The Hidden Color Code in Mimbres Pottery
Patterned markings on some Southwestern pots in the U.S. may have been used to symbolize color in black-and-white arts.
Art
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Are Colors Universal?
How do language, biology, and culture shape an individual’s experience of color? A journalist investigates the anthropological debate about whether color is a human universal.
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What Do Monuments Reveal About Their Makers?
An archaeologist ponders memorials—from the Monti gate to the Taj Mahal—and finds clues about the reasons people want to be remembered.
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How the Samoan Tattoo Survived Colonialism
A combination of factors, from geography to group identity, supported the endurance of this traditional body art—even as similar practices were lost in other cultures.
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A New Generation Is Reviving Indigenous Tattooing
People in Arctic and Northwest Coast communities are uncovering the therapeutic history of tattoos.
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What Google Maps Don’t Show You
The long history of Native American tribes is nowhere to be found on modern maps. So the Zuni decided it was time to create their own kind of cartography.