Around the World March 1, 2011
VIRGINIA: An encrypted message in a bottle dating to the Civil War has been removed and deciphered by codebreakers. "You can expect no help from this side of the river," began the unsigned message, which is in a museum collection. It was meant for Confederate Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton, in response to his request for aid during the Siege of Vicksburg in Mississippi. But the note never reached his hands—it was dated July 4, 1863, the date he surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant.
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2018
Letter from Virginia July/August 2015
Excavations are providing a new look at some of the Civil War’s earliest fugitive slaves—considered war goods or contraband—and their first taste of liberty
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Letter from Williamsburg July/August 2025
Archaeologists are reconstructing the complicated 400-year history of Virginia’s colonial capital
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How a trailblazing ruler pulled her realm back from the brink
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Is a Native American origin story embedded in Ohio’s colossal earthwork?
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Greek and Roman soldiers fired pointed barbs at their enemies
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Archaeologists are rethinking how kings shared power beyond the great capitals of medieval Zimbabwe
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Discovering the origins of the peculiar racket game that swept sixteenth-century France
