History feed
1963
The original Lascaux cave closed to the public in 1963 because tourism was threatening its prehistoric paintings. Visitors now encounter the celebrated imagery through replicas rather than routine access to the original.
2,500
Cleopatra lived closer to the 1969 Moon landing than to the construction of the Great Pyramid. The pyramid was already about 2,500 years old when she was born.
4,000
A surviving population of woolly mammoths lived on Wrangel Island while Egyptians were building the Great Pyramid. These Arctic animals persisted until about 4,000 years ago, long after most mainland populations disappeared.