Table of contents
Announcement

After ten years of exploring humanity in all its diversity, SAPIENS has concluded its publishing chapter.

While the magazine has closed, its living archive endures—open to all and preserving the many ideas, voices, and discoveries that deepen our understanding of what it means to be human.

Five Ways Native American Communities Honor Turkeys

Some Indigenous peoples in the U.S. Southwest have a long relationship with turkeys, which they use for their feathers, eggs, meat, and more.

The Diet of the Future Is a Menu That Draws From the Ancient Past

An archaeologist and TV star transforms ancient hunting, gathering, and food processing technologies into lessons on how to prepare and consume nourishing food today—and he runs into his own past struggles with disordered eating.

Five Questions About Eating Like a Human

In this live interview, archaeologist, primitive technologist, and chef Bill Schindler discusses his new book, Eat Like a Human: Nourishing Foods and Ancient Ways of Cooking to Revolutionize Your Health.

How Pottery Offers Glimpses Into Ancient Foodways

Archaeologists, armed with new technology and old fragments of food containers, are piecing together what humans in the past cooked and ate.

The Resistance and Ingenuity of the Cooks Who Lived in Slavery

Archaeologists are investigating foodways and re-creating meals prepared by enslaved people who lived in North America and the Caribbean to better understand their everyday lives and fill gaps in the historical record.

When the Guinea Pig Goes Gourmet

In recent years, the guinea pig has gone from a humble and ceremonial food eaten in the Andes to a delicacy among urbanites. What’s behind this change in tastes?

The Macabre and Magical Human-Canine Story

Zooarchaeologists and geneticists are exploring how wolves and domestic dogs have been humanity’s predator, prey, and partner.

Finding Calm—and Connection—in Coffee Rituals

During the pandemic, an anthropologist finds new meaning in the everyday ritual of preparing and drinking coffee.

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.

The Evolution of Comfort Food

An archaeologist considers the history and biology of what defines a taste of home.