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January/February 2026 Issue

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  • Features

    Top 10 Discoveries of 2025

    ARCHAEOLOGY magazine’s editors reveal the year’s most exciting finds

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    Courtesy of the Caracol Archaeological Project, University of Houston

  • Features

    The Cost of Doing Business

    Piecing together the Roman empire’s longest known inscription—a peculiarly precise inventory of prices

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    A digital reconstruction shows how the Civil Basilica in the city of Aphrodisias in southwestern Anatolia would have appeared with the Edict of Maximum Prices inscribed on its facade.
    Ece Savaş and Philip Stinson

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    The Birds of Amarna

    An Egyptian princess seeks sanctuary in her private palace

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    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York/ Rogers Fund, 1930

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    Taking the Measure of Mesoamerica

    Archaeologists decode the sacred mathematics embedded in an ancient city’s architecture

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    Courtesy Claudia I. Alvarado-León

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    Stone Gods and Monsters

    3,000 years ago, an intoxicating new religion beckoned pilgrims to temples high in the Andes

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    The ritual center of Chavín de Huántar flourished in northern Peru.
    Courtesy John Rick

Letter from France

Letter from France

Neolithic Cultural Revolution

How farmers came together to build Europe’s most grandiose funerary monuments some 7,000 years ago

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© Laurent Juhel, Inrap
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Artifact

Artifacts

Sardinian Bronze Figurines

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Courtesy Daniel Berger
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Digs & Discoveries

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Off the Grid

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Off the Grid January/February 2026

Prophetstown, Indiana

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Circle of Stones shown blanketed in snow, Prophetstown, Indiana Circle of Stones shown blanketed in snow, Prophetstown, Indiana
Indiana Department of Natural Resources

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Slideshow: A Roman Emperor’s Most Unusual Monument

The Roman Empire may have been fracturing by the end of the third century a.d., but the city of Aphrodisias, in present-day southwestern Turkey, was on the rise. The town’s sculptors were renowned across the empire, and archaeologists excavating there have found exquisite Roman statuary and architecture from before, during, and after this period, in many cases preserved in situ. Aphrodisias had shrewdly cultivated its relationship with Rome for centuries. An Aphrodisian friend of the emperor Augustus (reigned 27 b.c.–a.d. 14), who claimed lineage from Aphrodite, funded a lavish new temple in the city’s sanctuary of the goddess. Aphrodisias’ extravagant baths were dedicated to the emperor Hadrian (reigned a.d. 117–138). In a.d. 301, the emperor Diocletian (reigned a.d. 284–305) and his deputies ordered that a long, cumbersome edict—a list of maximum prices for 1,400 goods and services—be prominently displayed in cities across the empire. Local leaders in Aphrodisias could not let slide the opportunity to impress the emperor. The text, which scholars call the Edict of Maximum Prices, or the Prices Edict, was inscribed across the facade of the stateliest and most important administrative building in the city, known to archaeologists as the Civil Basilica.

Archaeologists have discovered more than 40 copies of the Prices Edict, most in fragmentary form, around the Roman world. The Aphrodisias inscription of the edict is among the most complete, but it exists in hundreds of marble pieces that fell from the Civil Basilica’s facade. In the late 1990s, archaeologists, epigraphers, and architects undertook an ambitious project to reconstruct the edict, reassembling the 250-square-foot inscription and reimagining the appearance of the collapsed building on which it was emblazoned. To read our article about Aphrodisias’ magnificence, the mystifying decree, and the massive reconstruction project, click here.

