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Native American

A 17th centruy Native American Fort has been found in Connecticut (Representative image)

Long-lost Native American Fort of the Norwalk Discovered in Connecticut

There has been a remarkable discovery in Connecticut in the United States that could change the way that we view Native North American Society. A fort believed to have been built by a tribe in the...
A bannerstone, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (CC0) Background: Rocks and water. (CC0)

Boggling Bannerstones of Ancient Americans: Were They a Function of Flight or More a Flight of Fancy?

A bannerstone is an enigmatic Native American artifact found in the eastern United States. They come in a range of shapes and sizes and are made of various types of stone. These stones have been...
Hopewell Platform Frog Effigy Pipe

The Liverpool Mounds in Illinois: Part 1 - Rediscovering Hopewell Ritual and Meaning

“Archaeology seeks to explain the inner workings of cultures in which even baked clay jars were animated with their particular spirits. But, until as archaeologists we develop more than a little...
The Peace Pipe by E. Irving Course, 1901.

Experts Discover Hard Evidence that Native Americans were Smoking Tobacco 3000 Years Ago

According to the Science Magazine, experts who have been examining an ancient Native American pipe for several years have made a remarkable discovery. New techniques have allowed them to detect with...
Deriv. Image of Native American woman, believed to be Juana Maria, of the Nicoleño tribe

Juana Maria, the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island

Island of the Blue Dolphins is a book written by the American author Scott O’Dell about a girl stranded on an island in the Pacific. This popular children’s novel is based on a real story of a woman...
Artist's conception of Calusa people preparing for fishing in the estuary. Source: Image by Merald Clark.

Grand Ceremonial House of the King of the Calusa People Has Been Located in Florida

The National Geographic has reported that archaeologists have discovered an ancient Native American king’s house in Florida. A team has uncovered the foundations of a large dwelling and this is...
Ancient Seeds - Kabocha Squash Seeds

Quest to find Ancient Seeds and bring them to Life before they are lost to History

The drive to bring extinct animal species back from the dead, such as the wooly mammoth or saber-toothed tiger, is picking up speed as genetics and biotechnology science advances. But animals are not...
The tattoo tool bundle unearthed at Fernvale, Tennessee, USA. This is the oldest tattoo toolkit discovered to date.

Turkey Bones, Shells, and Pigment: Signs of the Oldest Tattoo Kit in the World

About 3,600 years ago, someone decided to bury a collection of sharpened turkey bones and mussel shells. The items were unearthed in 1985 and then forgotten for almost three decades. However, a...
Ket People, Native Peoples of Siberia. Black and White Photo, 1900s

The Inexplicable Origins of the Ket People of Siberia

The Kets are an indigenous people who live in Siberia and are regarded to be one of the smallest ethnic groups in that region. Their appearance, language and traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle has...
Pomo Tule Canoe (Edward Curtis).

Stone Hatchet Man & The Troubling Unfinished Journeys to the Spirit World for Native American Bones

It was July of 1923, and a hot day in Clearlake Park, California. Charles Hesse had been excavating a pit for his new septic tank all morning. Just before lunch, Charlie dug a good-sized, waist deep...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Kanopolis Lake recently discovered vandalism to an ancient petroglyph and is seeking information from the public.

Vandalism at Ancient Sites, Who Really Cares Anyway?

Sometimes it doesn’t rain, but it pours. This month has seen two vandals, separated by thousands of miles, completely destroying a range of ancient carved animals. But does anybody really care...
Deriv; A drowned land of Kasskara - Hopi.

Kásskara: Sunken Land of the Hopi Ancestors

There used to be a fable, commonly imposed as fact on schoolchildren in the United States, that in Columbus' time nearly everyone believed the Earth was flat. Fortunately, this untruth has been...

A Hopi Hero’s Journey: How the Snake Clan Came to Arizona

Joseph Campbell, in his classic book The Hero With A Thousand Faces explores in depth the universal mythic narrative of the culture-hero (traditionally male) who goes forth not to conquer but...
Georgia, Savannah River, near Savannah, circa 1862. (Public Domain) with couple (Public Domain);Deriv.

Prehistoric Romeo and Juliet Lived Apart: But Why? The People of the Shoals and The People of the Hills

Just north of Augusta, Georgia, USA, near what is called the Fall Line of the Savannah River, lies Stallings Island. It has given its name to the culture that sparked the second great American...
Piles of clamshells (Schvin/CC BY 2.0), background: men in a Curragh, a skin boat (WilliamMurphy/CC BY-SA 2.0);Deriv.

Seafarers and Shell Rings: Strange Formations on the American Coast a Hallmark of Faraway Visitors?

Just south of Awendaw, South Carolina, in the Francis Marion National Forest, is an example of a type of architectural artifact that still baffles archaeologists. For every explanation someone offers...
The Decalogue, The Keystone, and a 19th century plan of the Newark Earthworks, and Tawa, the sun spirit and creator in Hopi mythology.

Did David Wyrick Find the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail Near Newark, Ohio?

For 157 years, archaeologists, religious scholars, anthropologist, politicians, scientists, and historians—everyone except Native Americans—have tried to prove that the two stones and one small cup...
Stones arranged into a Native American medicine wheel pattern.

A Glimpse into the Intuitive Medicine of the Native American Tradition

Many centuries ago, in a land that is quite familiar to the modern American (in some forgotten, ethereal way).... A native boy scurries through a thicket of bramble bushes. His mouth stained with...
An aerial view of Man Mound, 2014.

Man Mound, Wisconsin: The Last Anthropomorphic Mound in North America

Man Mound (known also as the ‘Greenfield Man Mound’) is the name of a prehistoric earthwork located in the state of Wisconsin, USA. As its name suggests, this earthwork has a humanoid shape. The...
Amerigo Vespucci meeting fair skinned and blond natives upon his arrival on his first voyage to the New World, 1497.

Did a Welsh Prince Reach the New World Before Columbus?

The Italian explorer Christopher Columbus (1451-1506 AD) has already been dethroned as the European discoverer of the Americas. Most historians now agree that the first known Europeans in the New...
Pocahontas, after 1616, Oil on canvas by Unidentified Artist.

Pocahontas Shrouded in Myth: A Princess Goes to England

As Ancient Origins reported in its article “ The True Story of Pocahontas as Not Told by Disney ,” the real life Pocahontas was different from her portrayal in the 1995 animated feature film. However...
Why Did Parents in the Chinookan tribe Perform Cranial Deformation on their Babies?

Why Did Parents in the Chinookan tribe Perform Cranial Deformation on their Babies?

Beauty is a fickle thing. Worse than that, it is (as often as not) one of the most painful goals in the realms of the wealthy and elite. In China, the binding of feet was once seen to create...
Why Isn’t This Map in the History Books?

Why Isn’t This Map in the History Books?

By the age of 10, most children in the United States have been taught all 50 states that make up the country. But centuries ago, the land that is now the United States was a very different place...
How the Archaeological Review Behind the Dakota Access Pipeline Went Wrong

How the Archaeological Review Behind the Dakota Access Pipeline Went Wrong

This summer, Tim Mentz Sr. took to YouTube to tell the world about the destruction of his cultural heritage. A former tribal historic preservation officer of the Standing Rock Sioux, he was upset and...
White Buffalo Calf Woman – Healer, Teacher, and Inspirational Spirit for the Lakota People

White Buffalo Calf Woman – Healer, Teacher, and Inspirational Spirit for the Lakota People

Goddess cults have existed in every part of the world. The myths and legends of the Lakota people discuss a powerful female figure in the stories of White Buffalo Calf Woman. She is a supernatural...

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