CATEGORIES
DEFENDING THE CANYONLANDS
Rare shields from the American Southwest are a legacy of a turbulent time in Native history
Inside a Magnificent Celtic Tomb
New investigations of an Iron Age burial in France reveal the source of one woman's exceptional power
Rise of the Persian Princes
In their grand capital Persepolis, Achaemenid rulers expressed their vision of a prosperous, multicultural empire
OFF THE GRID
One of Mexico's most important archaeological sites is hidden in plain view in the Tlalpan borough of southern Mexico City.
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.
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.
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.
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.).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
LETTER FROM THE AMERICAN SOUTHEAST SPARTANS OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI
Unearthing evidence of defiance and resilience in the homeland of the Chickasaw
The Man in the Middle
How an ingenious royal official transformed Persian conquerors into proper Egyptian pharaohs
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
Peru's Great Urban Experiment
A millennium ago, the Chimú built a new way of life in the vast city of Chan Chan
REUSING THE PAST
Archaeologists discover how an embattled Assyrian king fortified Nineveh
LOST ROMAN RESORT
In the Bay of Naples, miles of ruins recall the splendor of ancient imperial holidays
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.
Archaeology's Top 10 Discoveries of 2021
Discoveries
A Brush With Genius
An unprecedented find in central China brings to life the early years of a master calligrapher
THE ROOTS OF VIOLENCE
In the early 1960s, archaeologists from around the world descended on the Upper Nile Valley.
Under the Holy City
A long-running excavation in Jerusalem unearths evidence for two of the city’s least-known eras
TURNING SALT INTO GOLD
In the Austrian Alps, generations of miners toiled to extract the ancient world’s most valuable resource
OFF THE GRID
OPLONTIS, ITALY
AT FACE VALUE
Researchers are using new scientific methods to investigate how artists in Roman Egypt customized portraits for the dead
When Isis Was Queen
At the ancient Egyptian temples of Philae, Nubians gave new life to a vanishing religious tradition
ITALIAN MASTER BUILDERS
A 3,500-year-old ritual pool reflects a little-known culture’s agrarian prowess
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