of the tunnel across the English Channel

Britain and France today are connected by the Chunnel—a tunnel bored roughly 120 feet under the seabed of the notoriously choppy English Channel, which opened in 1994. The dream of integrating Britain with the rest of the continent this way began much earlier, with daring, physically impossible plans proposed as early as the 19th century. Check out the earliest plans here.

What can we learn from archaeology?

By revealing buried civilizations and dating objects of antiquity, archaeology turns hard data into human stories. But what's the use of knowing these stories? Find out for yourself in this interactive resource that can take you to and through historic sites around the globe.

Who cleans the London Underground at night?

The London Underground, also known as the Tube, services millions of people every day. After the transit system closes each evening, a crew of workers known as “fluffers” gather to clean the underground tunnels. This article sheds light on these unnoticed cleaners, covering the difficulties of their jobs and the bizarre things they’ve encountered, from ghosts to nesting pigeons.

Why are ancient ruins underground?

When cities fall into disrepair, it's often easier to flatten what you can and build on top. This is why modern archaeologists frequently discover ruins underground, revealing generational layers of cities rebuilt over time. This video explores major examples of this principle, from ancient Troy to even modern Seattle.

NYC's first subway was built largely in secret

In 1870, Alfred Ely Beach secretly tunneled under Broadway in 58 nights, disguising his pneumatic subway as a mail tube to fool Tammany Hall, the corrupt political machine that ran New York City. Nearly half a million New Yorkers rode it before politics, and a stock market crash killed the project.

How lasers have become a go-to in archaeology

Archaeological teams now have another item to pack with their trowels: Lasers. Researchers' approach to unsurveyed land has been transformed by light detection and ranging technology. LiDAR has helped archaeologists break new ground and uncover...

Explore the British Museum's collection across time and continents in this interactive Google Arts and Culture experience.

Toronto's downtown has 18 miles of underground pedestrian tunnels

Known as the "Path," these tunnels have helped reduce pedestrian traffic on Toronto's busy downtown streets for over a century. They were first built by local business owners, prompting a network effect of add-on tunnels.

New scientific tools, such as radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis, have transformed what we know about who built Stonehenge.

Techniques such as radiocarbon dating, DNA analysis, and isotopic testing have revised scholars' understanding of Stonehenge. This article presents evidence suggesting that societies were more cooperative and less violent than earlier theories had suggested.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii

Excavations revealed stunning finds—a wooden bed, a horse's saddle, and vivid frescoes—while also suggesting the eruption may have occurred in October, not April. See the discoveries from the EU's $140M Great Pompeii Project.

Why is there an archaeologist in my trash can?

Archaeologists have always been interested in rubbish—sites such as waste heaps, middens, and latrines can be some of the richest places to learn about the human past. But the type of rubbish we're leaving behind is changing, and much of it now...

Stonehenge was part of a much larger prehistoric landscape

Long before Stonehenge was built, the Salisbury Plain was already dotted with ceremonial sites, burial mounds, and large-scale earthworks. These landscape maps reveal a densely inhabited region shaped by sophisticated prehistoric communities with ambitious public projects.

A rush to invest in British rail in the 1840s led to investor ruin

During “Railway Mania,” speculative excitement pushed British rail shares to extreme valuations as investors chased rapid expansion. When costs ballooned and profits failed to materialize, the bubble collapsed in 1847—wiping out fortunes across the country.

Boston opened the first subway tunnel in the US in 1897

By the end of the 19th century, nearly 400,000 people were packed into less than a square mile of downtown Boston, with 8,000 horses pulling trolleys through streets choked with noise, manure, and congestion. This prompted the city to pursue a then-controversial subway system.

One graffiti artist turned a train tunnel into his gallery

Chris Pape, also known as Freedom, began exploring a tunnel under Manhattan's Riverside Park when he was a kid. As he grew more involved with graffiti, he turned its walls into a massive art project, one that reflected both the history of graffiti and the people who made the tunnel their home.

