Witnessing an Endangered Puberty Ritual
Yanesha’ women and girls participate in a right-of-passage ritual called ponapnora in the remote community of Puellas Yuncullmas. Anna Luisa Daigneault It was before dawn. I lay curled…
Yanesha’ women and girls participate in a right-of-passage ritual called ponapnora in the remote community of Puellas Yuncullmas. Anna Luisa Daigneault It was before dawn. I lay curled…
By Samantha MacBride There are a series of assumptions behind the familiar assertion that recycling saves resources and energy, and in so doing, protects the environment. These assumptions…
[no-caption] David Williams/SAPIENS From space junk and the International Space Station to space colonization and SpaceX, space is becoming a more human place. What will it mean when…
What is home? Is it a physical space, a set of relationships, or a state of mind? SAPIENS host Esteban Gómez follows Amy Starecheski, a researcher who has…
On a cold, wet afternoon in February 2014, Andrew Mathews stood on a mountain in Tuscany and looked out over the valley below. An environmental anthropologist and a…
Archaeologist Kurt Rademaker feared his field season was over before it had even begun. It was July 2017, and he was scanning Quebrada Jaguay, a desert site on…
When Ötzi the Iceman, the most complete Neolithic mummy ever found, melted out of the Tyrolean Alps in 1991, the field of “ice patch archaeology” was born. In…
Graves that are more than 400 years old in Jamestown, Virginia, lie near the first Protestant church in what later became the United States. Jamestown is just one…
Original negatives for John Marshall’s Pittsburgh Police Series, labeled “COPS.” Photo by Frank Aveni. As film making and viewing increasingly become identified with digital media — storage in…
In the fall of 1282, a young carpenter went to his favorite stand of juniper trees in southwestern Colorado. That stand contained a large number of tall trees…
The Ainu, the Indigenous people of Japan, have fought Japanese domination for centuries. As this century unfolds, their efforts are finally paying off. Chris Willson/Alamy Stock Photo Thi…
The Department of Justice’s case against Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is one of only a few instances in which illegal antiquities were confiscated, but investigations into smuggled artifacts…
The Yardenit Baptismal Site is a pilgrimage place that many visitors say allows them to connect to events outlined in the Bible, including the baptism and ministry of…
About half of the world’s languages are expected to disappear by 2100 if nothing is done to stop their decline. To counteract this trend, some tribes are using…
Graffiti in U.S. national parks has become increasingly common. Carving into rocks or writing and painting on them leaves images and impressions that are difficult to remove—forever changing…
The Confederate flag, which many people see as a symbol of America’s racist past, continues to spark debate. fauxto_digit/Flickr Last summer, the Confederate flag was finally taken down…
Dendrochronology—literally the study of tree time—is a multidisciplinary science that yields accurate and precisely dated information through the detailed analysis of growth rings in trees. Today, nea…
The days following Nepal’s devastating, 7.8 magnitude earthquake on April 25, 2015, passed for me in a blur of sleeplessness and checking Facebook. I ached to be there.…
A Stone Age archaeological site in South Africa has been saved from the threat of diamond mining. The site, called Canteen Kopje, is renowned for its cache of…
Researchers are panicking as a Stone Age archaeological site in South Africa called Canteen Kopje is facing demolition by diamond mining. Miners have already started to clear the…
I recently visited the Bodies exhibit at Atlantic Station which features anatomical presentations of preserved human corpses. They kind of ease you in. The exhibit opens tamely with…
The Wire goes underground into the vaults of the British Library’s Sound Archive. “The 20th century was about audiovisual material, our memory of the 20th century is heavily…