The Deep Human Story of Collecting Fossils
Dinosaur eggs, trilobites, and other fossils have intrigued humans for hundreds of thousands of years, inspiring their creative pursuits and their understanding of the natural world.
Essays
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What the Vai Script Reveals About the Evolution of Writing
In the 19th century, a man living in present-day Liberia dreamed of the first script for his native Vai language. Today linguistic anthropologists are digging into the script’s evolution—and what the changes over the past two centuries reveal about human cognition and society.
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Indigenous Mapmaking, or Bringing a Dead Map to Life
In a new book, an anthropologist explores how oil palm plantations in West Papua are upending Indigenous Marind communities' ways of life. In this excerpt, Marind villagers call upon their plant and animal kin to confront a map used by the oil palm industry.
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Biological Science Rejects the Sex Binary, and That’s Good for Humanity
Evidence from various sciences reveals that there are diverse ways of being male, female, or both. An anthropologist argues that embracing these truths will help humans flourish.
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Busting Myths About Sex and Gender
In a newly revised book, an anthropologist dismantles harmful untruths about society, including notions about the nature of differences between men and women.
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Haunted by a Secret War
In a new book of ethnographic fiction on the lingering effects of the United States’ Secret War in Laos, the living must find ways to pacify the ghosts of those who suffered past violence.