A Free Man: The Story of a Menominee Elder
An anthropologist and Menominee Indian Nation citizen recounts the story of independent-minded Frank, a man who kept tribal lifeways in the early 20th century. “A Free Man: The…
Tag: heritage
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…
Seeker of Life/Kawsay Thawiq
A Quechua poet and linguist speaks to the conflicting feelings some Indigenous groups experience when non-Native paleoarchaeologists and others visit their communities for research projects. “Se…
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…
The Woods Lament For Me
Poet-anthropologist Jason Vasser-Elong revitalizes stories of interwoven lineages of his African-descent ancestors and those who were Native American. The Woods Lament For Me – Listen —For Will…
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…
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…
Rock Drawings
A Tohono O’odham poet and linguist reflects on the stories and wisdom ancestors communicated—how people survived, how they dispersed and differentiated, how they remember. “Rock Drawings” …
A Tree’s Tongue
A Nigerian poet-anthropologist witnesses the powerful rising up of ancestors through the revival of a tree in the Igbo village of Ogbodu. “A Tree’s Tongue” is part of…
How Gravestones Shaped as Sheep United the Caucasus
An archaeologist fascinated by a centurieslong memorial practice in Georgia considers how these unique gravestones reflect shared values and traditions—yet are sometimes destroyed in nationalist cultu…
A Major Museum’s Attempt to Center Native American Voices
Chicago’s Field Museum recently unveiled their new Native North America Hall, redesigned with input from Native collaborators. But does it go far enough to address past harms? ✽…
The Dangers of Ancient Apocalypse’s Pseudoscience
Reviewing Netflix’s Ancient Apocalypse, an anthropologist explains how its host Graham Hancock devalues both archaeology and Indigenous heritage. This article was originally published at The Conversa…
How a Song Bridged Diné and Ndebele Worlds
An anthropologist recounts a magical moment of songwriting collaboration between Diné (Navajo) and Ndebele artists gathered for the WOMAD Festival in South Africa. ✽ In October, I traveled…
A Somali Archaeologist Is Championing Heritage in the Horn of Africa
An interview with Sada Mire dives into the difficulties and rewards of preserving history and letting local perspectives guide heritage management in Somalia and Somaliland. ✽ Somalia and…
Heritage Forensics Is Tackling Devastating New Forms of Cultural Erasure
In the Caucasus, researchers are using aerospace technology to expose the clandestine obliteration of Armenian cultural heritage. These new methods of archaeology will prove necessary in the global…
“You hurt our monuments, you hurt our heroes, you go to jail for ten years”: Contested histories at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021
Minutes before Trump told his supporters to march on the US Capitol and to “fight like hell,” he reminded them of a “little law” against attacking national monuments:…
The vital afterlife of Chernobyl cemeteries
Every year, after Easter, hundreds of families from all over Ukraine gather in the Chernobyl Zone of Alienation. People converge toward the now-deserted area to perform rites called…
Perimeter Protection: The Resiliency of Plantation Infrastructures in the South Carolina Lowcountry
Editorial Note: This post is part of our series highlighting the work of the Anthropology and Environment Society’s 2021 Roy A. Rappaport Prize Finalists. We asked them to outline the…
Heritage Out of Control: Musealising (Hi)stories of Migration
Since the early 2000s, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the recruitment agreement between Austria and Turkey in 1964, there have been increasing initiatives in Vienna that involve municipal…
Heritage out of control: Is Libation a Prayer?
Religion as Heritage in Ghana In 2009, Ghana celebrated its 52nd birthday as an independent country with the usual pomp and circumstance. The parade was held at the…
Heritage out of Control: Present Gods, Absent Nation
The sun had already set when the night-long live broadcast of a kohoḿbā kankāriya ritual in a Sri Lankan town begins. A larger-than-life image of the leading national…
Heritage out of Control: When Heritage Turns to Rubble
In December 2017, Toungouma was stolen, the famed stone said to render justice in the Département of Dogondoutchi, Niger. When it was found a few days later, the…
Heritage out of Control: Inheriting Love – Sensing in The Museum of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi (1207-1273)
“Muslims go to Mecca once, if they are not unnecessarily wealthy (laughing), but people of all kinds come to visit Mevlana [‘s musealized tomb] every year. Why? Because…