Pompeii's buried secrets are still being revealed

Despite digging for decades, archaeologists are still uncovering new insights into life before the blast that buried Pompeii. Follow a journalist's footsteps as they explore the ruins of Pompeii in this article. The ruins were discovered in the 1700s, and formal excavations throughout the 19th and 20th centuries revealed temples, mansions, and entire streets, while a third of the city remains to be excavated.

How do archaeologists know where to dig?

Archaeologists spend their days slowly uncovering buried artifacts, but how do they know where to look in the first place? New tech and old-fashioned shoe leather. Watch this five-minute video to learn more.

The simplicity of immersed tube tunnels

Tunnels have traditionally bored holes through the earth below the water. On the other hand, immersed tube tunnels connect hollow, massive sections in trenches along the floor of the body of water. Each section is built on land, floated to the site, submerged, and connected. This method saves money by reducing expensive underground work, and it preserves an area's aesthetic appearance.

Explore the system of ancient Roman roads with this interactive

The Itiner-e map includes unpaved secondary roads that connected farms and towns to the empire's primary routes. Explore routes, view three-dimensional elevation, and compare the old roads to contemporary ones with this sprawling interactive project.

Explore the major archaeological sites of Egypt's 3,000-year history.

Maps of murder across medieval England

These interactive maps show the sites of murders across York, Oxford, and London during the 14th Century. Explore the data by clicking site pins or experimenting with map filters, including crime scene type and murder weapon. Each pin includes a blurb on what researchers concluded about the attack, such as how a fight between the London fishmonger and skinner guilds during August 1340 ultimately left one man dead.

Stonehenge is one of the world's most studied prehistoric sites and was built around the same time as the Great Pyramid of Egypt.

Take a tour of Charles Dickens' London

Much of Dickens' fiction concerns Victorian London and its people. This tour of the city, led by Dickens biographer Simon Callow, walks you through significant sites, like the place where Dickens' parents were married, the shoe-blacking factory where he worked as a boy, and the place where he created his first magazine.

Explore the Valley of the Kings

The ruins of ancient Egypt are so widely dispersed throughout the Nile River Valley it can be hard to keep track of everything. The Theban mapping project from the American Research Center in Egypt provides beautiful interactive explorations of dozens of sites along the Valley of the Kings, which served as the necropolis for New Kingdom royalty.

Explore the Museum of the World

This collaboration between the British Museum and Google presents an interactive timeline showing artifacts from five world regions. Go back in time and learn about each item from the museum.

Hear the untold colonial backstories of the British Museum’s most famous artifacts

This podcast from VICE’s Unfiltered History Tour visits the British Museum’s prized objects through accounts from experts and communities from which they were taken.

22 fascinating discoveries of massive gold coin hoards

The gallery highlights major gold coin treasures from ancient to modern times, from the Saddle Ridge hoard in California in the 1800s (now worth $10M) to finds in Baltimore, Kentucky, and more. Each discovery reveals something about the period, with some buried and others left in vaults.

Lidar's discoveries: 32 forts revealed by the laser tech

Lidar is a cutting-edge tool using lasers from an aircraft to map the elevations of huge swaths of land across the world. This technology has been especially effective in archaeology. It has revealed dozens of lost major historical sites concealed beneath overgrown brush and forests. From Canadian forts to Mayan settlements, check out these 32 significant finds from lidar.

Examine a 3D model of the Rosetta Stone

One of the most famous archaeological finds of all time, the 1799 discovery of the Rosetta Stone helped unlock the secrets of ancient Egypt. Inscribed on the granite slab was the same passage in three languages: hieroglyphics, Old Egyptian, and Greek, which enabled scholars to decode the ancient language. Take an up-close look with this 3D model made up of more than 200 composite photos.

The Clash's breakthrough hit wasn't listed on ‘London Calling’

“Train in Vain” was a hit in the US, something that hadn’t yet happened for other first-wave punk acts. But the song was added to “London Calling” at the last minute, after the record jackets were already printed, making it one of the more popular “hidden tracks” in popular music.

Markers along the Underground Railroad

An interactive map of all National Park Service designated sites that were part of the Underground Railroad, helping shuttle escaped enslaved people to freedom.

