Archive - Res Obscura

March 2025

AI legibility, physical archives, and the future of research

A followup to "The leading AI models are now good historians"

Mar 5 •

February 2025

January 2025

When the Sackler Brothers studied LSD

One of the stranger episodes from the 1950s golden age of psychedelic therapy, and what it tells us about the history of technology

Jan 29 •

The leading AI models are now good historians

... in specific domains. Three case studies with GPT-4o, o1, and Claude Sonnet 3.5, and what they mean

Jan 22 •

2,000-year-old wine and the uncanny immediacy of the past

Why artifacts like the Carmona Wine Urn, the Pazyryk Rug, and the Sword of Goujian are so important

Jan 15 •

December 2024

Why did clothing become boring?

An investigation into when, how, and why everyone started dressing the same — and what it was like when they didn't

Dec 4, 2024 •

October 2024

A very deep history of Halloween

Or, how far back can historical analysis take us?

Oct 29, 2024 •

What did we lose when we stopped writing letters?

Oct 23, 2024 •

On 17th century "cocaine"

A new analysis of mummified brains pushes back the timeline for the globalization of coca

Oct 9, 2024 •

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