ARCHAEOLOGY

This issue is filled with fascinating stories about how rulers of the ancient and medieval worlds, including emperors, kings, and caliphs, displayed their power using the seemingly boundless resources at their disposal—although several of these displ

For me, archaeology is about storytelling, and it is a particular privilege to introduce myself as the new president of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) in a magazine so full of compelling human stories. As a maritime archaeologist, a di

While working toward a degree in Andean studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, archaeologist Sâm Ghavami took a bus every day from the city of Lambayeque to the town of Pacora along a stretch of the twisty Pan-American Highway. During

While excavating a Viking cemetery near the Swedish town of Köping, archaeologists discovered a pair of sword hilts protruding curiously from the earth. After further investigation, they determined that the handles belonged to Viking swords that had

Analysis of hair from 22 mummies found in southern Peru has revealed the earliest known use of San Pedro cactus, a source of mescaline, and the psychoactive plants that make up the drug ayahuasca. The majority of the mummies were unearthed in Cahuach

A 1,300-year-old grave unearthed during construction of a housing complex in Northamptonshire has been hailed as the most significant early medieval female burial discovered in Britain. The collection of artifacts within the grave, which has been dub

The earliest known full sentence to use an alphabetic script is inscribed on a small 3,700-year-old elephant-ivory comb that was unearthed in Israel. Although the comb was found in 2016 during excavations of the Canaanite city of Lachish, it was not

Archaeologists excavating at the Paleoindian site of Cooper’s Ferry in western Idaho have unearthed 14 stone projectiles with stems on their ends that date to some 16,000 years ago, making them the earliest such weapons to be discovered in North Amer

A team of researchers from the University of Málaga and the University of Jaén believe they have discovered Egypt’s oldest tomb oriented toward the winter solstice sunrise. The tomb is located in the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa at Aswan in southern

Four years after researchers discovered a triple burial in the English village of Cheddington, they have returned to study DNA samples taken from the remains. The burial, which dates to sometime between A.D. 251 and 433, contained two adult women—one

Some three decades ago, historian Charles Werth learned from a relative that there were Native American mounds on wooded property owned by his extended family near the town of Lebanon in southern Wisconsin’s Dodge County. But during his own visit to

Tucked into a basin in eastern Nevada’s Egan Mountain Range is a curious row of six beehive-shaped stone constructions each measuring 30 feet tall and 27 feet wide at the base. These structures, which date to the 1870s, were once the backbone of the

CANADA: Archaeologists have revisited the wreck of HMS Erebus, one of the ships of the ill-fated 1845 Franklin Expedition’s quest to find the Northwest Passage. They retrieved more than 275 artifacts from the captain’s steward’s pantry and 2 officers

The Greek philosopher Thales, who was born in the seventh century B.C. in the city of Miletus on the coast of ancient Anatolia, espoused the principle that water was the arche, or beginning, of all things. He also believed, incidentally, that the Ear

Located at the northwest edge of the Arabian Desert, the ancient city of Petra received less than four inches of rain each year. Nonetheless, in its heyday as the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom (first century B.C. to first century A.D.), the city t

People had successfully been growing millet on northern China’s Loess Plateau for thousands of years when wheat was introduced to the region from the Near East around 4,000 years ago. This new crop brought both challenges and opportunities. “The cent

Since the Early Bronze Age (3000–2500 B.C.) and even into the present, a natural spring at Yalburt Yaylası in the pastoral highlands of Konya Province in central Turkey (ancient Anatolia) has been a place of deep human engagement with water. This fac

The lavish water gardens built by the Mughal emperors, who held sway over much of South Asia from the sixteenth to nineteenth century, are some of the most fanciful and aesthetically pleasing waterworks of that era that visitors can still enjoy today

Although relatively short, the tenure of Jayavarman IV (reigned A.D. 928–941) as king of ancient Cambodia’s Khmer Empire (ninth to fifteenth century A.D.) was nonetheless eventful. One of the king’s key decisions was that henceforth the empire’s capi

