Skip to content
Atlas of Curiosity

Stories

The feed, newest first

Everything we have published, in the order we published it. No listicles, no round-ups — one subject per entry, followed as far as the sources allow.

  1. See Wikimedia Commons file pageWikimedia Commons (free licence — Commons requires CC BY-SA or public domain for all hosted media; exact terms on file page)
    Objects

    The Book No One Can Read

    A 600-year-old manuscript written in an unknown script has defeated codebreakers, computer scientists, and the NSA alike.

    unknown origin, held in United StatesVellum radiocarbon-dated to 1404–14387 min read

  2. See Wikimedia Commons file pageWikimedia Commons (free licence — Commons requires CC BY-SA or public domain for all hosted media; exact terms on file page)
    History

    The Sunken City of Baiae

    Rome's most decadent resort town didn't fall to war or fire. The ground it was built on simply breathed it into the sea.

    ItalyFlourished 2nd century BC - 1st century AD; gradually submerged 3rd-8th centuries CE7 min read

  3. See Wikimedia Commons file pageWikimedia Commons (free licence — Commons requires CC BY-SA or public domain for all hosted media; exact terms on file page)
    Culture

    A Conversation Carried on the Wind

    On a volcanic island where ravines make roads slow and voices carry nowhere, the people of La Gomera learned to speak in whistles instead.

    SpainDocumented since before the 15th-century Spanish conquest; UNESCO-recognized 20096 min read

  4. See Wikimedia Commons file pageWikimedia Commons (free licence — Commons requires CC BY-SA or public domain for all hosted media; exact terms on file page)
    People

    Ötzi: What a 5,300-Year-Old Body Still Has to Say

    A frozen corpse pulled from an Alpine glacier in 1991 has become the most thoroughly examined human being of the ancient world — and the cold case of his murder is still being solved.

    Italy/Austria borderDied c. 3300 BCE; discovered 19918 min read

  5. See Wikimedia Commons file pageWikimedia Commons (free licence — Commons requires CC BY-SA or public domain for all hosted media; exact terms on file page)
    Architecture

    Gunkanjima: Anatomy of an Abandoned Coal City

    For 87 years a concrete islet off Nagasaki packed in one of the highest population densities ever recorded — then, in a matter of weeks in 1974, it emptied completely.

    JapanMined 1887–1974; abandoned since 1974, reopened for tourism in 20097 min read

  6. Nature

    What the Blue Hole Remembers

    A near-perfect circle of deep water off Belize's coast is really a drowned cave system — and its floor holds a layered record of the planet's last four ice ages.

    BelizeCave system formed across multiple ice ages, flooded roughly 10,000–15,000 years ago7 min read

  7. See Wikimedia Commons file pageWikimedia Commons (free licence — Commons requires CC BY-SA or public domain for all hosted media; exact terms on file page)
    History

    The Ghost Fleet of Truk Lagoon

    In a single winter morning in 1944, American carrier aircraft sank an entire Japanese fleet at anchor — and left the Pacific's most haunting time capsule on the seafloor.

    Federated States of MicronesiaNaval base 1942-1944; sunk in Operation Hailstone, February 17-18, 19447 min read

  8. See Wikimedia Commons file pageWikimedia Commons (free licence — Commons requires CC BY-SA or public domain for all hosted media; exact terms on file page)
    Phenomena

    The Door to Hell

    For more than fifty years, a hole in the Karakum Desert has burned without pause — and no one can produce the paperwork that explains how it started.

    TurkmenistanBurning continuously since 19716 min read