July/August 2020

ARCHAEOLOGY

ARCHAEOLOGY magazine brings the ancient world to life.

ARCHAEOLOGY1 min read
Archaeology
Editor in Chief Jarrett A. Lobell Deputy Editor Eric A. Powell Senior Editors Benjamin Leonard Daniel Weiss Associate Editor Marley Brown Editorial Assistant Malin Grunberg Banyasz Creative Director Richard Bleiweiss Maps Ken Feisel Contributing Edit
ARCHAEOLOGY2 min read
Archaeology In The Age Of Pandemic
The coronavirus has challenged us all, but the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is meeting those challenges with the help of committed professionals, dedicated staff, and inspired enthusiasts in creative ways. Advocacy for archaeology, cultu
ARCHAEOLOGY9 min read
DIGS & DISCOVERIES
In the language of the Vikings, Old Norse, rök means “monolith,” and no other runestone stands out from its peers in more ways than Sweden’s Rök. The five-ton stone measures eight feet tall and its five sides are covered with the longest runic inscri
ARCHAEOLOGY7 min read
Idol Of The Painted Temple
AFTER DEFEATING THE FORCES of Atahualpa, the last Inca emperor, in 1533, Francisco Pizarro dispatched his brother Hernando to a vast religious center on Peru’s central coast called Pachacamac. Just south of modern-day Lima, Pachacamac spanned nearly
ARCHAEOLOGY3 min read
From Our Readers
I very much enjoyed “Inside a Medieval Gaelic Castle” (March/April 2020). However, the most amusing aspect of the article was not even mentioned. In the woodcut by John Derricke there are two gentlemen to the far right who appear to be airing their b
ARCHAEOLOGY4 min read
Around The World
FLORIDA: The Calusa Indians, who ruled much of southern Florida in the pre-Columbian era, are known for their sophisticated engineering projects. These included artificial islands and canals at their capital of Mound Key. They also created large lago
ARCHAEOLOGY12 min read
The Legacy Of The Longest Day
United States Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. William J. McGowan was 23 years old when he died near the village of Moon-sur-Elle in northern France. McGowan had grown up in the small town of Benson in western Minnesota, where he loved to ski. He attended Ben
ARCHAEOLOGY11 min read
A Silk Road Renaissance
THE SILK ROAD, the vast network of trade routes that connected China to the rest of Eurasia from roughly the first century B.C. to A.D. 1400, was justly famous in the West for the rich silk textiles it carried to the Mediterranean world. “But it coul
ARCHAEOLOGY2 min read
Off The Grid
When some of the first British farmers to live in the Lake District needed to gather at a central location, they may have chosen Castlerigg Stone Circle, a Neolithic monument built some 5,000 years ago. The circle measures almost 100 feet in diameter
ARCHAEOLOGY8 min readFashion
From Head to Toe in the Ancient Maya World
HOW PEOPLE DRESS and adorn themselves has long been a primary way of showcasing their identity and communicating it to others. The ancient Maya, whose world was one of vivid cultural practices and strict hierarchy, with rulers playing an essential ro
ARCHAEOLOGY4 min read
Dispatches from The Aia
archaeological.org As this issue of “Dispatches from the AIA” was being put together, the majority of the world was in some level of lockdown in response to a global pandemic. We hope that by the time you read this, we will all be emerging from these
ARCHAEOLOGY11 min read
Hagia Sophia’s hidden History
IN HIS ACCOUNT OF the extensive building program undertaken by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, the sixth-century A.D. Greek historian Procopius describes the architectural splendor of Hagia Sophia, the towering cathedral of the capital city of Con
ARCHAEOLOGY11 min read
The Power Of Secret Societies
WHEN ARCHAEOLOGIST Brian Hayden of Simon Fraser University started working at the Keatley Creek site in British Columbia more than three decades ago, he was intrigued by nine small structures that had been clearly set apart from the main settlement.
ARCHAEOLOGY2 min read
Artifact
The Roman Empire’s thousands of miles of territory required hundreds of thousands of soldiers to guard and maintain it. In addition to weapons, armor, and clothing, an item few of these soldiers would be without was a type of canteen called a laguncu
ARCHAEOLOGY2 min read
Photo Credits
COVER—Jesse Durocher/Getty Images; 1—Courtesy Bonampak Documentation Project, illustrations by Heather Hurst and Leonard Ashby; 3—(clockwise from top left) Helge Andersson, Courtesy Alexander Pryor/University of Exeter, Courtesy Finding Eanswythe, In
ARCHAEOLOGY2 min read
An Unprecedented Journey
As those of you who visit archaeology.org know, since the day we sent the May/June issue of ARCHAEOLOGY to the printer, our offices in New York have been temporarily closed due to the pandemic, and we have been working at home to create this current

ARCHAEOLOGY

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