Ancient World
Sushruta Samhita: Ancient Indian Surgery and Early Rhinoplasty
Became the leading surgical text of Ayurveda and the source of the Indian method of nose reconstruction that influenced modern plastic surgery.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Ancient World
Battle of Mylae (260 BC): The Corvus and Rome's First Naval Win
Roman victory; Carthage lost around 45 to 50 ships and Duilius celebrated Rome's first naval triumph.
Ancient World
Olympia: The Sanctuary of Zeus and Home of the Ancient Games
The most important sanctuary of Zeus in Greece and site of the Olympic Games, rediscovered in 1766 and excavated by German archaeologists from 1875.
Ancient World
Pepi II: The Pharaoh With One of History's Longest Reigns
Pepi II's long reign was followed within a few decades by the end of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period.
Ancient World
Old Assyrian Merchants of Kanesh: The Trade Network of Ashur
Ashur's merchants built one of the best-documented long-distance trade systems of the ancient world, linking Mesopotamia with Anatolia for about two centuries.
Prehistory
Hongshan Culture: Jade Dragons and the Niuheliang Goddess Temple
A Neolithic farming culture whose jade carving, ritual platforms and cairn burials made it one of the most important prehistoric cultures of north-east Asia.
Prehistory
Samarra Culture: Early Irrigation Farming in Mesopotamia
A farming culture that pioneered canal irrigation in Mesopotamia and helped pave the way for the Ubaid settlement of the southern plain.
Prehistory
Sungir Burials: Bead-Covered Graves of Ice Age Russia
The site produced some of the richest Palaeolithic graves known, central to debates about early social complexity and ritual.
Prehistory
Homo heidelbergensis: The Mauer Jaw and Europe's Early Humans
The Mauer mandible became the type specimen of Homo heidelbergensis, a species often seen as a possible common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans.
Prehistory
Megatherium: The Giant Ground Sloth Found in Argentina in 1787
The Luján skeleton became one of the first fossil vertebrates ever mounted and, through Cuvier, a founding piece of evidence for extinction.
Prehistory
Francevillian Biota: Gabon's 2.1-Billion-Year-Old Fossils
Hundreds of centimetre-scale pyritised structures were found, sparking a continuing debate over whether they are early multicellular life.
Modern Era
Russian Flu Pandemic (1889-1890): The First Modern Pandemic
A respiratory pandemic killed an estimated one million people worldwide and showed how fast disease could travel in the age of railways and steamships.