Digging Into an Ancient Apocalypse Controversy From a Hopi Perspective
When producers for a popular Netflix series sought a permit to film on public lands in the U.S. Southwest, many Native leaders objected. A Hopi tribal official, Stewart…
Author: Chip Colwell
What Is SAPIENS Magazine?
SAPIENS magazine is an online portal for readers to better understand the world and what it means to be human. AerialPerspective Images/Getty Images WHAT IS SAPIENS MAGAZINE? SAPIENS…
SAPIENS Podcast Season 4 Reflections and Celebrations
In this live event, a panel of archaeologists and podcasters celebrates the completion of SAPIENS Podcast Season 4 and RadioCIAMS’ SAPIENS Talk Back series. Meet the amazing people…
What Do Anthropologists Do?
A person documents a centuries-old Basque carnival in Alsasua, Spain. Many anthropologists investigate cultural phenomena, such as rituals and religious traditions. NurPhoto/Getty Images …
Repatriation Is Our Future
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, or NAGPRA, is supposed to curb the illegal possession of ancestral Native American remains and cultural items. But…
Slavery, Sustenance, and Resistance
Archaeology helps re-imagine a fuller range of experiences, including how people ate, innovated, and rebelled. In this episode, “slave cuisine” opens a window to honor the legacy of…
5 Questions About War Virtually
Join us for a free 25-minute live Q&A between former SAPIENS Media and Public Outreach Fellow Yoli Ngandali and anthropologist Roberto J. González about his new book, War…
How to Promote Research on Social Media
Since SAPIENS launched in 2016, several social media outlets have been central to the magazine’s promotion strategy. Every week, we publish multiple posts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram…
More Than a Mountain
The sky island of Dzil Nchaa Si’an is more than a mountain. It is a significant landmark in Arizona for Apache tribal members to collect medicinal plants, perform…
Curating as Caretaking
History is taught in all kinds of ways—through textbooks, movies, and … museums. In this episode, museum curators challenge the status quo and connect their ancestry to advance…
At the Heart of It All
For its practitioners, archaeology can feel like it is unearthing events deep in the past … until it doesn’t. What is the experience of researchers who discover their…
Redrawing the Boundaries
For many, archaeology means digging up historical artifacts from beneath the ground. But to some, that framework is also violent and colonialist. What would it mean to leave…
Do You Want to Write for SAPIENS?
In this free online webinar, SAPIENS’ editor-in-chief Chip Colwell explains the ins-and-outs of writing for the magazine and its peer publications. Learn who is behind the SAPIENS editorial…
Why the Camp Grant Massacre Matters Today
In 2015, members of the Apache Nation and their allies protested actions by the U.S. Congress that granted parts of Oak Flat to Resolution Copper Mining. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty…
Black and Indigenous Futures
In this final webinar of the series, archaeologists, artists, and cultural theorists turn to questions of what’s next in the struggle for the recognition and promotion of Indigenous…
How to Pitch: A Guide for Anthropologists
Writing a pitch involves untangling your ideas into a clear message. mikroman6/Getty Images So, you think you have the seeds of a great essay or opinion piece. Maybe…
The Fire This Time: Black and Indigenous Ecologies
In the past year, the world witnessed devastating fire seasons in Australia and the U.S. West, an Atlantic hurricane season with a record thirty storms, and a global…
Why Write for SAPIENS?
In the summer of 1960, Jane Goodall left England for what is now Gombe National Park in Tanzania. With the aid of legendary paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey, Goodall was…
Fugitive Archaeological Spaces
Over the past year, we have seen renewed organizing amongst Black and Indigenous heritage professionals as well as the emergence of new collectives globally. These efforts have led…
Unsettling the Past: Radically Reimagining Archaeological Knowledge
For decades, Black and Indigenous archaeologists have rightfully called for a radical reimagining of how archaeology interprets and understands the past. The formulation of archaeologies by, for, and…
“For the Welfare of the Whole People”: Heritage Stewardship in Indigenous and Black Communities
Local descendant communities and Indigenous nations continue to be at the center of heritage preservation efforts. While their methods are not always recognized by academic or governmental organizatio…
Moments of Resilience Amid a Pandemic
[no-caption] Angus Krieg SAPIENS host Chip Colwell speaks with Melanie Adams, the director of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum (ACM), about #Moments of Resilience, the ACM’s e…
From the Margins to the Mainstream: Black and Indigenous Futures in Archaeology
Widespread protests against police violence and anti-Black racism have recently swept the globe. In the wake of protests in May and June, specifically, many citizens and communities looked…
Is It Ever OK to Publish Photographs of Human Remains?
[no-caption] Jonas Androx/Pexels Ask SAPIENS is a series that offers a glimpse into the magazine’s inner workings. Death is an experience that binds all of humanity. Everyone dies.…