All stories

A crowd of people wearing head coverings and long dresses or robes outfits decorated with colorful accessories walk in line through public streets past a white steepled building.

Giving Winter a Funeral in Transylvania

In a village in Romania, residents maintain a centuries-old carnival tradition called farsang to mark winter’s death.

What If Neanderthals Had Outlived Homo Sapiens?

An anthropologist considers how different the world might be if Neanderthals—and hence, their ways of navigating relationships with the environment and one another—had survived the gauntlet of evolution.
A seated woman in green medical scrubs holds a cotton ball and sits in front of a masked patient, who faces her with his arm extended.

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.
Reddish-brown stone cylinders sit in a square stone courtyard in front of a wall.

Here’s How to Make Olive Oil Like an Ancient Egyptian

An archaeologist pieces together a recipe for olive oil crafted in ancient Egypt. It’s easy for you to try at home.
A group of young children and two adults sit in a circle. One of the adults whispers in a child’s ear while the others watch.

What Misspellings Reveal About Cultural Evolution

When transmitting information to one another, humans tend to make certain mistakes more than others. A cognitive anthropologist explains why that matters to cultural stability and change.
A grass-covered mound, used by the Anglo-Saxons, sits surrounded by trees and hedges, with flat, concrete slabs on the ground in front of it.

Culture—Not Genetics—Was More Salient for Anglo-Saxons

Skeletal evidence shows Britain's ancient Anglo-Saxon society as more genetically diverse than once thought. Language and culture served as a social glue, archaeologists argue, not ancestry.
An overhead shot of a limestone cave with green vegetation inside. Two people stand near a fence on the right.

Discovering Africa’s Oldest Burial

A team of archaeologists are busy learning about human evolution, symbolism, and ritual from the remains of a child laid to rest in a Kenyan cave during the Middle Stone Age—the oldest-known human burial on the African continent to date.
People carrying out daily tasks in medieval Angkor Wat. Tall palm trees and temples in the distance.

How Many People Lived in the Angkor Empire?

Archaeologists working with an interdisciplinary team have estimated the population of the ancient Greater Angkor Region in Cambodia at its peak in the 13th century.

Reimagining Rock Art in Southern Africa

With the help of key contemporary ethnographic texts about modern San peoples, archaeologists are reconsidering the meaning of cave paintings created by ancient San in a new—and sacred—light.
cellphone ethnography - Cellphones have become an integral part of many people’s lives.

How Cellphones Make and Break Human Connections

An ethnographic study of U.S. high schoolers highlights their ambivalence toward communication technologies.

Why Losing Bonds Sports Fans

A study on team loyalty among British football fans shows that the ranking of the club plays an important role in how strongly supporters identify with one another.
Tungurahua, an active volcano in Ecuador, sits amid farming communities that have dwelled alongside it for generations.

How to “Co-Live” With a Natural Hazard

The ways in which Andean villagers have adapted to a neighboring volcano could offer lessons to other communities in reframing risks and responding to disasters.
paleo processing foods - Anthropologist Bill Schindler uses techniques developed 5,000 years ago to prepare fresh-caught salmon during the filming of National Geographic’s The Great Human Race.

Did Processed Foods Make Us Human?

Experimental archaeologist Bill Schindler’s globe-trotting research has led him to champion a diet based on humanity’s long history of inventive food preparation techniques, from nose-to-tail butchery to sourdough bread.
nonverbal communication online

Why Do Virtual Meetings Feel So Weird?

Even as online meetings become more common, they can’t always capture the nuances of nonverbal communication and in-person interactions.

What Many Don’t Know About Welfare

Public assistance recipients' stories hold the key to clearing up misconceptions about who needs aid and why.
nepal water insecurity - The Budhi Gandaki River, shown here downstream from Nubri Valley, rushes with icy turquoise water.

A Nepalese Region Reclaims Its Holy Water

An anthropologist’s research on water insecurity reveals how clean water can reinforce a community’s physical and spiritual health.