Entrance gateway called Tetrapylon at ancient Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias was populous and prosperous—and proudly pagan—until nearly the sixth century a.d. Its Temple of Aphrodite was only converted into a cathedral around a.d. 500, more than a century after Christianity became the Roman Empire’s official religion. The gateway to the sanctuary of Aphrodite, called the Tetrapylon by scholars, was built and decorated in the second century a.d. in a highly ornamental style typical of the city. This entranceway was restored in the fourth century a.d. Most recently, in 1991, the Tetrapylon was reconstructed from its original marble fragments.
Columns standing in the Temple of Aphrodite ruins at Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias met its downfall as a result of what some archaeologists have taken to calling “a series of unfortunate events” in the seventh century a.d. Earthquakes, fires, Persian raids, and Arab assaults laid the city low, but its magnificent marbles were largely left in place. When archaeologists arrived in the late nineteenth century, many columns of the Temple of Aphrodite still stood upright, as they do today.
Stadium at ancient city of Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias was far from the sea and lay half a day’s travel, on horseback, from the primary Roman route through the Maeander Valley of southwestern Anatolia. Thus, it was hardly positioned to become a prestigious provincial capital. Aphrodisians took full advantage of the nearby mountains’ bountiful marble quarries to enhance their city. Though Aphrodisias was a modest-sized town of perhaps 10,000 to 15,000 residents, even at its apogee, its stadium seated 30,000. The complex has never been extensively excavated or reconstructed. It has survived largely undisturbed to the present day.
Columns and pool from ancient baths at Aphrodisias
Occupying two city blocks, Aphrodisias’ vast bath complex acted as a gallery for some of the city’s finest sculptural works. Archaeologists unearthed a workshop near the Temple of Aphrodite used by the city’s skilled marble workers, complete with fragments of not-quite-perfect “practice toes.” At the baths, they found a trove of masterful finished statues, including depictions of the tragic warrior-lovers Achilles and Penthesilea, and a realistically wizened and aged fisherman.
View of Place of Palms city park from above, Aphrodisias
Dating to the first century a.d., a city park south of Aphrodisias’ agora, or main square, surprised archaeologists during excavations between 2012 and 2017. This partially colonnaded space in the city center, a slight step below its surroundings in elevation, would have been prone to flooding, rendering it swampy and pestilential, and its purpose puzzled researchers. Excavators discovered that Roman urban planners had found an elegant use for the bottomland—as the site of an ornamental pool. At 558 feet long, it’s the largest of its kind known in the Roman world (visible above the row of columns in the foreground). A poem inscribed on the monumental entranceway to the park and portico (right) describes the park as a “place of palms.” Archaeologists found ditches for planting trees and botanical matter from date palms, which once lined the pool in neat rows. From most of the park, the facade of the Civil Basilica was fully visible in a.d. 301, when it was inscribed with the Edict of Maximum Prices.
Columns in Place of Palms portico, Aphrodisias
The Place of Palms city park, an enormous space, was surrounded by Aphrodisias’ theater, baths, agora, and some residential streets. Looking east from the portico along the park’s western end, a resident could peer down the pool and see the Civil Basilica to the right (four upright reconstructed columns with lintels pictured here).
Theater masks and garlands on frieze architectural decoration
Friezes with garlands and theater masks were a theme in Aphrodisias’ public architecture. These carved blocks were placed above the columns of the Place of Palms’ portico and the Civil Basilica, among other structures. Each mask is unique, and they represent many of the characters Aphrodisians loved and loathed in their comedies and tragedies, including athletes, gods, heroes, soldiers, satyrs, and prostitutes.
Archival photo of excavations at Aphrodisias
The north facade of the Civil Basilica was primarily excavated between 1969 and 1971. In 1970, excavators digging in the eastern section of the facade recovered fragments of the preamble to the Prices Edict, which introduces Diocletian and his co-emperors and laments the greed of merchants. These marble fragments (center) were found near where they fell, on the steps leading to the building’s entrance.
Notebook showing fragment of the Prices Edict
A young American archaeologist named Paul Zahl kept a detailed notebook of Prices Edict fragments while participating in excavations of the Civil Basilica in 1971, including information about the size of each piece and where, precisely, the team found it. These notes proved invaluable to archaeologist Philip Stinson of the University of Kansas and epigrapher Michael Crawford of University College London as they began to reimagine how the edict originally appeared on the basilica facade in 1999. Hundreds of fragments had been stored in depots for nearly three decades, with little identifying information. The fragment Zahl sketched here is part of a chapter outlining price caps for vehicle parts such as yokes and wheel rims.
Fragments from the Edict of Maximum Prices
These six fragments of the Prices Edict came from the lowest level of the facade and would have been visible at eye level, though most literate people living in Aphrodisias would only have been able to read Greek, not Latin. The price ceilings listed here encompass Judaean glass, mirrors, pens, ink, ivory, needles, goose feathers, peacock feathers, and vulture feathers.
Illustration of the Civil Basilica at Aphrodisias with fragmentary pieces overlaid
Over two decades of work, archaeologist Philip Stinson and his team have identified the positions of 275 fragments of the Prices Edict on the facade of the Civil Basilica. Some marble fragments include both snippets of text and decorative architectural molding intended to imitate the design of window shutters. Once Stinson had determined the facade’s decorative scheme, he was able to fit fragments containing sections of molding in place with some accuracy. Other, smaller fragments only contained text, and positioning them required a bit more context—or guesswork.
Illustration of the Civil Basilica at Aphrodisias
Once finished, the Edict of Maximum Prices covered almost all the free space on the Civil Basilica’s north facade. Most panels at the highest levels were left blank intentionally. A separate document issued by Diocletian, which scholars call the Currency Dossier, was probably added shortly after the inscription of the Prices Edict. It remains unclear why the authorities at Aphrodisias chose to have the Prices Edict inscribed solely in Latin. At another Anatolian site called Aezani, the edict is accompanied by a short Greek inscription consisting of a letter from the local governor describing the edict’s contents.
Digital reconstruction of the Aphrodisias Civil Basilica facade
Analyzing and reconstructing the Prices Edict at Aphrodisias began in 1999 and will end—for now—with archaeologist Philip Stinson’s digital reconstructions of how it appeared on the facade of the Civil Basilica. The building was a local landmark, and its transformation into a giant stone scroll with approximately 4,000 lines of text, inscribed using some 62,000 characters—making it the longest known inscription in the Roman Empire—would have been striking to onlookers. With its letters and numbers likely highlighted using red paint, the inscription would have been most visible in the early morning and late afternoon sunlight, as reimagined in this reconstructed view.
Four restored columns in the basilica at Aphrodisias
These four reconstructed columns and their lintels marked the entrance to a long, open hall in the Civil Basilica. On the far side, a vestibule welcomed visitors who had just entered from the Place of Palms city park to the north (visible in the background).
Digital reconstruction of the Aphrodisias Civil Basilica interior
Archaeologists have completed several digital reconstructions of the Civil Basilica. This version depicts the interior as it would have appeared in the fourth century a.d. The sculptural ensemble to the left of the main entrance features the warrior Achilles dragging the Trojan hero Troilus from his horse. Archaeologists found most of the blue marble horse near the pediment it toppled from. The statue, already centuries-old when it was moved to the basilica in the fourth century a.d., was likely much loved in the city. Troilus was a Trojan prince, practically a hometown hero in Aphrodisias, which was just 200 miles southeast of Hisarlık, the site of Troy.
Bouleuterion at Stratonicea ancient city
The Edict of Maximum Prices was unknown to modern scholars until an eighteenth-century British consul spotted a peculiar list of prices inscribed on the side of the bouleuterion, or council chamber, in the ancient town of Stratonicea, 45 miles southwest of Aphrodisias. The structure remains there today. The engravers at Stratonicea gave up their task about a third of the way through carving the price list. It may be that the law was repealed before they could finish the job. Nevertheless, the intact partial copy of the edict at Stratonicea has helped archaeologists to fill out the original text as it would have appeared elsewhere.

