A Mermaid Buried in Benbecula, and the Mermaids People Made
A Hebridean community is said to have given a sea creature a coffin around 1830. Barnum exhibited a made one in 1842. What the records show, and Coney Island's sea rabbits.
· 10 sources
A new, independent publication. Wonders & Marvels publishes original, sourced essays on the history of science, medicine, invention, archaeology and culture. This domain previously hosted a different history blog with its own editors and contributors. We are a separate operation: we do not republish that site's articles or images, and its former writers are not involved with us. More about us.
Books & Culture
A Contested Relic: Tracing the Object Sold as Napoleon's Penis
From a Corsican chaplain's estate to a Paris auction in 1977, a small dried object passed through dealers and collectors. Its paper trail is well documented. Its identity is not.
November 10, 2026 · 11 sources
Arlequins: The Resold Leftovers That Fed Nineteenth-Century Paris
In nineteenth-century Paris, scraps from rich tables were sorted, plated and sold cheaply as arlequins. What the reporters, dictionaries and novelists recorded, and what they left out.
· 11 sources
Black Crewmen and Black Flags: Race on Golden Age Pirate Ships
Trial reports, naval letters and a Virginia council journal show that many Black men sailed with the pirates of the 1710s and 1720s. What their status was is much harder to read.
· 9 sources
Ancient History & Archaeology
All in Ancient History & ArchaeologyChiomara of Galatia: A Captive's Revenge and Its Rival Versions
In 189 BCE a Galatian noblewoman held by a Roman army had the centurion who raped her killed. Livy, Plutarch and later Roman writers told it differently.
· 9 sources
Dogs in Pharaonic Egypt: Named Pets, Hunting Hounds and Anubis
Egyptians hunted with dogs, named them, buried a few with royal honors and gave millions of dogs to Anubis. What the inscriptions, tombs and catacombs show.
· 13 sources
How Medieval Caravans Crossed the Sahara: Camels, Guides and Salt
Ibn Battuta's crossing of 1352-53 and al-Bakri's eleventh-century reports show how caravans moved salt, gold and copper: hired guides, water stops, tolls and timing.
· 7 sources
Science & Inventions
All in Science & InventionsChristopher Wren, a Three-Story Beehive and the Bees That Ignored It
In 1655 Samuel Hartlib printed a young Christopher Wren's report on an octagonal, glass-windowed stacking hive. The bees did not do what Oxford expected.
· 8 sources
Elephant Teeth at Stono: Enslaved Africans and an Early Fossil Find
In the 1740s Mark Catesby reported that African-born people in South Carolina recognized fossil teeth as an elephant's. What his one sentence shows, and what later retellings added.
· 11 sources
Margaret Cavendish Bentinck's Shell Cabinet and the 1786 Sale
Margaret Cavendish Bentinck built what was called the finest shell cabinet in Europe. Her naturalists never finished its catalogue, and in 1786 an auction scattered it.
· 9 sources
History of Medicine
All in History of MedicineGeorge Cheyne's English Malady and the Price of Sensibility
In 1733 a Bath physician who had once weighed 32 stone called nervous illness a disease of wealth and refinement, and told readers it struck the quickest minds first.
· 7 sources
How a Medieval Physician Treated Leprosy: Guy de Chauliac's Advice
In 1363 the papal physician Guy de Chauliac set out how to examine and treat people suspected of leprosy. His remedies ran from milk to vipers; his first worry was a wrong diagnosis.
· 9 sources
Medieval Women as Physicians: What the Records Show
From a wise matron at Salerno to licensed Jewish doctors and the women named by the Paris medical faculty in 1322, how women practiced medicine in medieval Europe.
· 10 sources
Books & Culture
All in Books & CultureA Contested Relic: Tracing the Object Sold as Napoleon's Penis
From a Corsican chaplain's estate to a Paris auction in 1977, a small dried object passed through dealers and collectors. Its paper trail is well documented. Its identity is not.
· 11 sources
A Mermaid Buried in Benbecula, and the Mermaids People Made
A Hebridean community is said to have given a sea creature a coffin around 1830. Barnum exhibited a made one in 1842. What the records show, and Coney Island's sea rabbits.
· 10 sources
Arlequins: The Resold Leftovers That Fed Nineteenth-Century Paris
In nineteenth-century Paris, scraps from rich tables were sorted, plated and sold cheaply as arlequins. What the reporters, dictionaries and novelists recorded, and what they left out.
· 11 sources
How we work: every article lists its sources, flags what the evidence does not settle, and carries a corrections log. Read our editorial standards.