Africa

A high-necked polychrome pot, created sometime between 1100 and 1400 B.C.E., was among the more than 900 items returned to Mali.

The U.S. Returns More Than 900 Stolen Artifacts to Mali

American authorities seized the presumably looted objects, which were listed as replicas, in 2009

Rising water sent arachnids like the Arabian fat-tailed scorpion fleeing into local villages.

Scorpions Swept Into Egyptian Homes by Floods Sting More Than 500 People

Rising water following a rare storm in Aswan forced the arachnids out of their underground burrows in search of dry land

The room combines art that evokes imagined futures and artifacts from different contexts within the African diaspora.

The Met's New Period Room Envisions a Thriving Afrofuturist Community

The Manhattan museum's latest imagined space blends Black history and contemporary art

Africa could lose rare glaciers like Mount Kilimanjaro's Southern Ice Field within 20 years.

Africa's Last Rare Glaciers May Soon Disappear

The continent is especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, despite its population contributing little to the problem

Colombian wildlife officials hope to control a rather large invasive species—the hippo—with contraceptive drugs.

Officials Use Contraceptives to Control Pablo Escobar's 'Cocaine' Hippos

Smuggled into Colombia by the drug kingpin in the 1980s, the African mammal is now a growing environmental threat in the South American country

Shera from the series "Tales of the First Sunrise."

How One Photographer Took Spiritual Inspiration From African Woodcarving

Stranded by the pandemic, Yannis Davy Guibinga made a connection with home through his art

The ivory comb shows gazelle-like animals attempting to escape predators.

1,500-Year-Old Ivory Beard Comb Found in Grave in Germany

The rare sixth-century grooming tool features intricate carvings of a hunting scene

The 'Ubeidiya site today is an expanse of grasses. Concealed from this view are slabs of fossilized pebbly clay, a source of ancient finds that have helped scholars learn about the journeys of Homo erectus.

What Drove Homo Erectus Out of Africa?

Excavations at a site in northern Israel are at the heart of a debate about the species' migrations

New research suggests these human-like footprints found in Crete may by 6.05 million years old.

New Research Suggests Human-Like Footprints in Crete Date to 6.05 Million Years Ago

The findings could upend scientists' understanding of human evolution—but the paper has proven controversial

Rhodes left Oxford's Oriel College around $17 million in today's money.

Why a New Plaque Next to Oxford's Cecil Rhodes Statue Is So Controversial

The sign identifies the 19th-century statesman as a "committed British colonialist"

Abdulrazak Gurnah, 73, was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday.

Abdulrazak Gurnah, Chronicler of Migrant Experience, Wins 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature

The Zanzibar-born author of ten novels tells richly detailed stories about people living "in the gulf between cultures and continents"

Now named a new species, Wallace's sphinx moth (top) of Madagascar displays its world's longest tongue next Morgan's sphinx moth, which is found on the African mainland.

With a Nearly Foot-Long Proboscis, This New Moth Species Holds Record for Longest Insect Tongue

DNA testing shows island moth from Madagascar is distinctly different from similar varieties found on the African mainland

"Remember Me," now on view at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, unites more than 100 European Renaissance portraits. Pictured here is Albrecht Dürer's 1508 chalk sketch of an unidentified African man.

Display of 100 Renaissance Portraits Underscores Humans' Enduring Desire to Be Remembered

An exhibition at the Rijksmuseum unites two early likenesses of African men in Europe, among other 15th- and 16th-century masterpieces

Alula Pankhurst, a member of Ethiopia’s National Heritage Restitution Committee, calls the objects' return the “single most significant heritage restitution in Ethiopia’s history.”

Looted Maqdala Treasures Returned to Ethiopia After 150 Years

A nonprofit foundation purchased the objects, which were seized by British troops in 1868, with the aim of restituting them

African wild dogs are skilled hunters.

Endangered Wild Dogs Rely on Diverse Habitat to Survive Around Lions

A new study shows that bramble and brush help the canines avoid attacks by the big cats, and may offer clues about where to reintroduce the dogs

The Marchioness (2016) depicts a member of the fictional UmuEze Amara family, "one of the oldest noble clans in Nigeria."

Imagining a Different History for Africa Through Art

Toyin Ojih Odutola conjures a world that might have been

The Ifesowapo dùndún ensemble performing in Igbo Ora, southwest Nigeria

How Does the West African Talking Drum Accurately Mimic Human Speech?

A new study explores how the dùndún replicates tones and patterns of the Yorùbá language

A new exhibition at the Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem explores the fascinating history of coffee.

Tracing Coffee's Travels From the East to the West

New exhibition explores how the caffeinated beverage sparked religious controversy and technical innovation

Nine out of 10 malaria victims live in Africa, most of them children under the age of five.

West African Scientists Are Leading the Science Behind a Malaria Vaccine

Researchers in Mali have been working for decades on the treatment that's now in the final phase of clinical trials

Researchers analyzed the Sudanese landscape with a model originally created to analyze the spatial patterns of stars and galaxies.

These Medieval Islamic Tombs in Sudan Were Laid Out Like Galaxies

Some of the burials appear to be clustered around "parent" funerary mounds of seeming cultural significance

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