The booming fossil industry on the Jurassic Coast

Ever since the Jurassic Coast was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001, professional and amateur fossil-finders have increasingly set out for its craggly cliffs to discover ammonites, icthyosaurs, and even new discoveries. This photo essay takes a human look at the growing interest and industry in fossil discoveries along the famed 95-mile strip of England.

The forgotten carnivals that stood upon the frozen River Thames

The Thames Frost Fairs were unusual winter events that took place between 1607 and 1814. They happened during the so-called Little Ice Age, when the River Thames would freeze over for up to two months straight. These unique festivals transformed the frozen river into a bustling carnival-like environment where Londoners set up temporary shops, entertainment venues, and social spaces directly on the ice.

The ancient Egyptians built prototypes of the modern Suez Canal

The idea to facilitate trade between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea and connect the Eurasian continent was apparent even to pharaohs in the second millennium BCE. Though no physical traces remain, contemporary accounts attest to early, shorter versions of the canal, including from Herodotus.

Why are subway walls tiled?

In the early days of subway tunnels, architects needed to deal with dirt and moisture and make the cavernous stations less dank and dark. Ceramic tiles were easy to clean, and their glossy, bright finish helped illuminate the cave-like areas.

The southbound Underground Railroad: finding freedom in Mexico

Until recently, the southbound Underground Railroad, as some scholars call it, has been largely overlooked, mainly because it left so few traces in surviving records. Read this article to learn more about this dangerous path and its travelers.

Explore the British Museum's Pompeii and Herculaneum collection

This video tour utilizes the British Museum’s collection—featuring frescoes, tools, cookware, jewelry, and even carbonized food—to reconstruct daily life in Pompeii and Herculaneum, offering an expert view of how people lived before the eruption transformed both cities.

American archaeology has a complicated legacy

Many national parks were discovered through American archaeological expeditions and, consequently, included the looting of Native American cultural sites and artifacts.

The history of the Met

From a single sarcophagus to a collection of more than a million artifacts that span nearly the entirety of human civilization, the Met and its importance have grown significantly over the last 150 years. This history of the museum hits all the highlights, including important acquisitions, new wings and galleries, and the importance of the buildings that hold and display all of the incredible artwork.

Flip through centuries-old artifacts in this 3D library

Archaeology is hands-on work, giving researchers the ability to analyze artifacts from as many sides as possible to find marks left by those that came before us. While looking at pictures of artifacts gives you some insight, you're limited to...

See a collection of ancient Roman coins used on the Silk Roads

As ancient Rome's appetite for eastern luxuries grew, long-distance trade routes linking the Mediterranean to Asia emerged along what became known as the Silk Road. Without shared language or legal systems, merchants could use the reliable Roman coins to exchange with other cultures. This exhibit features gold and silver pieces bearing the portraits of emperors and Latin inscriptions.

What do archaeologists actually do?

Movies and other media show them digging a bit, maybe fighting off artifact smugglers, but what archaeologists actually do? Using a variety of tools and sciences, archaeologists are able to get a glimpse into humanity's past. This article explains what work is like for everyday archaeologists.

Explore a searchable map of underwater cables carrying internet traffic worldwide

The Submarine Cable Map provides users with data from TeleGeography's Transport Networks Research Service on individual submarine cables, including cable owners, suppliers, URLs, landing points, lengths, and notes of interest.

Archaeologists race to record ancient Nubia

Long ignored by white archaeologists as a mere footnote, modern scientists are now racing to document what’s left of the African civilization. Evidence of ancient Nubia is at risk of vanishing under environmental, societal, and political pressures. This Undark Magazine article walks you through archaeologists' fight to record ancient Nubia.

In 1963, a basement renovation in Turkey revealed a passageway to a hidden, multilevel underground city that once housed as many as 20,000 people.

Explore Pompeii with an interactive map packed with 60+ key sites

This tool provides detailed information on major landmarks—from the Villa of Mysteries to the House of the Tragic Poet—and suggests themed walking routes based on visit length. A companion app adds virtual reconstructions and a full audioguide.