Author: Ms. R.

Historian Jean Bottéro concluded his 2001 article, “The Oldest Cuisine in the World: Cooking in Mesopotamia,” with an insult of sorts. “I would not advise trying to incorporate their culinary tradition, just as it stands, into our own,” he wrote, speculating that a modern eater would not enjoy the garlic-heavy, salt-light dishes that people ate nearly 4,000 years ago. But ever since, chefs around the globe have attempted Mesopotamian recipes, the oldest on record, in their home kitchens. Nawal……

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In 1851, the United States established a cemetery to bury those who had died in the Mexican–American War. Today, the Mexico City National Cemetery is one of 26 cemeteries around the world that is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission. The Mexican–American War, also known as the Intervención Estadounidense en México (U.S. intervention in Mexico), took place between 1846 and 1848. It was sparked by the annexation of Texas—the Mexican government did not recognize the treaty that resulted in……

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In 1968, Jimi Hendrix released his third studio album, Electric Ladyland. That same year, Hendrix and his manager Michael Jeffery purchased a defunct nightclub in New York City that they would transform into Electric Lady Studios, one of the most important recording studios in music history. But the Greenwich Village building had a rich history before any tracks were laid down there. From 1930 to 1967, the basement was home to nightclub called the Village Barn. Upstairs, there was……

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In what once was a valley noted for a Lenape sacred oak and a German witch doctor/abbess, Squire Boone Sr., a former weaver-blacksmith, built a log cabin, of which only the basement survives today. There, four miles from the cabin of Abraham Lincoln’s ancestors, Daniel Boone, the United States‘s first folk hero, was born and raised. He watched cattle and learned to hunt from his Lenape and Quaker neighbors. Eventually, the Boones were forced to move after being shunned……

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On March 10, 1945, during World War II, American fighters bombed Tokyo, an incendiary attack that claimed more than 100,000 lives overnight. Much of the city’s historic downtown districts was burned to the ground. Unnoticed by most people, a single utility pole in the Misuji district survived this air raid … barely. While it looks like the remains of a tree hit by a lightning, it is monument to the bombing attack. It represents the tragedy of war and……

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According to Nairobi-based director, producer, and author Wanuri Kahiu, African art needed a jolt of fun, fierceness, and frivolity. Too often, she says, the stories that come out of the continent are “limited to war, poverty, and devastation.” So Kahui cofounded an artistic movement called AFROBUBBLEGUM that flies in the face of those stereotypes. AFROBUBBLEGUM includes the work of many artists in a variety of mediums, including Kahui’s film Rafiki, which follows the story of Kena and Ziki, two……

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Since March 2020, when the United States began locking down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, museums and historians have been collecting documents and testimonials in real time. Those efforts have redoubled since the end of May, when massive protests against police brutality and racism launched around the world. People are living with the sense that they are witnessing history, and that the moment ought to be archived for posterity. The Library of Congress’s new Boccaccio Project now joins the……

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One of the most iconic pieces of Roman architecture was the triumphal arch. Hundreds were built all over the former empire, but only about 50 are still standing, and very few are preserved in a good state. The best-preserved example is the Arch of Trajan in Benevento. It was built by emperor Trajan between 114 and 117 to celebrate the victories in Dacia and the inauguration of a new road, called Via Traiana, connecting Benevento and Brindisi, an alternative……

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On a balmy summer day in what is today southern Russia, a tree was felled for a monumental construction project: a palatial set of buildings that would never be used. The rectangular foundation of the structure was laid about 30 miles from the Mongolian border, on an island in Lake Tere-Khol. Since its presence was learned from a stone near the Selenga river (a runic tablet with an inscription detailing the site), the settlement—known as Por-Bajin—has eluded understanding. A……

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