How are people today related to those who lived centuries ago in the Swahili civilization?
The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs/Flickr
The first ancient DNA sequences from peoples of the medieval Swahili civilization push aside colonialist stories and reveal genetic connections from the past.
Ukrainian designer Margarita Chala stands next to shoes symbolizing war crimes committed against Ukrainian civilians at the Old Town Square in Prague in 2023.
Michal Cizek/AFP via Getty Images
Trauma can affect how people remember and describe experiences. Many survivors express their pain through objects and physical symptoms, an anthropologist explains.
Women working in rural China close to the Tibetan border.
Yuan Chen
Men in rural China spend more time in leisure or social activities, or just hanging around and resting.
Many people go their entire lives knowing little about their relatives’ childhoods and formative experiences.
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If you skirt the small talk and dig a little deeper, you’ll be surprised at what you might learn.
A herder grazes cattle alongside wildlife in Samburu, Kenya.
Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images
Conservation that places less emphasis on who may or may not use a piece of land could result in better outcomes for people and wildlife.
Dr Neville White at Donydji, 1986.
Neville White/Ronin Films
Anthropologist Neville White has spent two months a year since 1974 in Arnhem Land, as a guest of Yolngu families residing at the Donydji community.
During the Ice Age, hunter-gatherer societies built sedentary settlements.
(Shutterstock)
When, how, where and why did complex hierarchical societies evolve? Understanding how we got to this point in time may help us address global challenges, like climate change.
Shamans from the organization Tengeri conduct an offering ritual in 2013 to Bukhe Bator, the spirit master of the Selenga River, Republic of Buryatia, Russian Federation.
Roberto Quijada
Animism describes religions in which humans are connected to the landscape around them but do not dominate it.
Researchers need to be careful not to contaminate ancient samples with their own DNA.
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Thousands of ancient genomes have been sequenced to date. A Nobel Prize highlights tremendous opportunities for aDNA, as well as challenges related to rapid growth, equity and misinformation.
Many hunter gatherers have a long history of egalitarianism.
DevonJenkin Photography/Shutterstock
Not all human societies throughout history have been patriarchal.
‘Trallib (Oil Container),’ by Norman Daly, 1970. Daily made this object with an orange juicer.
Photo by Marilyn Rivchin
Norman Daly’s 1972 exhibition, ‘The Civilization of Llhuros,’ presented fiction as fact – and reminded viewers of just how easily they could be duped.
The sun’s rays often feel good on your skin, but can cause serious damage.
Maksim Chernyshev/EyeEm via Getty Images
Our ancient ancestors didn’t have clothes or houses – but that constant exposure to the sun helped their skin protect itself from the worst sun damage.
Zhanna Dynaeva and Serhiy Dynaev stand with a cat inside their house, which was destroyed by Russian bombardment, in the village of Novoselivka, Ukraine, Aug. 13, 2022.
AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
An anthropologist explains how years of conflict have made Ukrainians reassess their priorities and relationships.
If you made it past early childhood, your chances got better to see your golden years.
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Nasty, brutish – but not necessarily short. Here’s how archaeologists know plenty of people didn’t die young.
Handwritten diaries and digital diaries both help preserve experiences and memories, but in different ways.
luza studios/E+ via Getty Images
As material objects, diaries give scholars an intimate look into their subjects’ lives, including handwriting and mementos. What if diaries in the future are nothing but insubstantial digital ghosts?
A 4-month-old baby girl is tended by her grandmother inside a church in Duekoue, Ivory Coast, in 2011.
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
The fundamental issue at stake in abortion debates is personhood, which is viewed differently around the world, an anthropologist writes.
Men participate in a demonstration of rope making for dog teams, May 12, 2022, in Inukjuak, Que.
The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld
The DIALOG network forms a bridge between scientific and Indigenous knowledge. It renews the relationship between the university and the Indigenous world, which has for too long been one-sided.
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Perhaps what is most interesting about #Swedengate is not what it tells us about Sweden, but what it tells us about ourselves.
A family in northern Siberia watches – but decides not to hunt – a musk ox that wandered into the area where they live.
John Ziker
Traditional ecological knowledge, or TEK, can encompass science, medicine, ecology, religion and culture – and help protect the environment.
A man identified only as Viktor shows his neighbor’s grave in Bucha, Ukraine. It was too dangerous to go to the cemetery.
Jana Cavojska/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Ukrainian families’ anguish at not being able to bury their loved ones underscores a deep human need, an anthropologist writes.