When Spanish invaders arrived in the Americas, they were generally able to subjugate the local peoples thanks, in part, to their superior weaponry and technology.
The mighty Calusa ruled South Florida for centuries, wielding military power, trading and collecting tribute along routes that sprawled hundreds of miles, creating shell islands, erecting enormous buildings and dredging canals wider than some highways. Unlike the Aztecs, Maya and Inca, who built their empires with the help of agriculture, the Calusa kingdom was founded on fishing.
Beneath the tropical rainforests of Guatemala lies what remains of ‘one of the foremost archaeological sites in the world’ (Sharer & Traxer, 1946). Its modern name is Tikal, but when it was one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya, it was known as Yax Mutul meaning "First Mutal".
New artifacts uncovered at the Waim archaeological site in the highlands of New Guinea - illustrate a shift in human behavior between 5050 and 4200 years ago in response to the widespread emergence of agriculture, ushering in a regional Neolithic Era similar to the Neolithic in Eurasia.
New Cornell University research is producing a more accurate historical timeline for the occupation of Native American sites in upstate New York, based on radiocarbon dating of organic materials and statistical modeling.
New evidence of a massive lightning strike at the centre of a stone circle in the Outer Hebrides may help shed light on why these monuments were created thousands of years ago.
Keig, Aberdeenshire. A gaggle of excited children are instructing community archaeologist Colin Shepherd when to drop a china mug on the floor so that they can see how it breaks on impact.
A majestic ponderosa pine, standing tall in what is widely thought to have been the "center of the world" for the Ancestral Puebloan people, may have more mundane origins than previously believed, according to research led by tree-ring experts at the University of Arizona.
