Popular Archeology

Technology One
by Michael Gordon
Scientists are on the trail of discovering the earliest stone tools made by human ancestors in Africa.
Nefertari’s Tomb
by No Author
The ancient Egyptian tomb of this queen easily rivals those of any of the great pharaohs — even that of her husband, Ramesses the Great.
The Siege of Masada
by Jodi Magness
The history and the archaeology behind the famous Roman siege of the Jewish rebels at the mountaintop fortress of Masada.
1619: Archaeology and the Seeds of a Nation
by Dan McLerran
Archaeological excavations at Jamestown in Virginia are yielding new material finds related to the Western Hemisphere’s first representative government, and the beginnings of slavery in the British colonies.
Early Settlement of the Sahara
by Cameron Smith
An archaeologist summarizes the major discoveries shedding light on a prehistoric human presence in the Sahara.
Revealing Early Bronze Age Village Life at Tel Yaqush
by Arianna Zakrzewski
A new excavation in Israel’s Jordan Valley is shedding new light on a rural community that flourished at a time when urbanization was taking root in the southern Levant.
The Archaeology of Rock-Art
by Paul Joseph De Mola, FRGS
The author relates the role rock-art has played in communicating the human story and spirit.

Popular Archaeology is a quarterly online magazine exploring the human past, from prehistoric beginnings to the present day. See About Us for more details. Regular subscriptions are FREE. Access to all premium level content (our best articles, including all back-issue premium articles) is only $9.00 annually.

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Cover Stories

New cultural horizon at pre-Columbian settlement

Extinct human species likely breast fed for a year after birth, NIH-funded study suggests

Findings may inform strategies for breast feeding in modern populations.

Reassessing the Arrival of Humans in the Americas

Food may have been scarce in Chaco Canyon

Gorillas found to have ‘complex societies,’ suggesting deep roots of human social evolution

Dental evidence of human admixture in Asia

Murder in the Paleolithic? Evidence of violence behind human skull remains

Ancient DNA sheds light on the origins of the Biblical Philistines

Ancient genomes suggest that the Philistines descended from people who migrated across the Mediterranean and reached the shores of the southern Levant at the beginning of the Iron Age.

Bonobo diet of aquatic greens may hold clues to human evolution

Newly-discovered 1,600-year-old mosaic sheds light on ancient Judaism

UNC-Chapel Hill’s Jodi Magness, together with a team of researchers and students find the first ancient Jewish depiction of the Elim episode from the biblical book of Exodus.

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A wooden toe: Swiss Egyptologists study 3,000-year-old prosthesis

Multispectral imaging reveals ancient Hebrew inscription undetected for over 50 years

Military correspondence from the First Temple period discovered on reverse side of well-studied artifact at The Israel Museum, Tel Aviv University researchers say.

New research reveals earliest directly dated rock paintings from southern Africa

Scientists have pioneered a technique to directly date prehistoric rock paintings in southern Africa, which revealed dates much older than previously thought.