CATEGORIES

DEFENDING THE CANYONLANDS
Archaeology

DEFENDING THE CANYONLANDS

Rare shields from the American Southwest are a legacy of a turbulent time in Native history

time-read
8 mins  |
July/August 2023
Inside a Magnificent Celtic Tomb
Archaeology

Inside a Magnificent Celtic Tomb

New investigations of an Iron Age burial in France reveal the source of one woman's exceptional power

time-read
10 mins  |
July/August 2023
Rise of the Persian Princes
Archaeology

Rise of the Persian Princes

In their grand capital Persepolis, Achaemenid rulers expressed their vision of a prosperous, multicultural empire

time-read
10+ mins  |
July/August 2023
OFF THE GRID
Archaeology

OFF THE GRID

One of Mexico's most important archaeological sites is hidden in plain view in the Tlalpan borough of southern Mexico City.

time-read
2 mins  |
July/August 2023
BIG GAME HUNTING
Archaeology

BIG GAME HUNTING

Archaeologists rarely unearth the remains of large predators such as leopards, lions, and bears. But University of Haifa archaeologist Ron Shimelmitz and his colleagues wondered if, by looking at a large number of sites over thousands of years, they could identify evidence showing that ancient people hunted these fearsome creatures.

time-read
1 min  |
July/August 2023
HYBRID HOARD
Archaeology

HYBRID HOARD

A hoard of silver and gold items buried in the Netherlands 800 years ago-possibly for safekeeping during a time of war-was recovered by a licensed metal detectorist.

time-read
1 min  |
July/August 2023
BULLISH ON THE STORM GOD
Archaeology

BULLISH ON THE STORM GOD

In southern Turkey's Amuq Valley, a curious one-inch-tall lead figurine unearthed at a rural Bronze Age site is giving archaeologists a glimpse of how villagers living around 2000 B.C. responded to a period marked by increasing drought.

time-read
1 min  |
July/August 2023
A SURPRISE IN SUDAN
Archaeology

A SURPRISE IN SUDAN

Beneath the ruins of the medieval village of Old Dongola, on the Nile in northern Sudan, a team from the University of Warsaw was surprised to find stone blocks that may date to the time of the pharaoh Taharqo (reigned ca.690-664 B.C.).

time-read
1 min  |
July/August 2023
THE PALACE ON TABLET HILL
Archaeology

THE PALACE ON TABLET HILL

At the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu A in present-day Tello, in southern Iraq, In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, French archaeologists excavated tens of thousands of cuneiform tablets there.

time-read
1 min  |
July/August 2023
VIKING SUPPORT ANIMALS
Archaeology

VIKING SUPPORT ANIMALS

The warriors of the Viking Great Army who campaigned in Britain from A.D. 865 to 878 worshipped gods often associated with animal companions, such as Odin and his eight-legged horse Sleipnir.

time-read
1 min  |
July/August 2023
UPDATE - TEMPLE TIMES TWO
Archaeology

UPDATE - TEMPLE TIMES TWO

A team led by archaeologist Jessica Ortiz Zevallos has returned to the Temple of the Painted Pillars at the site of Pañamarca in northwestern Peru, where they have discovered new well-preserved, brightly colored paintings.

time-read
1 min  |
July/August 2023
BOG TOGS
Archaeology

BOG TOGS

A piece of fabric found in a Highland peat bog in the early 1980s has now been determined to be the oldest example of true tartan ever located in Scotland.

time-read
1 min  |
July/August 2023
A NEW DAY FOR THE ANCESTORS' MOUNDS
Archaeology

A NEW DAY FOR THE ANCESTORS' MOUNDS

In fall 2007, Glenna Wallace, chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, visited the Octagon Earthworks in the central Ohio city of Newark while attending a lecture series at the Ohio State University in nearby Columbus.

time-read
3 mins  |
July/August 2023
LETTER FROM THE AMERICAN SOUTHEAST SPARTANS OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI
Archaeology

LETTER FROM THE AMERICAN SOUTHEAST SPARTANS OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI

Unearthing evidence of defiance and resilience in the homeland of the Chickasaw

time-read
10+ mins  |
May/June 2023
The Man in the Middle
Archaeology

The Man in the Middle

How an ingenious royal official transformed Persian conquerors into proper Egyptian pharaohs

time-read
10+ mins  |
May/June 2023
Rituals of the Cattle Raiders
Archaeology

Rituals of the Cattle Raiders

Rock art in the mountains of South Africa tells the story of how the Khoe and San peoples resisted enslavement

time-read
7 mins  |
May/June 2023
Peru's Great Urban Experiment
Archaeology

Peru's Great Urban Experiment

A millennium ago, the Chimú built a new way of life in the vast city of Chan Chan

time-read
10+ mins  |
May/June 2023
REUSING THE PAST
Archaeology

REUSING THE PAST

Archaeologists discover how an embattled Assyrian king fortified Nineveh

time-read
3 mins  |
May/June 2023
LOST ROMAN RESORT
Archaeology

LOST ROMAN RESORT

In the Bay of Naples, miles of ruins recall the splendor of ancient imperial holidays

time-read
10+ mins  |
May/June 2023
AROUND THE WORLD
Archaeology

AROUND THE WORLD

Researchers determined that a mastodon living in the Pacific Northwest 13,900 years ago was wounded when it was struck by a spear.

time-read
3 mins  |
May/June 2023
Archaeology's Top 10 Discoveries of 2021
Archaeology

Archaeology's Top 10 Discoveries of 2021

Discoveries

time-read
10+ mins  |
January/February 2022
A Brush With Genius
Archaeology

A Brush With Genius

An unprecedented find in central China brings to life the early years of a master calligrapher

time-read
10+ mins  |
January/February 2022
THE ROOTS OF VIOLENCE
Archaeology

THE ROOTS OF VIOLENCE

In the early 1960s, archaeologists from around the world descended on the Upper Nile Valley.

time-read
3 mins  |
January/February 2022
Under the Holy City
Archaeology

Under the Holy City

A long-running excavation in Jerusalem unearths evidence for two of the city’s least-known eras

time-read
10+ mins  |
January/February 2022
TURNING SALT INTO GOLD
Archaeology

TURNING SALT INTO GOLD

In the Austrian Alps, generations of miners toiled to extract the ancient world’s most valuable resource

time-read
10+ mins  |
January/February 2022
OFF THE GRID
Archaeology

OFF THE GRID

OPLONTIS, ITALY

time-read
2 mins  |
January/February 2022
AT FACE VALUE
Archaeology

AT FACE VALUE

Researchers are using new scientific methods to investigate how artists in Roman Egypt customized portraits for the dead

time-read
10+ mins  |
January/February 2022
When Isis Was Queen
Archaeology

When Isis Was Queen

At the ancient Egyptian temples of Philae, Nubians gave new life to a vanishing religious tradition

time-read
10+ mins  |
November/December 2021
ITALIAN MASTER  BUILDERS
Archaeology

ITALIAN MASTER BUILDERS

A 3,500-year-old ritual pool reflects a little-known culture’s agrarian prowess

time-read
7 mins  |
November/December 2021
Piecing Together Maya Creation Stories
Archaeology

Piecing Together Maya Creation Stories

Thousands of mural fragments from the city of San Bartolo illustrate how the Maya envisioned their place in the universe

time-read
10+ mins  |
November/December 2021