Matryoshka Song

An Indigenous anthropologist-poet speaks to the Russian colonization of Alaska from 1784–1867 and how stereotypes and histories shape the lives of Indigenous women.

Dressing Fish

The Sugpiaq people in south-central Alaska have faced Russian colonialism, American assimilation policies, and Native American boarding school violence. A descendant and anthropologist-poet claims a radical presence in looking to the past and the future.

Stop Calling the Aleutians Pristine

Indigenous peoples who lived in the Aleutian Islands for thousands of years didn’t trash the environment—that doesn’t mean their presence should be dismissed.

Peru’s Incan Rope Bridges Are Hanging by a Thread

A remarkable ancient technology and tradition of creating suspension bridges to unite communities in the Andes is sadly fading into history.

Who Is the Nesher Ramla Homo?

An international team of archaeologists has uncovered ancient remains that add new dimensions to the story of human evolution.

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?

Chasing the Myths of Mexico’s “Superrunners”

The Rarámuri people’s ancient traditions of footracing have captured global attention. New research by a biological anthropologist and his colleagues debunks stereotypes and contextualizes the community’s famous races.

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.

How Early Humans Shaped the World With Fire

An archaeological project in Malawi shows how nearly 100,000 years ago, humans used fire to create wide-scale, permanent transformations of the natural environment. It’s time to abandon the idea of “pristine nature.”

Horizon No Less Curved

A poet-anthropologist grafts her story to that of Toutswemogala Hill, an archaeological site in Botswana from Early Iron Age pastoralists who lived in the region from the 600s through the 1800s.