Anthropology Magazine

The Spring a Time for Calving and Cleaving

Place

  • Poetry

    Two people wearing dark clothing hold a green tarp and separate a herd of black, grey, and white reindeer. Snow covers the landscape behind them.

    The Spring a Time for Calving and Cleaving

    A poet-anthropologist joins Sámi reindeer herders in Norway who are preparing for the spring migration. As an outsider, he feels a longing to connect, even as he remains “outside the fences.”

  • Unearthed

    A golden decoration features an animal set upon by lions on three sides.

    The Last Wild Lions of Europe

    Mounting archaeological evidence is revealing that modern lions may have roamed free in Southeastern Europe—overturning long-held assumptions about art and mythology in the process.

  • Poetry

    The view is of rolling hills covered with yellow- and red-leafed trees seen through the front window of a car on the highway.

    Window

    A poet-anthropologist of the African diaspora gives voice to the power of collective memory and place.

  • Human Nature

    Brown grasses and white flowers cover a hill overlooking agricultural land, neatly planted trees, and flat top mountains in the distance.

    What Drove Homo Erectus Out of Africa?

    Excavations at the site of 'Ubeidiya are at the heart of a debate about Homo erectus migrations, with profound implications for questions of human resilience and adaptability.

  • Field Notes

    A large black tire and rusted metal mining equipment sit on brown grass under a cloudy sky.

    How Will We Remember Coal?

    Anticipating a new energy future, an anthropologist returns home to contemplate what lessons we will learn from the coal industry’s material remains and monuments.

  • Counterpoint

    Rays of sunlight shine down over hills covered in lush green foliage.

    Lessons From Mars—and Jamaica—on Sovereignty

    The billionaire space race thrives on romantic ideas of colonizing “the last frontier.” An anthropologist looks to Jamaican histories of colonization to show why such narratives are so dangerous—and offers an alternate vision of Black freedom in the Sovereign State of Accompong.