Is Donated Blood a Gift or a Commodity?
An anthropologist dives into the morally fraught blood and plasma industry and what it reveals about human societies—the good, the bad, and the gory. ✽ In the spring…
Tag: history
Is Donated Blood a Gift or a Commodity?
In 1950, human blood was stored for patient use at a U.S. Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration/Wikimedia Commons In the spring…
Can Machine Learning Translate Ancient Egyptian Texts?
A new program aims to use AI to help academics and the public decipher hieroglyphs. Here’s an inside look at how—and whether—it works. ✽ I have long been…
Can Machine Learning Translate Ancient Egyptian Texts?
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs adorn the Temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu near Luxor. Vyacheslav Argenberg/Wikimedia Commons I have long been intrigued by archaeogaming—an academic di…
Maize and Okra
I saw big momma once, seated in a wooden chair with hair braided all the way like if you look downriver, you could imagine the chillin’ playing— after…
A Memory of History or History of Memory? – A War Memorial ‘Simpson and His Donkey’
I remember when I was a little girl, I was fascinated with war memorials. Stone colossi towering over people, gravely staring into the infinite as if seeing something…
Tree Rings Are Evidence of the Megadrought—and Our Doom
I love trees. I also love dendrochronology—literally, “the study of tree time.” This science, which uses data derived from tree growth rings, provides scientists with a wealth of…
Crystal Worl’s Countermural Tells a Different History of Alaska
Her dark gray eyes scan the horizon. An iridescent golden sun and stars encircle her head, flanked on one side by a cobalt sockeye salmon and the other…
Five Turning Points in the Evolution of Wine
Archaeologists have investigated Greek wine containers shipwrecked in the Mediterranean. Cristian Umili/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images Contrary to popular belief, the evolution of wine …
Cooking Debris in an Australian Cave Tells a Story of Resilience
Starting around 4,000 years ago, Bininj (Aboriginal people in Australia) adapted their diets to include more freshwater plants from wetlands, such as those in the Kakadu region (shown…
The Deep Human Story of Collecting Fossils
The Greek myth of Odysseus and the one-eyed Cyclops may have been inspired by ancient mammoth and mastodon skulls, on which the opening for the trunk looks like…
Here’s How to Make Olive Oil Like an Ancient Egyptian
“Hand Clutching an Olive Branch,” 1353–1323 B.C., New Kingdom, Amarna Period. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Norbert Schimmel, 1981 This article was originally published at The…
Moments in Places in Time
Growing up in the middle of Alaska, there was a window to another world on the wall of my living room. It was like no place I’d ever…
Reinterpreting Life and Death in Ancient Nubia
Research team members excavate a tumulus burial structure. Michele R. Buzon This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished with Creative Commons. Circu…
The Amazing Archive of First Nations Stories Written on Stone
This rock art in Australia features four of Josie Maralngurra’s hand stencils. The Pathway Project This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under…
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…
The Yaghan Rise Again
Archaeologist Atilio Francisco Zangrando, foreground, has excavated along the Beagle Channel, or Onashaga in the Yaghan language, since 1998. Katrina Pyne This article was originally publ…
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…
Was the Acropolis a Harem? A Myth of Orientalism
The Acropolis of Athens has birthed countless tales, some of which appear to be more based on fiction than fact. Oleksandr Troitskyi/Wikimedia Commons This article was originally publishe…
Predominantly White Institutions’ Overtures to Black Students OR This Is What They Tell You Without Telling You
Enslaved people built the Rotunda at the University of Virginia in the 19th century. Chrispecoraro/Getty Images Go to undergrad, go to graduate school, get a Ph.D. heft onto…
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…
At the Limits of Cure for Tuberculosis
As part of a tuberculosis screening, a radiologist in Germany examines a lung X-ray of a refugee from the 2022 Russian war in Ukraine. Matthias Balk/Picture Alliance/Getty Images…
Two Pioneering Female Archaeologists
Precocious. Prolific. Audacious. Magnanimous. Each of these terms describes archaeologist Hannah Marie Wormington and her protégé Cynthia Irwin-Williams.* As pioneering female archaeologists in an are…
The Politics of “Ukraine” Versus “the Ukraine”
[no-caption] TheKit_13/Pixabay This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under Creative Commons. For most of the 20th century, English speakers re…