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Indigenous Peoples

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For A Young City, Scottsdale’s Art and Culture Goes Deep

From iconic architecture to indigenous culinary traditions, Scottsdale’s arts and culture scene is thriving

The new Chuckwalla National Monument protects more than 624,000 acres in southern California.

Biden Establishes Two New National Monuments in California

The Chuckwalla National Monument and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument will protect more than 848,000 acres of public lands

Tetiaroa is a haven for wildlife, including sea turtles, crabs, seabirds, sharks, coral and fish.

Marlon Brando Wanted to Build a ‘University of the Sea.’ These Scientists Are Bringing the Late Actor’s Vision to Life

On Tetiaroa, a vibrant coral atoll dotted with sandy islets, archaeologists, marine biologists and cultural practitioners are working together to improve understanding of a unique ecosystem

Dating from 1940, this photograph depicts a sign at the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre, South Dakota, where 250 American Indians were killed in 1890.

On This Day in History

On This Day in 1890, the U.S. Army Killed Nearly 300 Lakota People in the Wounded Knee Massacre

The mass murder made sensational news at the time, but getting to the heart of the matter took a much deeper view of American history

Fascinating finds unveiled in 2024 ranged from a jade Maya funerary mask to a Roman dodecahedron.

Cool Finds

Seventy-Seven Fascinating Finds Revealed in 2024, From a Mysterious ‘Anomaly’ Near the Great Pyramid of Giza to a Missing Portrait of Henry VIII

The year’s most exciting discoveries included musket balls fired in the early days of the American Revolution, a lost composition by Mozart and a medieval chess piece

The Amazon tree boa (Corallus hortulana) is not a new species, but it's one of the reptiles documented on a 2022 expedition to the Alto Mayo region of Peru.

Expedition Discovers 27 New Species in Peru, From an ‘Exceedingly Rare’ Amphibious Mouse to a Blob-Headed Fish

The hidden creatures were found in a densely populated region known for its successful—and controversial—conservation tactics

During a systematic metal detector survey in southern Arizona, Deni Seymour unearthed a 16th-century cannon likely left behind by Spanish conquistadors.

These 500-Year-Old Cannons May Help Unravel the Mysteries of the Coronado Expedition

The 16th-century artifacts were found during excavations in Arizona. Researchers say they may be the oldest firearms ever discovered in the continental United States

Last week, scientists conducted the first-ever dissection of a spade-toothed whale, the rarest whale species on Earth.

Scientists Just Dissected the World’s Rarest Whale in New Zealand. Here’s What They Found

Only seven spade-toothed whales have ever been identified, and the species has never been seen alive. After one washed ashore last summer, researchers have made new discoveries—including that the animal had nine stomach chambers and vestigial teeth

A circa 1883 photograph of Lakota leader Sitting Bull

On This Day in History

Why Sitting Bull Was Killed by Indian Agency Police at His Cabin on the Standing Rock Reservation

Because of his alleged involvement with the Ghost Dance movement, the Lakota leader, who died on this day in 1890, was seen as a threat to the U.S. government’s efforts to subdue Indigenous Americans

Estimates of the number of Pacific Islanders captured by blackbirders and forced to work on cotton and sugar plantations in Fiji and Australia range from 61,610 to more than 100,000.

How ‘Blackbirders’ Forced Tens of Thousands of Pacific Islanders Into Slavery After the Civil War

The decline of the American South’s cotton and sugar industries paved the way for plantations in British-controlled Fiji and Australia, where victims of “blackbirding” endured horrific working conditions

The researchers of the paper, Matthew Adeleye, University of Cambridge, and David Bowman, University of Tasmania, study a sediment core.

New Research

Researchers Uncover the Oldest Record of Humans Using Fire in Tasmania, Almost 2,000 Years Earlier Than Previously Known

A new paper reveals how Aboriginal people changed the landscape by burning, demonstrating how similar practices could help manage modern bushfires

President Joe Biden formally apologized on October 25 for the government's role in sending thousands of Native American children to federal boarding schools.

Biden Issues a ‘Long Overdue’ Formal Apology for Native American Boarding Schools

The president atoned for the federal government’s role in forcing Native American children into boarding schools, where many were abused and more than 900 died

The Upper Klamath River is also part of restoration work. The salmon's return inspires biologists to continue their efforts in the upper basin.

Salmon Make a Long-Awaited Return to the Klamath River for the First Time in 112 Years, After Largest Dam Removal in U.S.

Chinook salmon spark excitement among local Klamath Tribes, who have advocated for decades to restore the flow of the river in California and Oregon

Jonathan Shapiro, a Vermont-based wilderness instructor and certified “specialist” tracker on the East Coast, during an evaluation in the California desert.

Even as A.I. Technology Races Ahead, the Prehistoric Science of Wildlife Tracking Is Making a Comeback

Humans perfected how to identify wild animals over millennia, and now biologists are rediscovering the exceptional worth of the tracks and marks left behind

Aerial view of Government Point, located within Point Conception State Marine Reserve and the newly designated Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary

A New Marine Sanctuary Off California Will Be Co-Managed by Indigenous Peoples

NOAA designated the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary this month, following a decade of advocacy by supporters. The protected site will be finalized after a 45-day review period

Tsegi Spider Rock, DY Begay, 2007

How an Indigenous Weaver’s Mastery of Color Infuses Her Tapestries With a Life Force

The work of Diné artist DY Begay, now on view at the National Museum of the American Indian, blends tradition and modernity

By age 11, Theodore Roosevelt boasted that he had 1,000 scientific specimens in the collections of his Roosevelt Museum of Natural History.

How a Dead Seal Sparked Theodore Roosevelt’s Lifelong Passion for Conservation

As a child, the future president acquired a marine animal’s skull, which became the first specimen in his natural history collection

In the late 18th century, George Vancouver and his crew systematically sighted 75 geographical features in the Pacific Northwest, giving them entirely new names based on European taxonomy and imperial ambitions.

How Captain George Vancouver Mapped and Shaped the Modern Pacific Northwest

The British explorer named dozens of geographical features and sites in the region, ignoring the traditions of the Indigenous peoples who’d lived there for millennia

A participant dressed up as a demon brandishes a stick with fireworks during Correfoc in Catalonia.

Halloween Is Spooky. But So Are These Eight Other Celebrations Around the World

From Setsubun in Japan to Fèt Gede in Haiti, these festivals relish in the macabre

Masset, QCI, Emily Carr, 1912

Cool Finds

An Art Dealer Bought This Painting at a Barn Sale for $50. It Turned Out to Be an Emily Carr Worth Nearly $150,000

The Canadian Post-Impressionist artist was famous for her evocative landscapes and paintings incorporating motifs from First Nations groups

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