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.
Workers in southern Laos search out the bombs that never exploded. Here is the food they eat.
Rules of the UnderworldWe often think of gangs, mafias, and drug cartels as chaotic and lawless. But rational rules govern the underworld to create a dark order.
Stone Points to a Connected WorldSigns of 19th-century globalization surface in a museum storage room.
Skeleton Sex PotsAn unusual container produced by the Moche civilization of Peru raises many questions about their society—and our own views of sex.
The Great Chocolate MigrationIf ever a single ingredient epitomized human nature, it must be chocolate. Can you think of another flavor that has seduced so many cultures?
The Mystery of the Corpse in the Burlap SackHow Alexandre Lacassagne, the “French Sherlock Holmes,” solved a grisly crime at the dawn of forensic anthropology.
Ladders to Other WorldsFor many Pueblo Indians, the ladder is at once a practical tool and a powerful metaphor. The ladder is used to descend and ascend—and to cross multiple worlds.
History Lost to SeaResearchers are racing to record—and save—the cultural treasures of the western Canadian Arctic before they fall victim to climate change.
Martin Luther King Jr., in SapphireWhen it came to carving the likeness of the immortal Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the world’s most valuable sapphire, there was no room for error.
Cold Enough for Ya?Archaeology gives us the ability to see the impacts that natural events like the little ice age can have on human culture.
