Here’s why satellite imagery, lidar scans, ancient DNA analyses, and more are helping scientists break open the past.
How to Resurrect Dying LanguagesCommunity activists are using creative methods to revive endangered languages and reawaken dormant ones.
Can This Indigenous Language Thrive in a Digital Age?A majority of Paraguayans speak Guaraní despite centuries of colonialism and suppression. Now activists want the written language to flourish online too.
Why Did Chinese Farmers Switch to Wheat?A shift in ancient Chinese crops shows how agricultural practices can help or hinder food production in the face of environmental change.
Digging Up WoodstockAn archaeological investigation of the famous festival site unearthed evidence hidden in the haze of memory.
Stringing Together an Ancient Empire’s StoriesAnthropologist Sabine Hyland attempts to uncover the messages held in twisted and colored Andean cords called khipus.
Should the Story of Homo’s Dispersal Out of Africa Be Rewritten?A new finding suggests hominins left the African continent at least 500,000 years earlier than previously thought.
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.
The Anthropologists Who Undid Sex, Race, and GenderIn Gods of the Upper Air, a biographer reveals how anthropologist Franz Boas and his students helped transform how human differences and similarities are perceived.
The Knotty Question of When Humans Made the Americas HomeA deluge of new findings are challenging long-held scientific narratives of how humans came to North and South America.
