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Table of contents
Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8
Table of contents
Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8
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.

90 Years Since Its Discovery, a Stone Age Human Still Holds Lessons

A paleoanthropologist reflects on England’s oldest human cranium—and what its changing interpretations say about science. ✽ Southeast England. 400,000 years…

In Human Origins Research, Communities Are the Missing Link

A paleoanthropologist reflects on relationships between researchers and communities living around sites relevant to human evolution. IN THE BEGINNING In…

Archaeological Fiction and a Scientist’s Dilemma

An archaeologist reflects on the role of fiction, such as The Clan of the Cave Bear, to imagine the deep…

Ancient Tools in East Asia Reveal Middle Paleolithic Innovation

An archaeologist explains his team’s insights into how Quina scrapers in southwest China overturn long-standing assumptions about the region’s humans…

Learning From Snapshots of Lost Fossils

Not all fossil discoveries happen in the field. In museum archives, researchers found photos of remains from Paleolithic children who…

How Accurate Is the Stone Age Thriller Out of Darkness?

An archaeologist with expertise in human origins assesses the accuracy of a 2022 film about Homo sapiens who encounter Neanderthals.…

Excavating the Coexistence of Neanderthals and Modern Humans

An archaeologist explains how remains recently recovered from a cave in present-day Germany suggest that Neanderthals and modern humans populated…

What’s Behind the Evolution of Neanderthal Portraits

Since the 1800s, Neanderthal depictions have evolved not only with changing science but also due to social views. An archaeologist…

Ancient Pollen Is Hiding in a Surprising Place

A paleoecologist explains what pollen in fossilized mammal urine can reveal about past ecosystems and environmental change. This article was…

Forensic Methods Unveil Clues About Megafauna Extinctions

An archaeologist explains how novel applications of forensic methods—namely, blood residue analyses—have yielded evidence that Paleoindians hunted mastodons, mammoths, and…