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Indigenous Peoples

Archaeologists confirmed the find in late 2019 but only announced the news now due to delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This drawing shows what the St. Mary's Fort may have looked like.

Cool Finds

Researchers Discover Ruins of Maryland’s Earliest Colonial Site, a 386-Year-Old Fort

A team used ground-penetrating radar to identify the outlines of a defensive outpost at the St. Mary’s settlement

The tool is between 3,800 and 5,300 years old.

Cool Finds

Rare Ancient Tool Found in Australia May Have Been Made With Kangaroo Bone

The rare find is helping archaeologists piece together Indigenous technologies used thousands of years ago

Much of the Apostle Santiago Church burned to the ground in a March 7 fire.

Fire at 16th-Century Mexican Church Prompts Debate Over How to Protect Cultural Heritage

Critics argue that a lack of preservation funding contributed to the devastating loss

Tattoo by early Japanese tattoo artist K. Akamatsu, ca. 1910s

Explore 200 Years of Tattoo History With This New Book

Celebrated tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher shows off designs from around the world in images from his private collection

Chinchero is an agrarian town about 45-minutes outside of Cusco known for its striking landscape of snow-capped mountains and lagoons connected by a system of wetlands, as well as its Inca ruins and famous Sunday market.

The Uphill Battle to Stop Peru From Building a New Airport Near Machu Picchu

Opinions are divided in the agrarian town of Chinchero, where the airport is slated to open in 2025

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Covid-19

How Navajo Physicians Are Battling the Covid-19 Pandemic

Combining traditional medicine and modern science, these courageous doctors have risen to the challenge

The kangaroo painting, shown alongside an illustration giving a clear view of the lines drawn by the artist, is Australia's oldest known rock art.

Cool Finds

17,000-Year-Old Kangaroo Painting Is Oldest-Known Australian Rock Art

Researchers were able to date the painting using a new technique involving wasps’ nests

Bogong moths were traditionally ground into pastes or cakes. Pictured here are a single moth (left) and thousands of moths resting on a rock (right).

Cool Finds

Aboriginal Australians Dined on Moths 2,000 Years Ago

The discovery of an ancient grindstone containing traces of the insect confirms long-held Indigenous oral tradition

The Covid-19 pandemic has exacted a heavy toll on Native American communities. In this May 2020 image, Navajo elder Emerson Gorman (R) sits with his (L-R) daughter Naiyahnikai, wife Beverly and grandchild Nizhoni near the Navajo Nation town of Steamboat in Arizona.

$1.6 Million Grant Will Support Digitization of Native American Oral Histories

The newly announced funding will help universities make decades-old interviews widely available

Crafted in Venice, these blue beads traveled all the way to northern Alaska in the mid-15th century.

Cool Finds

Venetian Glass Beads May Be Oldest European Artifacts Found in North America

Traders likely transported the small spheres from Italy to northern Alaska in the mid-15th century

Eagles are enduring symbols in Aztec lore.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth 600-Year-Old Golden Eagle Sculpture at Aztec Temple

The artwork is the largest bas-relief engraving found at the Templo Mayor to date

These walrus ivory carvings were collected in the mid-1880s. They were featured in a catalogue for the exhibition "Looking Both Ways: Heritage and Identity of the Alutiiq People" at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in 2003.

Smithsonian Voices

How Arctic Anthropologists Are Expanding Narratives About the North

Studying past Arctic cultures and working with today’s northern communities to address present-day socioeconomic and environmental challenges

Researchers restored the mask before reburying it to protect against looters and erosion.

Cool Finds

Human-Sized Maya Mask Found in Mexico

The stucco sculpture—dated to between 300 B.C. and 250 A.D.—probably depicts a deity or elite member of society

The Russian warship Neva arrives in Alaska led by Alexander Baranov

Archaeologists Identify Famed Fort Where Indigenous Tlingits Fought Russian Forces

The new discovery builds upon the knowledge passed down by generations of Indigenous communities about the clash from two centuries ago

Prior to the Spanish forces' arrival, Aztec people tried to hide the bones of their victims by throwing them into wells.

After Aztecs Cannibalized Spanish Convoy, Conquistadors Retaliated by Killing Innocents

Archaeologists in Mexico discovered the remains of women and children targeted by Hernán Cortés’ forces in 1520

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to an abundance of wildlife such as polar bears and caribou, which the region's Indigenous communities rely on and hold sacred.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Will Not Face Mass Oil Drilling—for Now

Large oil companies skipped out on the auction, but environmentalists say a worrisome precedent has been set

At the Totem Heritage Center in Ketchikan, Alaska, Nathan Jackson wears ceremonial blankets and a headdress made from ermine pelts, cedar, abalone shell, copper and flicker feathers.

Discover Alaska

How Native Artisans in Alaska Bring Innovation and Humor to Their Craft

In Indigenous communities along the coast, a lively artistic movement plays with tradition

The otherworldly terrain dazzled early explorers. In 1827, trapper Daniel Potts noted that geysers erupted with a roar like “that of thunder.”

The Lost History of Yellowstone

Debunking the myth that the great national park was a wilderness untouched by humans

The anthem has become part of a conversation about Australia's relationship with its Indigenous citizens.

Australia Changes National Anthem Lyrics to Recognize Its Long Indigenous History

“Advance Australia Fair” no longer calls a nation with a 65,000-year history “young and free”

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This Ohio Golf Course, Built Atop a Hopewell Earthwork, Is Now the Subject of a Lawsuit

A legal battle brews over access to some of the world’s largest human-made structures of their kind

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