Native Americans suffer the highest rates of diabetes in the United States — 16 percent, more than twice the average among Anglos. For decades, scientists have thought this modern health…
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America’s Earliest Traces of Potato Use Found at 10,900-Year-Old Utah Shelter
10,900-year-old stone tools found in Utah contain the earliest known evidence of potato use in North America, archaeologists say.
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Rock Art in Chaco Canyon May Depict Ancient Solar Eclipse, Experts Say
Experts say a petroglyph in New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon may depict a solar eclipse from 920 years ago.
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Elite ‘Dynasty’ at Chaco Canyon Got Its Power From One Woman, DNA Shows
New DNA evidence shows that elite leaders at Chaco Canyon weren’t just members of the same class — they were members of the same extended family, a “dynasty” that traced its ancestry to a single woman.
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Chaco’s Elites Were Natives of Chaco Canyon, Not Migrants, Their Remains Show
The elites of Chaco Canyon were born and raised there, and weren’t migrants from distant regions, as many thought, new research finds.
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Mesa Verde’s Sun Temple Reveals Geometrical ‘Genius,’ Physicist Says
An 800-year-old structure in Mesa Verde National Park was built using the same basic geometry found in ancient monuments around the world, a new study reports.
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Top 5 Fossil Finds Around the American West in 2016
The year in paleontology around the American West was full of surprises, and so is Western Digs’ most-read natural history news of 2016.
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How Did People of Chaco Canyon Grow Their Food? Expert Says, They Didn’t
Recently, researchers have been at odds over a simple, central question in Southwestern archaeology: How did the people of Chaco Canyon manage to grow their food? According to new research: They didn’t.
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Top 5 Archaeology Discoveries in the American West of 2016
Glass blades, unusual crescent-shaped tools, and a “shadow dagger” were some of the more striking finds reported this year by archaeologists around the American West.
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Mummified Bird, Baby Found in Cave Shed Light on Earliest Desert Farmers
Archaeologists investigating a cave have discovered an unusual burial that’s providing new insights into the ways of some of the earliest farmers of the Chihuahuan Desert.
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Cliff Dwelling in Utah Found to Have Unique Decoration: Dinosaur Tracks
In a Utah cliff dwelling, researchers have found a decoration that’s never been reported before: dinosaur tracks above the front door.
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900-Year-Old Village Recorded in Volcanic Badlands of New Mexico
A 900-year-old village hidden in New Mexico’s black-rock badlands reveals its unique ties to Chaco Canyon.
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Photos: Watch the ‘Shadow Dagger’ Solar Calendar Mark the Equinox
See for yourself how ancient petroglyphs found in Arizona mark the spring equinox with a “shadow dagger.”
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Thousands of Ancient Petroglyphs, ‘Dramatic’ Solar Calendar Reported in N. Arizona
Archaeologists have uncovered a trove of previously undocumented rock art in northern Arizona, including a prehistoric solar calendar that has been marking the seasons for more than 700 years.
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First Evidence of Corn Beer in Southwest Discovered on Teeth From Ancient Burials
Fossilized tooth plaque is revealing new details about life, food, and drink in the ancient city of Casas Grandes — including what archaeologists say is the first conclusive evidence of corn beer in the Greater Southwest.
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Cocoa, Caffeinated ‘Black Drink’ Were Widespread in Pre-Contact Southwest, Study Finds
Stimulating drinks made from exotic plants, like the cocoa tree and a type of southern holly, were consumed much more widely across the prehistoric Southwest than was thought, according to…
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