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

Mesopotamian King Sargon II envisioned ancient city Karkemish as western Assyrian capital

Crusaders made love and war, genetic study finds

First genetic study of the Crusaders confirms that warriors mixed and had families with local people in the near East, and died together in battle.

Neolithic site reveals transition from hunting and gathering to animal herding

Archaeologists examine urine salt levels in the soil to reconstruct the evolution of sheep and goat domestication at 10,000-year-old Turkish settlement.

At last, acknowledging royal women’s political power

Megalith tombs were family graves in European Stone Age

Need for social skills helped shape modern human face

The modern human face is distinctively different to that of our near relatives and now researchers believe its evolution may have been partly driven by our need for good social skills.

Archaeologists discover lost medieval city in Africa

Scholars on the ground have discovered what they believe to be the remains of a long lost medieval city in Ethiopia.

Ancient DNA reveals new branches of the Denisovan family tree

Archaeologists identify first prehistoric figurative cave art in Balkans

New species of early human found in the Philippines

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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.