Archaeology
Was the Ancient Incan Empire Fueled by Warm Climate?
In 1532, when the Incas first met a European, their empire stretched from what is now northern Ecuador to central Chile. The largest empire of the Americas numbered more than eight million people. But the Incas didn’t exist until about A.D. 1100. Before than, the Wari and Tiwanauku occupied the cen...
August 05, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Ancient Cities Lost to the Seas
Dunwich, England, is one of several underwater sites where divers are discovering new information about historic cultures
July 29, 2009 |
By Robin T. Reid
Hominids' African Origins, 50 Years Later
The next time a creationist spouts some nonsense about how the lack of a fossil record undermines the theory of evolution, direct them to the hominid family tree. If you haven't read much about human origins lately, it might come as a surprise that so many species have been identified (and more all...
July 23, 2009 |
By Laura Helmuth
Via Aurelia: The Roman Empire's Lost Highway
French amateur archaeologist Bruno Tassan fights to preserve a neglected 2,000-year-old ancient interstate in southern Provence
June 2009 |
By Joshua Hammer
The Cat’s 10,000-Year Journey to Purring on Your Lap
Most of the time, it feels quite natural to have a kitty prowling your home or curled up on the bed. On occasion, though, you might look at one and wonder how it got there. A new article in Scientific American plots out the journey:~10,000 years ago (ya): The house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) t...
May 27, 2009 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Genghis Khan’s Treasures
Beneath the ruins of Genghis Khan’s capital city in Central Asia, archaeologists discovered artifacts from cultures near and far
March 25, 2009 |
By Abigail Tucker
Digging up the Past at a Richmond Jail
The excavation of a notorious jail recalls Virginia's leading role in the slave trade
March 2009 |
By Abigail Tucker
Who Discovered Machu Picchu?
Controversy swirls as to whether an archaeologist's claim to fame as the discoverer of Machu Picchu has any merit
March 2009 |
By Peter Eisner
The Tomb of Queen Sesheshet
A recently discovered pyramid and tomb in Egypt may shed light on a dark episode in a pharaonic tradition of court intrigue
February 03, 2009 |
By Stephen Glain
The Basques Were Here
In arctic Canada, a Smithsonian researcher discovers evidence of Basque trading with North America
February 2009 |
By Anika Gupta
Bodies of Evidence in Southeast Asia
Excavations at a cemetery in a Thai village reveal a 4,000-year-old indigenous culture
February 2009 |
By Andrew Lawler
The Tragic Tale of the Pygmy in the Zoo
In 1904, several Pygmies were brought to live in the anthropology exhibit at the St. Louis World's Fair. Two years later, a Congo Pygmy named Ota Benga was housed temporarily at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City—and then exhibited, briefly and controversially, at the Bronx Zoo...
December 02, 2008 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Gobekli Tepe: The World’s First Temple?
Predating Stonehenge by 6,000 years, Turkey's stunning Gobekli Tepe upends the conventional view of the rise of civilization
November 2008 |
By Andrew Curry
New Light on Stonehenge
The first dig in 44 years inside the stone circle changed our view of why—and even when—the monument was built
October 2008 |
By Dan Jones
In Iraq, a Monastery Rediscovered
Near Mosul, War Has Helped and Hindered Efforts to Excavate the 1,400-Year-Old Dair Mar Elia Monastery
September 16, 2008 |
By James Foley
Washington's Boyhood Home
Archaeologists have finally pinpointed the Virginia house where our first president came of age
September 2008 |
By David Zax
Digging Up George Washington
Archaeologists continue to uncover more about the nation's first president
September 01, 2008 |
By Amanda Bensen
Raiders or Traders?
A replica Viking vessel sailing the North Sea has helped archaeologists figure out what the stalwart Norsemen were really up to
July 2008 |
By Andrew Curry
Dispatch from Stonehenge, Day 14
April 13: The Druids Bless Our Departure
April 14, 2008 |
By Dan Jones
