After the Eruption | American Archaeology
By David Malakoff
Nearly twelve hundred years ago, one the largest volcanic eruptions to strike North America in millennia rocked the landscape of what is now southeastern Alaska. According to geologists, over three days millions...
The Revelations Of Aguada Fénix | American Archaeology
By Mike Toner
Archaeologists have been discovering ruins of ancient civilizations in the jungles of Mexico and Central America for 200 years, filling libraries with investigations of the Olmec, Maya, and other pre-Hispanic cultures. The...
A Serendipitous Discovery | American Archaeology
By Paula Neely
Searching for gold and other riches, Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto landed in Florida in 1539 and launched a four-year exploration of the Southeastern United States. But despite the duration and scope...
Examining The Salado Phenomenon | American Archaeology
By Tamara Jager Stewart
For decades archaeologists have sought to understand what they refer to as the Salado Phenomenon, which occurred between roughly A.D. 1275 and 1450 in what is now south-central Arizona and southwestern...
Rethinking Hunter-Gatherers | American Archaeology
By Julian Smith
The Poverty Point World Heritage Site covers almost three square miles of Mississippi River floodplain in northeastern Louisiana. The area was occupied by a hunter-gatherer culture as early as 1670 B.C. During...
New Insights Into Mississippian Iconography | American Archaeology
By Gayle Keck |
The twenty-first century is awash in symbols, from religious images to branding; from road signs to emojis. Now, imagine that we had no written language to add context or meaning to...
Remembering The Battle Of Blair Mountain | American Archaeology
By James Stout |
On the morning of August 30th, 1921, John Wilburn set off up Blair Mountain, in West Virginia, with two of his sons and a group of seventy or so miners. Earlier...
The Search For Sarabay | American Archaeology
By Stephenie Livingston |
The sparsely populated barrier island of Big Talbot looks much like it did when Europeans first met the local Mocama-speaking Timucua people nearly 450 years ago. Keith Ashley, a University of...
A New Take On Maryland’s Oldest City | American Archaeology
By David Malakoff |
The nearly 400-year-old silver coin was, Stephanie Stevens recalled, “the most memorable artifact I’ve ever found.” Last fall, the young archaeologist was scooping dirt at a dig in St. Mary’s City, Maryland’s...
The Purpose Of Archaeology | American Archaeology
By Elizabeth Lunday |
Archaeologists study the past, but they live in the present—and 2021 is a particularly tumultuous present. Americans have endured political conflict, violence, protests, and a global pandemic. Multiple social justice movements...