Bracelets in Difficult Times: The Importance of Ordinary People’s Stories
– by Sigrid van Roode – The young man looked at me hesitantly. “Well, I don’t know….” he said. “I’ll have to ask my grandfather, but he’s praying…
Tag: Archaeology
Finding Mrs. Jackson
From your backyard to a hill by the ocean, you can come upon an archaeological find just about anywhere. But what happens when that object was a keepsake…
Extraordinary Lessons From a Community-Led Excavation
An archaeologist examines how community members in Cardiff, Wales, collaborated with a research team to make important insights into the Bronze Age. This article was originally published at…
SAR Welcomes Two New Board Members
SAR Welcomes Two New Board Members …
My Search for the Origins of Clothing
An archaeologist uses climate data and tailoring tools to trace the invention and evolution of apparel in the world’s colder climates. seeking paleolithic clothing origins Not long ago,…
People of the Peppers
Meet Katherine Chiou, an archaeologist who conducts research in Mexico and Peru to search for clues about humanity’s spicy romance with hot chili peppers. The world over people…
The Astounding Origins of Chaco Canyon Timber
In a nearly treeless desert, Ancestral Puebloans built Great Houses with more than 200,000 massive log beams. Where they got the wood has long puzzled archaeologists. THE QUESTION…
What a Cow’s Horn Reveals About Khoisan Medicine
An archaeologist explains what a 500-year-old horn container found in South Africa illuminates about precolonial Khoisan medical and spiritual knowledges. This article was originally published at The…
How Do We Heal?
A poet-anthropologist who is a Passamaquoddy tribal member lights a path toward healing both within the field of archaeology and in reflecting on the voices and presence—past, present,…
Can Digitizing Gravestones Save History?
An anthropologist is digitizing gravestones at Burial Hill, a historic cemetery in Plymouth, Massachusetts, that holds the remains of some of the first Pilgrims. Documenting these unique records…
A Story of Icelandic Skulls
An anthropologist journeys to the Arctic Circle and finds a surprising story about the human remains that end up in museum collections. “Prime harvest”—that’s how one early 20th-century…
Advocating for Archaeology’s New Purpose
Archaeologists can help communities retake what colonialism and racism tried to erase through a new goal of “archaeological reclamation.” The following individuals co-authored this essay: Lindsay M. M…
Club-Wielding Ancestors: Myth or Reality?
Inspired by pop culture depictions of cavepeople, an archaeologist searches for elusive evidence of ancient wooden clubs. ✽ Growing up in the 1990s, I first encountered the ancient…
Should Paviland’s Red Lady “Come Home”?
Two archaeologists explore the complicated story of 33,000-year-old human remains—and calls for their repatriation to Wales. This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been rep…
The Colonial Roots of Peru’s Troubles
An archaeologist traces the current protests in Peru to exploitive labor policies enacted in silver mines during Spanish colonial rule from 1532 to 1800. ✽ Last month, Peru’s…
Teaching from the Textbooks: An Archaeology of the Current Historical Moment
On the last day of class, my advanced theory students would break up into small groups and each have the option of choosing one such old anthropology textbook…
Reconsidering Fragility in Museums—and the World
Following climate protests at art museums, a conservator considers museums’ role in the unsustainable exploitation of nature and cultural heritage. ✽ Over several months in 2022, climate activists…
What Does the Armenian Genocide Have to Do With Florida?
Archaeologists have often ignored evidence for the 1915 Armenian genocide that has long been denied by Turkey. The consequences have lessons for the U.S. as Florida limits educators…
With the Fall of a Tree, Archaeology Returns to Liberia
Following a devastating Civil War, archaeologists are helping Liberia rewrite a more inclusive history and forge a more diverse future. ✽ In 2019, in the aftermath of a…
Navigating the Ethics of Ancient DNA Research
Paleogenomic research has expanded rapidly over the past two decades, igniting heated debates about handling human remains. Who gives consent for the ancient subjects of studies—and who should…
What Do Archaeologists Do?
Archaeologists use a wide variety of methods to explore a fascinating range of topics about human history, culture, and behavior. Here’s an overview of the ways archaeologists preserve…
When Life Imitates Art in Ukraine
Photographs from Russia’s war on Ukraine dissolve an archaeologist’s fondness for a Soviet-era sculpture. ✽ On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine. Counter to Russian President…
Did Humanity Really Arise in One Place?
New evidence is prompting researchers to rethink Homo sapiens’ origin story—and what it means to be human. ✽ As a university student in the early 2010s, I recall…
Piecing Together History From a Roman Mosaic
The 2020 discovery of an ancient villa in Britain uncovered the most important Roman mosaic found in the last century. An archaeologist explains how the mosaic offers an…