Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Anthropology

None

Amy Chua

The key to the rise of the Romans, the Mongols—and the U.S.? Ethnic diversity, Chua says in a new book

None

Blame the Rich

They made us who we are, some researchers now say

None

Underground Munchies: Chimps Dig ‘Em

None

Animal Insight

Recent studies illustrate which traits humans and apes have in common—and which they don’t

None

Down to Earth

Anthropologist Amber VanDerwarker is unraveling the mysteries of the ancient Olmec by figuring out what they ate

None

Fred Spoor

The evolution scholar talks about a landmark new study challenging the classic view of human ancestry

None

You Are Short And You’re Gonna Die Soon

A field crew in Kenya excavates a Homo erectus skull.

Head Case

Two fossils found in Kenya raise evolutionary questions

Researchers collect core samples in 2001. During drilling operations, several anchors placed by divers secured the boat to the sea floor.

Underwater World

New evidence reveals a city beneath ancient Alexandria

None

Today’s Great Science Quote

None

Passing Notes

Zhou Daguan, part of a group of diplomats from China that lived in Angkor from 1296 to 1297, recorded his thoughts on the area

Saffron-robed monks enter the Bayon, which stands in the precise center of the King Jayavarman VII's temple city of Angkor Thom.

Jewel of the Jungle

Traveling through Cambodia, our writer details the history and archaeology of Angkor’s ancient temples

Julius Caesar, the emperors Augustus and Tiberius and the statesman-philosopher Cicero all had homes in Stabiae.

Ancient Rome’s Forgotten Paradise

Stabiae’s seaside villas will soon be resurrected in one of the largest archaeological projects in Europe since World War II

The chimp with the most human-like gait and body type walked upright more efficiently than he knuckle-walked—a finding that study co-author Herman Pontzer calls a snapshot of how this evolution may have taken place. (This composite photograph pays homage to the iconic Evolution of Man.)

Walk This Way

Humans’ two-legged gait evolved to save energy, new research says

None

Polynesians Beat Europeans to the “New World”

The site covers some 80,000 acres. UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site in 1983.

Saving Machu Picchu

Will the opening of a bridge give new life to the surrounding community or further encroach upon the World Heritage Site?

None

Roy Richard Grinker

His new book offers a scholar’s— and father’s— perspective on autism

Outer slope of the Rano Raraku volcano, the quarry of the Moais with many uncompleted statues.

The Mystery of Easter Island

New findings rekindle old debates about when the first people arrived and why their civilization collapsed

Sometime after 1938, a forger, perhaps oblivious to the document's historic nature, tried to boost its value by painting Byzantine-style illuminations on a few of its pages.

Reading Between the Lines

Scientists with high-tech tools are deciphering lost writings of the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes

None

Planet — well, Forest — of the Apes

Page 15 of 16