Anthropology Magazine

Expanding worlds by exploring everything human.

A photograph shows a grassy riverbank descending into water littered with trash.

The Mexican River Defenders Fighting for the San Pedro

Dwelling
A photograph features a person in a red hooded cape standing in a dark forest, looking back at the viewer.

Should Paviland’s Red Lady “Come Home”?

Uncanny Valley
A photograph features a group of people in colorful ponchos and brimmed straw hats waving colorful flags and holding large drums. A banner in the distance reads “21 de Junio."

Seeker of Life/Kawsay Thawiq

Counterpoint
A photograph features a person in a hooded windbreaker in the foreground looking left, away from a large tiered moss-covered stone structure in the background.

The Colonial Roots of Peru’s Troubles

Human Rights
A photograph shows the silhouettes of three people against a large screen with an image of a colorful galaxy across it.

Picturing the Deep Universe Is Deeply Human

Entanglements
A photograph features a person with short, wavy hair holding a child near an ocean with a bright line shining from the background, blowing out an otherwise dark image. Matt Hoffman/Unsplash

Born of “All That Good”

Counterpoint
Three people sit in a museum with their hands on the frame of a large painting depicting people sitting at a long table. Under the painting, the words “No New Oil” are spray-painted on the wall.

Reconsidering Fragility in Museums—and the World

Counterpoint
A photograph features a building’s white wall covered with a large colorful mural of a curly haired young person with a green sprig tucked behind their ear. The mural surrounds a window through which a woman can be seen standing with her hand on her hip.

What Does the Armenian Genocide Have to Do With Florida?

Viewpoint
A photograph features a metal statue of a man on an elevated platform in a grassy circle in the center of a park. Orange and yellow flowers surround the platform.

How the Early Battle Over Race Science Was Lost

Standpoints
A photograph features dark river water out of which grow tall trees that are sparse with leaves.

The Woods Lament For Me

Identities
A team of people wear gloves and work around a large square hole in the dirt. Some dig, one takes notes, and two hold up a wooden frame in the background.

With the Fall of a Tree, Archaeology Returns to Liberia

Field Notes
An aerial photograph features a large arc-shaped complex of stone ruins showing the remains of rectangular rooms and circular sacred gathering places.

Navigating the Ethics of Ancient DNA Research

Matters
A photograph features women in a train car, standing and holding black handlebars attached to the ceiling.

In Delhi, Women Find Their Place on the Metro

Excerpt
A photograph features a dirt path leading deeper into a dark, wooded area densely packed with green leafy trees.

The Path

Standpoints
A person with black hair wearing a gray T-shirt sits at a table brushing a cylindrical clay object that stands next to several stone fragments labeled with yellow tags.

What Do Archaeologists Do?

Ask SAPIENS
A close-up photograph features a sculpture depicting a person wearing a headwrap and dress leaning on a tombstone at a gravesite etched with the numbers “1941–1945.”

When Life Imitates Art in Ukraine

Standpoints
From below, a photograph features a person in a brown fur coat attaching a large ice block to an in-progress igloo from inside, with a blue sky above.

How Ancient Humans Came to Cope With the Cold

Nature/Nurture
A zoomed-out photograph features white-capped mountains towering in the distance against a blue sky with light clouds. Flags of different colors and dark, sparse shrubbery are in the foreground.

Mayel Lyang

Reflections
A photograph features several people wearing caps, sports jackets, khaki pants, and rainboots gathered on a mountainside plot of dirt, grass, and trees. Several are carrying wooden sticks.

When Disaster Tests the Strength of Human Cooperation

Wayfinding
A photograph features a group of people in patterned clothing gathered on a sandy plot with domed huts visible in the distance. In front, two people dance as others cheer.

Did Humanity Really Arise in One Place?

Counterpoint
A photograph features two people kneeling by buckets and working to clean a tiled mosaic on the ground.

Piecing Together History From a Roman Mosaic

Unearthed
A photograph features a large desert plain scattered with brush and cacti with a sun setting behind a distant horizon lined with mountains.

Rock Drawings

Expressions
A photograph features a square area of concrete tiling in a park’s center with bench seating around its perimeter. At the center of the square is a stone statue of a man’s bust covered in red paint.

To Decolonize, We Must End the World as We Know It

Debate
A photograph features a large body of water with a cityscape visible in the distance. On the left side, a person stands on a wooden pier near a white sign that reads: “PLEASE KEEP YOUR PIER CLEAN. USE TRASH CANS.”

Planting Seeds for a More Ethical Future

Debate
A photograph features a dark scene with red light shining from the left to silhouette a crowd of people under an overhanging tree. In the center, a person wearing hoop earrings and a head wrap poses in front of a projected illustration of a person in a white dress and head wrap.

Centering Black Lives in the Study of Human Remains

Debate
A photograph features a large crowd inside an atrium holding up flyers emblazoned with capitalized red text that reads “Decolonize This Museum.”

Embracing the Poetry of Being Human

Debate
A photograph features the corner of a large bookcase filled with books. The books’ various multicolored covers evoke patterns common on African wax print fabrics.

Can Anthropology Be Decolonized?

Debate
A photograph features a large tree fully topped with green leaves along the side of a dirt road and in front of an iron and concrete fence that encloses green grass. A car is partially visible in the foreground, and beige buildings lie in the background.

A Tree’s Tongue

Expressions
A picture features a sky with a large, slightly orange, billowing cloud at its center that morphs on its left side to look like the side profile of dark-skinned woman’s face. To the left of her is a bright-blue sky with clouds.

Indigenizing What It Means to Be Human

Reflections
A photograph features a wax figure of a seated person with a large nose and broad jaw wearing a gray collared button-up shirt under a suit jacket of a darker gray shade. Their body is angled left as they look into the distance.

What If Neanderthals Had Outlived Homo Sapiens?

Culture Lab
A photograph features a person wearing a collared shirt and apron in a large kitchen pouring coffee from a kettle into one of several white mugs on a wooden counter.

When Coffee Is Like Angel Cake With Strawberry Jam

Excerpt

Rhyme & Reason: Poetry as a Cultural and Communal Bridge

Expressions
(RE)THINK HUMAN
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