The Nile was the lifeblood of ancient Egypt, and its inundation was the pivotal annual event in Egyptian civilization. Every summer, between May and September, the river gradually swelled until it overflowed its banks and flooded the surrounding plai

Storing water was essential to the livelihood of the Swahili people, who flourished along the coast of East Africa from the seventh to sixteenth century A.D. Many still live there today. In the past, they engaged in lucrative trade as far away as Chi

AS HER COLLEAGUES PREPARED to celebrate the holiday season in December 2021, Ivana Puljiz, an archaeologist at the University of Freiburg, received word that water levels in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Mosul Lake had dropped due to an ongoing drought, revealin

BAD DÜRRENBERG IS A modest spa town in eastern Germany, perched on a bluff overlooking the Saale River. On a Friday afternoon in 1934, workers were laying pipe to supply the spa’s fountain with water when they came across red-tinted earth. A local te

THE CITY OF EPHESUS was among the most important settlements in the ancient eastern Mediterranean. Founded by Greek colonists along the coast of present-day Turkey in the tenth century B.C., it was home to the colossal Temple of Artemis, one of the s

In A.D. 632, the death of the prophet Muhammad set off a protracted contest for control of the nascent religion of Islam, which he had founded just over 20 years before. Eventually emerging victorious from this war of succession were the Umayyads, a

The Great Mosque of Córdoba’s interlocking arches, soaring domes, and brilliantly colored mosaics are an enduring symbol of the cultural and architectural influence of the Umayyad Caliphate in al-Andalus (A.D. 756–1031) on the city—but the history of

For more than 1,000 years, the jutting volcanic cliffs that dominate the coastlines of the 18 Faroe Islands have complicated life for seafarers seeking to make landfall on the archipelago. Rising from the North Atlantic some 200 miles north of Scotla

Twenty years has now passed since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003. In the war that followed, hundreds of thousands died and many more lives were upended, political instability allowed terror groups such as ISIS to develop, and a new Iraqi gov

Music is an integral part of many of life’s most important moments and is a powerful way to create communal bonds. But the significance of a musical instrument is not only found in the events where it is played and the sound it produces. It also eman

This issue is filled with fascinating stories about how rulers of the ancient and medieval worlds, including emperors, kings, and caliphs, displayed their power using the seemingly boundless resources at their disposal—although several of these displ

For me, archaeology is about storytelling, and it is a particular privilege to introduce myself as the new president of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) in a magazine so full of compelling human stories. As a maritime archaeologist, a di

While working toward a degree in Andean studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, archaeologist Sâm Ghavami took a bus every day from the city of Lambayeque to the town of Pacora along a stretch of the twisty Pan-American Highway. During

Analysis of hair from 22 mummies found in southern Peru has revealed the earliest known use of San Pedro cactus, a source of mescaline, and the psychoactive plants that make up the drug ayahuasca. The majority of the mummies were unearthed in Cahuach

The earliest known full sentence to use an alphabetic script is inscribed on a small 3,700-year-old elephant-ivory comb that was unearthed in Israel. Although the comb was found in 2016 during excavations of the Canaanite city of Lachish, it was not

Archaeologists excavating at the Paleoindian site of Cooper’s Ferry in western Idaho have unearthed 14 stone projectiles with stems on their ends that date to some 16,000 years ago, making them the earliest such weapons to be discovered in North Amer

A team of researchers from the University of Málaga and the University of Jaén believe they have discovered Egypt’s oldest tomb oriented toward the winter solstice sunrise. The tomb is located in the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa at Aswan in southern

Four years after researchers discovered a triple burial in the English village of Cheddington, they have returned to study DNA samples taken from the remains. The burial, which dates to sometime between A.D. 251 and 433, contained two adult women—one

