Tree Rings Are Evidence of the Megadrought—and Our Doom
Scientists are using dendroclimatology to investigate megadroughts in the western U.S., and the trees are telling a disturbing tale.
Column / Curiosities
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Two Pioneering Female Archaeologists
Hannah Marie Wormington and Cynthia Irwin-Williams grew up in a time when women were banned from some anthropology classrooms, yet they forged successful careers and set examples as supportive and inspiring leaders.
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A Hidden Figure in North American Archaeology
A Black cowboy named George McJunkin, who died 100 years ago, found a site that would transform scientific views about the deep history of Native Americans in North America.
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The Blockbuster Exhibit That Shouldn’t Have Been
Museum curators have occasionally embellished archaeological finds with compelling but questionable stories. Consider the Field Museum's "Magdalenian Girl."
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Do Stolen Sacred Objects Experience Culture Shock?
Ancestral memorials from Kenya called vigango have been stolen and sold as "art" around the world. An anthropologist working to return them wonders what the spirits experience when they are displaced.
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How Museums Can Do More Than Just Repatriate Objects
It is beautiful when museums go beyond returning objects toward “propatriation”—collaborating to commission new objects for display.