Slideshow: The Meaning in the Measurement

Established around A.D. 670 in present-day Mexico’s Morelos State, Xochicalco was among the most powerful of the city-states that rose in the wake of the fall of the city-state of Teotihuacan. Xochicalco is known for incorporating a range of cultural influences from Teotihuacan, the Maya, and peoples living in other areas of Mexico. This mélange is apparent in the city’s most important building, the ornately carved Pyramid of the Feathered Serpents, which stands on its Main Plaza. Architectural historian Geneviève Lucet of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and archaeologist Claudia I. Alvarado-León of the College of Morelos recently discovered that Xochicalco’s rich amalgam of influences may have also been embedded in its architecture. They found that the city’s designers used two distinct measurement systems. One is based on a unit known as the zapal, equaling 1.47 meters, or 4.82 feet, which was first documented at Maya sites on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. The other is based on a unit known as the maitl, equaling 1.68 meters, or 5.51 feet, which is associated with sites in central Mexico such as Teotihuacan. It is, however, unclear exactly where each unit was first used. Thus, to avoid prematurely attributing specific cultural origins to the units, Lucet and Alvarado-León refer to the zapal as U7 and the maitl as U8. To read our full article on the meaning of measurement at Xochicalco, click here.

This image of the north facade of Xochicalco’s Pyramid of the Feathered Serpents shows how its designers employed two different units of measurement—U7, equal to 1.47 meters, or 4.82 feet, and U8, equal to 1.68 meters, or 5.51 feet—in planning its dimensions.
A seated figure is portrayed on the upper wall of the pyramid carrying a shield and arrows and wearing a globular headdress.
A glyph on the lower wall of the pyramid known as 9 Reptile’s Eye is surmounted by a burning brazier. The glyph is believed to stand for a date during a year when “New Fire” rituals were celebrated and may mark the date when the pyramid was dedicated. “New Fire” rituals were celebrated every 52 years, when the 260-day tonalpohualli calendar and the 365-day solar calendar aligned and were reset.
A warrior figure, an eagle, and a coyote are depicted on the upper wall of the pyramid.
The Pyramid of the Feathered Serpents (right) stands alongside a mound that researchers believe holds the ruins of a structure dating to around A.D. 900 that had an identical design, orientation, and size. “We have this hypothesis,” says archaeologist Claudia I. Alvarado-León of the College of Morelos, “that at some point in the history of Xochicalco, there were two rulers, and the second ruler built this building beside the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpents so they both had their own religious representation.”
These three stelas were discovered broken and buried in a structure known as the Pyramid of the Stelas on Xochicalco’s Main Plaza. Their glyphic text has not been deciphered but is believed to allude to the political and religious power of Xochicalco’s ruling class. Some scholars have suggested that the stelas were dedicated to specific rulers and that the fact that they were broken and buried could indicate the rejection of these rulers.
Figurines found at Xochicalco demonstrate influence from a range of different cultures. Based on their headbands and manufacturing techniques, these examples are associated with Teotihuacan.