Popular Archeology

Before Kings and Temples
by James Kensington
Ancient landscapes in present-day Israel have revealed astonishing evidence of early human occupation.
The Archaeology of the Invisible and the Fall of Rome
by Kyle Harper
Silent killers can help bring down civilizations. Author Kyle Harper relates how the Roman Empire of Late Antiquity was severely crippled by an unseen enemy.
The Archaeological Watchlist
by Dan McLerran
Popular Archaeology suggests a select group of sites and projects that readers can follow as archaeologists and other scientists uncover more tantalizing finds bearing on the human past.
Tunneling Through a Sacred Underworld
by Brian Fagan
Archaeologists are piecing together an ancient sacred view of the cosmos at Teotihuacan, where creation, gods, and mortals intersected to legitimize the power of rulers.
A Decade of Discovery: The Tandy Excavations at Tel Gezer
by Steven Ortiz and Samuel Wolff
A preliminary summary report of the excavations of a city that, according to the biblical account, was fortified by King Solomon during the time of the United Monarchy of ancient Israel.
Uncovering the Secrets of an Island Paradise
by Cristina Bravo, Irene Riudavets, and Montserrat Anglada
Excavations continue to reveal a unique prehistoric monumental sanctuary in Menorca.
Using LiDAR at El Pilar
by Anabel Ford, Thomas Crimmel, Claudia Knudson, Sherman Horn, and Keith Clarke
Well before the recent media reports about the amazing discoveries of ancient Maya remains in Guatemala using laser technology, another team of pioneering scientists had already made equivalent discoveries in Belize.

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.

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

See the Directory for current tour opportunities.

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

See the full Cover Articles archive →

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.