It is guaranteed to strike fear into the evil heart of any passing witch. But a far worse fate would follow if the bizarre contents of this ancient stone flask did the job for which they were ...

A painting by 17th-century French artists fetched 3.6 million euros, while a Chinese moon flask made of porcelain brought in 5.1 million euros. The work by the Le Nain brothers represents a blond ...

A rediscovered painting by Flemish 17th-century painter Pieter Brueghel the Younger, for years hidden in a family house, will be presented for auction in Paris on Tuesday and is expected to fetch ...

Archaeologists in Poland have uncovered the remains of a 17th-century child padlocked to his grave to stop him rising from the dead, a discovery that turns the spotlight on beliefs in vampires as ...

A couple digging up the kitchen floor of their newly-bought 17th century cottage found a £35,000 ... by torchlight when he found a smashed glazed pottery bowl full to the brim with the 400 ...

archaeologists uncovered a relatively intact brick oven — and found a forgotten medieval pottery workshop. The workshop operated from the late 16th century into the early 17th century and ...

Seventeenth-century opera is so seldom performed that Opera Atelier’s latest production — Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s 1688 opera “David and Jonathan” — should be required viewing for ...

The Vault is Slate’s history blog. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @slatevault, and find us on Tumblr. Find out more about what this space is all about here. The best early ...