A new look at some unusual remains found at New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon may change our understanding of when, and how, the culture of the Ancestral Puebloans felt the first…
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Mesoamerican ‘Fool’s Gold’ Mirrors Found in Arizona Reveal Ties to Ancient Mexico
Archaeologists exploring the ties between ancient cultures in the Southwestern U.S. and central Mexico have turned their attention to some unusual artifacts excavated in Arizona: more than 50 mirrors encrusted…
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Utah Cave Full of Children’s Moccasins Sheds Light on Little-Known Ancient Culture
Archaeologists on the trail of a little-known ancient culture have found a cache of clues that may help unlock its secrets: a cave containing hundreds of children’s moccasins. The cave,…
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Hallucinogenic Plants May Be Key to Decoding Ancient Southwestern Paintings, Expert Says
Dozens of rock art sites in southern New Mexico, recently documented for the first time, are revealing unexpected botanical clues that archaeologists say may help unlock the meaning of the…
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Twin 1,300-Year-Old Villages Discovered in Arizona Sand Dunes
Archaeologists exploring the high desert of northern Arizona have found a pair of “matching” villages that date back some 1,300 years, revealing evidence of a crucial phase in Southwestern prehistory….
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Famous Utah Rock Art May Be Thousands of Years Younger Than Was Thought
One of the most iconic works of Ancient American art is likely hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years younger than was previously believed, according to new research. The giant display of…
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Violence in the Ancient Southwest Offers Insights Into Peace, Study Says
Despite some recent sensational claims that the prehistoric Southwest was the site of the worst violence in American history, the archaeologist often cited for that assertion says that, in fact,…
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1,500-Year-Old Village, A Sign of ‘Revolution’ in the Southwest, Excavated in Colorado
CORTEZ, COLORADO — In a high-end housing development north of Cortez, Colorado — just 25 kilometers from the monumental cliffhouses of Mesa Verde National Park — archaeologists have uncovered a…
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Ancient Clovis Elephant-Hunting Camp Discovered in Mexico
A tip from a rancher in Mexico’s Sonoran Desert has led to an unexpected find: an ancient encampment where members of the Clovis culture hunted an elephant-like animal never before…
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Evidence of Hobbling, Torture Discovered at Ancient Massacre Site in Colorado
The site of a gruesome massacre some 1,200 years ago in southwestern Colorado is yielding new evidence of the severity, and the grisly intensity, of the violence that took place there….
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‘Hidden Architecture’ of 1,000-Year-Old Village Discovered in New Mexico
For more than 40 years, archaeologists have been coaxing what they could from the traces of an ancient Puebloan settlement in New Mexico they call Blue J. Buried under a thousand…
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Mesa Verde’s ‘Mummy Lake’ Was Built to Hold Rituals, Not Water, Study Says
A grand, sandstone-walled pit in Mesa Verde National Park has for decades been seen as an achievement of prehistoric hydrology, part of a system of cisterns and canals used by…
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Southwestern-Style Spear Throwers Identified in the Ozarks
New analysis of two spear-throwers excavated nearly a century ago in the Ozark Mountains reveals what one archaeologist calls an “uncanny” similarity to those used in the ancient Southwest and…
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Ruins in Arizona May Be ‘Lost’ Jesuit Mission
If archaeologists working in southern Arizona are right in their assumptions, some adobe ruins showcased in Tumacácori National Park may not be what the pamphlets and tour guides say they…
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Ancient Rock Art in Texas Yields ‘Surprising’ New Finds
New technology is providing unexpected insights into some of the most distinctive rock art in the American West, archaeologists say. The canyonlands of Texas’ Lower Pecos River are home to…
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New Discoveries in Arizona May Be ‘Game-Changers’ in Study of Ancient Culture’s Fate
The remains of houses, bits of charcoal, and rarely seen types of pottery are tantalizing new clues in one of the more persistent mysteries of Southwestern history: What happened to…
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