Archaeology

The Mustansiriya was built during the 13th century.

What the Restoration of Iraq’s Oldest University Says About the Nation's Future

The Mustansiriya has withstood centuries of war, floods and architectural butchery, but can it survive its own restoration?

The site of Brattahlid, the eastern settlement Viking colony in southwestern Greenland founded by Erik the Red near the end of the 10th century A.D.

A Warming Climate Threatens Archaeological Sites in Greenland

As temperatures rise and ice melts, Norse and Inuit artifacts and human remains decompose more rapidly

Marine archaeologists explore the HMS Terror on the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean. To get a look inside the ship, divers deployed a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV.

Divers Get an Eerie First Look Inside the Arctic Shipwreck of the HMS Terror

Marine archaeologists exploring the 19th-century vessel could discover clues about what befell the sailors of the Franklin expedition

A geoduck shell found scatted among other shells discarded by the Tseshaht peoples 500 to 1000 years ago suggests that the community had been harvesting and eating geoduck for centuries.

This Centuries-Old Geoduck Shell May Rewrite the Rules About Who Can Harvest the Fancy Clam

A remnant from a meal long gone, the find in British Columbia could give the region's indigenous communities an important legal claim

The mysterious skeleton emerged from Lake Mungo, a dry lakebed in Australia marked by sand drifts.

A 42,000-Year-Old Man Finally Goes Home

At long last, the remains of Mungo Man are at rest after an agonizing clash between modern science and an ancient spirituality

In a 21st-century tribute to antiquity, bronze sculptures by the late Igor Mitoraj, including this centaur, grace the public grounds of the archaeological site.

The New Treasures of Pompeii

From gorgeous artworks to grimacing corpses, archaeologists are still uncovering the truth about life—and death—in the doomed city

Researchers hypothesize that magnetic figures may have been crafted to memorialize the dead, with the attractive forces of the sculptures representing a lingering life force.

Mesoamerican Sculptures Reveal Early Knowledge of Magnetism

Stone figures with magnetized cheeks and navels suggest the pre-Maya civilization of Monte Alto understood the attractive force

Excavation of the Philistine cemetery at Ashkelon.

When Ancient DNA Gets Politicized

What responsibility do archaeologists have when their research about prehistoric finds is appropriated to make 21st-century arguments about ethnicity?

Vanilla beans begin as the seedpods of a tropical orchid (left); Chocolate is made from the seeds hidden inside the fruit of the cacao tree (right).

The Delicious, Ancient History of Chocolate and Vanilla

Archaeologists are discovering that two of the world’s most prized flavors have a much richer history than we thought

Excavation of the Philistine cemetery at Ashkelon.

Ancient DNA Sheds New Light on the Biblical Philistines

A team of scientists sequenced genomes from people who lived in a port city on the Mediterranean coast of Israel between the 12th and 8th centuries B.C.

An illustration by J. Troncy of savagnin grapes from Ampelographie: Traite General de Viticulture.

Ancient Grape DNA Tells the Prolific History of Wine

Grape seeds dating back to medieval and Roman periods share many similarities with the wine grapes we enjoy today

Why Was This Valley of the Kings Tomb Undecorated?

Human burials exposed and recovered during the archaeological excavations at the forest island of La Chacra during excavations.

Archaeologists Discover Some of the Amazon's Oldest Human Burials

As early as 10,000 years ago, humans created settlements on elevated forest mounds in parts of southwestern Amazonia

The arrestingly modern hominin at the Neanderthal Museum, near Dusseldorf, is the work of renowned paleo-artists Adrie and Alfons Kennis.

What Do We Really Know About Neanderthals?

Revolutionary discoveries in archaeology show that the species long maligned as knuckle-dragging brutes deserve a new place in the human story

Cherokee syllabary inscription from 1.5km into Manitou Cave (average element vertical height approximately 80mm)

Cave Markings Tell of Cherokee Life in the Years Before Indian Removal

Written in the language formalized by Sequoyah, these newly translated inscriptions describe religious practices, including the sport of stickball

Typical Tiwanaku-period offerings at Khoa Reef in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, including stone carvings and sacrificial animal bones.

Before the Inca Ruled South America, the Tiwanaku Left Their Mark on the Andes

Artifacts including gold medallions and sacrificial llama bones reveal the ritual pilgrimages taken around Lake Titicaca

A drinking horn made from the horn of an aurochs bull.

Testing the DNA in Museum Artifacts Can Unlock New Natural History, but Is it Worth the Potential Damage?

Museums house a wealth of rare animal specimens, such as arctic clothing, medieval parchment and Viking drinking horns, but DNA testing can be destructive

American adventurer and archaeologist Wendell Phillips may have provided inspiration for the character of Indiana Jones.

The Complex Legacy of America's Lawrence of Arabia

Archaeologist Wendell Phillips traveled throughout Yemen in the 1950s, where he found ancient treasures and controversy

A patrol returns to Forward Operating Base Tillman, in eastern Afghanistan. It was closed in 2012, the year after this double exposure was made.

America at War

The New Archaeology of Iraq and Afghanistan

The once-fortified outposts that protected U.S. troops are relics of our ambitions abroad

(Mårten Teigen, Museum of Cultural History; Associated Press; Stocktrek Images, Inc. / Alamy; CDC / James Gathany; Philippe Charlier; Brian Palmer; David Iliff via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0; Alamy; Pasini et al. / World Neurosurgery / Elsevier; Donovan Wiley; Library of Congress)

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