Features
Features May/June 2026
The Unexpected World of the Odyssey
Discovering the surprising inspirations behind Homer’s great tales of the Trojan War
RECENT Features
Features May/June 2026
Pioneers of Lakefront Living
Why Neolithic and Bronze Age farmers in the Alps built their villages on stilts
Features May/June 2026
The Last Maya Kingdom
On the shores of a lake in Guatemala, the Itzá people defied the Spanish for nearly 200 years
Features May/June 2026
Art for the Ages
A surreal style of painting endured for 4,000 years in the canyonlands of West Texas
Features May/June 2026
Bridge to the Past
The Yellow River brought both prosperity and calamity to China’s dazzling medieval capital By Ling Xin
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Features September/October 2020
A Nubian Kingdom Rises
Excavations at a city on the Nile reveal the origins of an ancient African power
(Robert Harding/Alamy Stock Photo) -
Features September/October 2020
Walking Into New Worlds
Native traditions and novel discoveries tell the migration story of the ancestors of the Navajo and Apache
(Courtesy Jack Ives/Apachean Origins Project) -
Features July/August 2020
From Head to Toe in the Ancient Maya World
Clothing, jewelry, and body modification spoke volumes about people’s social status and the varied roles they played
(Photograph © 2020 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Cylinder vase. Maya, Late Classic Period, A.D. 600–800. Object Place: El Petén, Guatemala. Earthenware: orange, red, dark pink, brown, gray (originally green), and black on cream slip paint; traces of Maya Blue pigment. 17.2 x 11.8 cm (6 3/4 x 4 5/8 in.). MS1119; Kerr 764. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Landon T. Clay. 1988.1176.) -
Features July/August 2020
A Silk Road Renaissance
Excavations in Tajikistan have unveiled a city of merchant princes that flourished from the fifth to the eighth century a.d.
(Prisma Archivo/Alamy Stock Photo) -
Features July/August 2020
Idol of the Painted Temple
On Peru’s central coast, an ornately carved totem was venerated across centuries of upheaval and conquest
(© Peter Eeckhout) -
Features May/June 2020
Weapons of the Ancient World
How people of the past developed arms to master the challenges of their time
(Leemage/ Contributor/GettyImages)