Features From the Issue
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Features
America, in the Beginning
Archaeologists continue their search for evidence of how the vast, once-uninhabited regions of the New World came to be populated
(Gianni Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource) -
Features
Erbil Revealed
How the first excavations in an ancient city are supporting its claim as the oldest continuously inhabited place in the world
(Courtesy and Copyright Golden Eagle Global, Kurdistan, Iraq) -
Features
Castaways
Illegally enslaved and then marooned on remote Tromelin Island for fifteen years, with only archaeology to tell their story
(Richard Bouhet/ Getty Images) -
Features
Monumental Discovery
A stunning second-century sanctuary emerges in the heart of Roman Gaul
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Features
The Great War in Miniature
The excavation of a unique battlefield model provides insight into military tactics and the evolution of warfare
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Features
Royalty from the Sport of Kings
Unearthing a legend of California racing history
Letter from the Bronx
Letter from the Bronx
The Past Becomes Present
A collection of objects left behind in a New York City neighborhood connects students with the lives of people who were contemporary with their great-great-great-grandparents
Artifact
Artifacts
Silver Viking Figurine
Digs & Discoveries
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Digs & Discoveries
Your Face: Punching Bag or Spandrel?
(Bettman/Corbis) -
Digs & Discoveries
Sounds of the Age of Aquarius
(Courtesy E. Breck Parkman) -
Digs & Discoveries
Conquest and Clamshells
(Courtesy Dan Sandweiss) -
Digs & Discoveries
They’re Just Like Us
Courtesy Nick Daffern/Wardell Armstrong Archaeology (Midlands) -
Digs & Discoveries
Modern-Day Ruin
(Courtesy CyArk) -
Digs & Discoveries
World’s Oldest Pants
(Courtesy German Archaeological Institute, M. Wagner) -
Digs & Discoveries
Off With Their Heads
(Courtesy Antiquity, Orton et al. 2014 (base image Archeozoo.com) -
Digs & Discoveries
Alone, but Closely Watched
(Copyright SHAP (Sue Hodges Production Pty Ltd, Photo:Ashley McCloud) -
Digs & Discoveries
Saving the Golden House
(Marco Merola and Lorenzo Colantoni) -
Digs & Discoveries
The Dovedale Hoard
(Courtesy National Trust) -
Digs & Discoveries
An Ancient Andean Homecoming
(National Museums of World Culture) -
Digs & Discoveries
Dawn of a Disease
(Courtesy Piers Mitchell) -
Digs & Discoveries
The Case of the Missing Incisors
(Courtesy Canadian Light Source, University of Saskatchewan)
Off the Grid
Off the Grid September/October 2014
Fiesole, Italy
Around the World
GUATEMALA
GUATEMALA: A pair of Maya council houses, home to myriad political and religious rituals, has been uncovered at Nixtun-Ch’ich’. The unusual presence of two such structures side by side suggests that the city might have been governed by a pair of lords. The Chakan Itza people ritually destroyed the site and moved the seat of their power around A.D. 1500, according to researchers. Among other finds there are sculpted parrots and turtles, as well as an incense burner in the shape of Itzamna, a creator god.
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS: In English folklore, iron has the power to repel evil. It looks like the tradition made it across the Atlantic, as archaeologists have found 15 pieces of iron grapeshot, or small cannon balls, buried under two postholes of an 18th-century plantation house. At another site, a similar deposit contained a plugged shell, pins, and the bones of a headless Puerto Rican racer snake. Such caches might have offered luck and peace of mind for what was at the time a vulnerable colony.
OHIO
OHIO: In the 18th and 19th centuries, millstones in the Midwest could be made of local chert or stone imported from France. It is said that millers preferred the French variety, but it can be hard to distinguish the similar-looking stones. Geologists have now found a way to identify these durable artifacts using tiny marine fossils embedded in them. While Ohio chert comes from an ancient marine environment, the French stone, from near Paris, has fossils of freshwater snails and algae. The French variety indeed appears to have been more popular.