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 light on contested identity of medieval skeleton found at Prague Castle

Here’s how early humans evaded immunodeficiency viruses

CryoEM reveals structural effect of mutation that made humans, but not apes, immune to SIV.

20-million-year-old skull suggests complex brain evolution in monkeys, apes

New study reveals that brain enlargement and modern features evolved repeatedly in anthropoids.

Nordic Bronze Age attracted wide variety of migrants to Denmark

Results of largest Denmark multidisciplinary human mobility investigation to date.

A Stone Age boat building site has been discovered underwater

Biomolecular analyses of Roopkund skeletons show Mediterranean migrants in Indian Himalaya

The lake was thought to be the site of an ancient catastrophic event that left several hundred people dead, but the first ancient whole genome data from India shows that diverse groups of people...

Humans migrated to Mongolia much earlier than previously believed

Archaeologists unearth stone tools made 45,000 years ago.

Ancient feces reveal how ‘marsh diet’ left Bronze Age Fen folk infected with parasites

Neanderthals commonly suffered from ‘swimmer’s ear’

Uncovering Zedekiah’s Destroyed City

New archaeological finds uncovered from two separate excavations in 2019 likely support the biblical account of the destruction of Jerusalem and its First Temple in 587/586 BCE.

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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.