In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte, one of history’s greatest generals and military geniuses, suffered his greatest defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. But eight years earlier, he had faced another enemy that...
A virtual reality investigation of prehistoric rock art has concluded that flickering firelight may have been used to animate a selection of engraved rocks discovered in France. This could mean that...
On the 16th of September 1560, in the small rural French town of Artigat, a man named Arnaud du Tilh was put to death by hanging for a most unusual crime: for over three years, he had assumed an...
In 2020 the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (DRAC) in France’s northernmost region, Hauts-de-France, requested that the country’s National Monuments Center (CMN) begin renovation of an...
The United States government has just returned a collection of historically significant artifacts stolen by fortune hunters to the French government, to whom the artifacts rightfully belong according...
Archaeologists have discovered evidence of Europe’s first Homo sapiens in Grotte Mandarin rock shelter in southern France. The considerable range of evidence found in the rock shelter cave at Grotte...
A new DNA analysis of 793 Bronze Age skeletons from all over Britain and mainland Europe has revealed genetic secrets about a mass human migration that occurred around 3,000 years ago. Not Just...
The Bronze Age in Britain lasted from circa 2500 BC to 700 BC. Prehistoric Britain in this period was marked by complex tool making using copper and bronze. Britain’s Bronze Age was also...
Archaeologists in western France have been up to their elbows excavating enormous oak ship timbers at a “surprise” 10th-century medieval port, where evidence of wine production, fishing trade, and...
February 24, 1525. A day that is not marked in infamy but in the blood of France. On this date, the Battle of Pavia occurred – the decisive event in a longstanding war and rivalry, and the crushing...
Medieval chivalric duels were undoubtedly the most thrilling events of the time. The last vestige of the ancient gladiatorial fights, knightly duels were a true display of the skill with arms and...
For centuries, a commonality across the various monarchies of the world was a direct association between the ruler and a higher power. Kings and queens were seen either as God’s Chosen One or, in...
This is the story of Marie Antoinette, the 18 th century Queen of France, and a diamond necklace that was never actually hers. Although the story seems so outlandish as to be fiction, it is all true...
Archaeologists involved in a mid-summer excavation in northcentral France discovered two isolated Neolithic-era burials, dating from the years 5,500 BC to 3,700 BC. Uniquely, one of the skeletons was...
In a darkened room stands a 40-year-old woman named Catherine Monvoisin. Her figure is lit only by torches held by the faceless men standing in front of her, men who are sentencing her to death by...
Archaeologists at the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) have discovered a new portion of the Via Domitia (Domitian Way), the ancient Roman road that once linked...