Features From the Issue
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Features
Secret Rites of Samothrace
Reimagining the experience of initiation into an ancient Greek mystery cult
(© American Excavations Samothrace) -
Features
Searching for the Fisher Kings
In the waters of southern Florida, the creative Calusa people forged a mighty empire
(Merald Clark) -
Features
Who Were the Samaritans?
Investigating a once-powerful sect that has preserved its sacred traditions for millennia
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Features
The Equestrian's Cave
Recent discoveries in western Mongolia suggest that nomadic horsemen may have invented a revolutionary technology
Letter From Scotland
Letter From Scotland
Land of the Picts
New excavations reveal the truth behind the legend of these fearsome northern warriors
Artifact
Artifacts
Late Medieval Ring
Digs & Discoveries
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Digs & Discoveries
Viking Fantasy Island
(Courtesy Flinders University) -
Digs & Discoveries
Kaleidoscopic Walls
(Courtesy of Cees Passchier) -
Digs & Discoveries
For Eternity
(Courtesy Qian Wang) -
Digs & Discoveries
Maryland's First Fort
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Digs & Discoveries
Snake Guide
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Digs & Discoveries
Man of the Moment
(robertharding/Alamy Stock Photo) -
Digs & Discoveries
Kiwi Colonists
(Courtesy Rebecca Kinaston) -
Digs & Discoveries
Leisure Seekers
(© MAP Archaeological Practice) -
Digs & Discoveries
Neanderthal Hearing
Courtesy Mercedes Conde-Valverde -
Digs & Discoveries
Head of State
(Soprintendenza Archeologica, Belle Arti e Paesaggio del Molise) -
Digs & Discoveries
A Twisted Hoard
(LWL-Archäologie für Westfalen/Hermann Menne) -
Digs & Discoveries
Crowning Glory
(Courtesy of Grup ASOME-UAB) -
Digs & Discoveries
Herodian Hangout
(Photo by Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority)
Off the Grid
Off the Grid September/October 2021
Chalcatzingo, Mexico
Around the World
SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE: Two shipwrecks dating to the period when Singapore was a key stop on the trade route connecting the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea were discovered in the waters near the outlying island of Pedra Branca. The older of the 2 ships sank in the 14th century. The other has been identified as Shah Munchah, an Indian-built ship that wrecked in 1796. It carried a huge cargo of Chinese ceramics and blue-and-white Yuan Dynasty porcelain destined for Great Britain.
JAPAN
JAPAN: A man who was buried more than 3,000 years ago at the Tsukumo shell mound site appears to be the earliest known shark attack victim. Ever since his skeleton was discovered more than a century ago, researchers have been perplexed by the man’s cause of death, which presumably resulted from his 790 unusual wounds. New analysis has shown that his injuries were likely inflicted by the teeth of either a tiger or great white shark during an attack that also left him without his left hand and right leg.
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TURKEY
TURKEY: Çatalhöyük is considered one of the world’s earliest proto-urban settlements. At its peak, from 7100 to 5700 B.C., its 8,000 inhabitants lived in densely packed one-room houses without doors or windows, which were entered through small openings in their roofs. A new experimental archaeology project has helped researchers determine that when fires were burning in these houses’ ovens, the lack of ventilation would have exposed residents to dangerous levels of air pollution. This likely caused respiratory illnesses and other ailments.
Related Content
Slideshow: Mongolia's Cave of the Equestrian
For more than 1,500 years, a cave in western Mongolia’s Urd Ulaan Uneet mountain held the burial of a nomad who was laid to rest with a sophisticated saddle that once had stirrups attached to it. Dating some 100 years earlier than similar saddles in eastern Asia, the find has the potential to change how scholars understand the evolution of equestrian technology. A team led by National Museum of Mongolia archaeologist Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan also recovered the man’s remains in a wooden coffin, the partial burial of a horse, and a number of well-preserved artifacts that speak to the nomad’s way of life. These images of the site and the artifacts discovered in the cave are courtesy of Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan.