Letters From
Letter from Mongolia November/December 2025
Building the Black City
Why the nomads of the Uighur Empire constructed a medieval urban center like no other
RECENT Letters From
Letter from Greece September/October 2025
Searching for Washingtonia
How archaeologists located a forgotten nineteenth-century utopian community
Letter from Williamsburg July/August 2025
A New Look at an Old City
Archaeologists are reconstructing the complicated 400-year history of Virginia’s colonial capital
Letter From Albania May/June 2025
The Many Fortresses of Ali Pasha
How a father and son are documenting the architectural legacy of a renegade nineteenth-century warlord
Letter from the Levant March/April 2025
On the Origin of the Pork Taboo
Exploring ancient people’s shifting beliefs about rearing and eating pigs
MORE Letters From
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Letter from the Galapagos Islands January/February 2022
Transforming the Enchanted Isles
Archaeologists uncover the remote archipelago’s forgotten human history
(Courtesy Historical Ecology of the Galapagos Islands Project) -
Letter from Ghana November/December 2021
Life Outside the Castle
At Christiansborg Castle, a community that embodied the complexity of the transatlantic slave trade is being uncovered by descendants of those who created it
(Photo by Joli Gbebleou-Sleem) -
Letter From Scotland September/October 2021
Land of the Picts
New excavations reveal the truth behind the legend of these fearsome northern warriors
(Courtesy The Northern Picts Project) -
Letter from Alaska July/August 2021
The Cold Winds of War
A little-known World War II campaign in the Aleutian Islands left behind an undisturbed battlefield strewn with weapons and materiel
(Brendan Coyle) -
Letter from Australia May/June 2021
Where the World Was Born
Newly discovered rock art panels depict how ancient Aboriginal ancestors envisioned climate change and creation
(Courtesy Paul Tacon) -
Letter from Chihuahua March/April 2021
Cliff Dwellers of the Sierra Madre
A recurring design motif found in northern Mexico’s ancient mountain villages reflects complex cultural ties between distant peoples
(Photo by Stephen H. Lekson)