ARCHAEOLOGY magazine examines the discipline of archaeology through the lens of the discipline of journalism. The engine that drives all of our narratives is careful reporting and analysis of the archaeological record. Stories for the magazine have a strong narrative line. Essentially, our stories build out from the “finds”—the physical evidence—and narratives derive from those finds.
Reporting can focus on a particular site, on a new discovery, or may be an investigation of the reevaluation or overturning of a long-held theory. Story sources can be the archaeologists whose site is being covered, and, if pertinent, historical, literary, or oral accounts. Archaeology does not only deal with the ancient past, but chronicles our recent past, as well. Archaeological investigation often draws from other sciences, including geology, genetics, chemistry, physics, botany, which frequently provide a significant portion of the reporting for our features.
While the core work that goes on in the discipline of archaeology is academic in nature, the magazine seeks to find the stories and narratives inherent in that work and bring those stories to a general audience. It is no different than other branches of science journalism for the broad public in that respect.
A significant portion of the magazine’s content is contributed by freelancers. Writers are invited to submit proposals that reflect knowledge of the publication and its audience. Proposals should briefly summarize the story idea and list sources who will be interviewed, where they are located, and the writer’s plan for establishing contact with them. Writers should demonstrate some expertise in the topic they choose to cover, or demonstrate reporting skills that will insure that they can master both the broad and subtle themes that the story may contain. Lastly, the query should include a proposed word count for the story. Please include clips of relevant stories that you have already had published.
We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
Please send proposals to editorial@archaeology.org.