Popular Archeology

Searching for the First Europeans
by James Kensington
The startling finds of Atapuerca and Dmanisi have revolutionized our thinking about the first humans in Europe.
The Secrets Beneath Copan
by Jason Weaver
Archaeologists tunneling below the monuments of a famous ancient acropolis have unveiled new revelations about a great Maya kingdom.
The Ancient Architects of Sound
by Linda Eneix
Scientists are discovering that the prehistoric builders of the great megaliths created something far more than monuments of stone.
Sifting through the Smoke and Noise
by Meredith Poole with contributions by Andrew Edwards and Eric Schweickart
Excavation and reconstruction of the 18th century blacksmith shop and public armoury at Williamsburg, Virginia, tells a story of wartime effort during the American Revolutionary War.
Guardians of Heritage
by Joanie Eva Meharry and Shaharzad Akbar
Far beyond strategic military imperatives, the U.S. and Afghanistan have become partners in saving a rich cultural heritage.

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.