Some three decades ago, historian Charles Werth learned from a relative that there were Native American mounds on wooded property owned by his extended family near the town of Lebanon in southern Wisconsin’s Dodge County. But during his own visit to

Tucked into a basin in eastern Nevada’s Egan Mountain Range is a curious row of six beehive-shaped stone constructions each measuring 30 feet tall and 27 feet wide at the base. These structures, which date to the 1870s, were once the backbone of the

CANADA: Archaeologists have revisited the wreck of HMS Erebus, one of the ships of the ill-fated 1845 Franklin Expedition’s quest to find the Northwest Passage. They retrieved more than 275 artifacts from the captain’s steward’s pantry and 2 officers

Located at the northwest edge of the Arabian Desert, the ancient city of Petra received less than four inches of rain each year. Nonetheless, in its heyday as the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom (first century B.C. to first century A.D.), the city t

People had successfully been growing millet on northern China’s Loess Plateau for thousands of years when wheat was introduced to the region from the Near East around 4,000 years ago. This new crop brought both challenges and opportunities. “The cent

Since the Early Bronze Age (3000–2500 B.C.) and even into the present, a natural spring at Yalburt Yaylası in the pastoral highlands of Konya Province in central Turkey (ancient Anatolia) has been a place of deep human engagement with water. This fac

The lavish water gardens built by the Mughal emperors, who held sway over much of South Asia from the sixteenth to nineteenth century, are some of the most fanciful and aesthetically pleasing waterworks of that era that visitors can still enjoy today

The Nile was the lifeblood of ancient Egypt, and its inundation was the pivotal annual event in Egyptian civilization. Every summer, between May and September, the river gradually swelled until it overflowed its banks and flooded the surrounding plai

Storing water was essential to the livelihood of the Swahili people, who flourished along the coast of East Africa from the seventh to sixteenth century A.D. Many still live there today. In the past, they engaged in lucrative trade as far away as Chi

AS HER COLLEAGUES PREPARED to celebrate the holiday season in December 2021, Ivana Puljiz, an archaeologist at the University of Freiburg, received word that water levels in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Mosul Lake had dropped due to an ongoing drought, revealin

BAD DÜRRENBERG IS A modest spa town in eastern Germany, perched on a bluff overlooking the Saale River. On a Friday afternoon in 1934, workers were laying pipe to supply the spa’s fountain with water when they came across red-tinted earth. A local te

THE CITY OF EPHESUS was among the most important settlements in the ancient eastern Mediterranean. Founded by Greek colonists along the coast of present-day Turkey in the tenth century B.C., it was home to the colossal Temple of Artemis, one of the s

In A.D. 632, the death of the prophet Muhammad set off a protracted contest for control of the nascent religion of Islam, which he had founded just over 20 years before. Eventually emerging victorious from this war of succession were the Umayyads, a

The Great Mosque of Córdoba’s interlocking arches, soaring domes, and brilliantly colored mosaics are an enduring symbol of the cultural and architectural influence of the Umayyad Caliphate in al-Andalus (A.D. 756–1031) on the city—but the history of

For more than 1,000 years, the jutting volcanic cliffs that dominate the coastlines of the 18 Faroe Islands have complicated life for seafarers seeking to make landfall on the archipelago. Rising from the North Atlantic some 200 miles north of Scotla

Twenty years has now passed since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003. In the war that followed, hundreds of thousands died and many more lives were upended, political instability allowed terror groups such as ISIS to develop, and a new Iraqi gov

Music is an integral part of many of life’s most important moments and is a powerful way to create communal bonds. But the significance of a musical instrument is not only found in the events where it is played and the sound it produces. It also eman

Although relatively short, the tenure of Jayavarman IV (reigned A.D. 928–941) as king of ancient Cambodia’s Khmer Empire (ninth to fifteenth century A.D.) was nonetheless eventful. One of the king’s key decisions was that henceforth the empire’s capi