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Investigating a Bronze Age Mystery: A Cemetery Full of Princes, but No Palaces in Sight
Başur Höyük in Türkiye By Brenna R. Hassett Perched on the edge of a river near the city of Siirt, Türkiye, is an archaeological site...
The Left Chapter
3 days ago5 min read
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Can We Exit from a World of Debt?
By Vijay Prashad In the past two decades, the external debt of developing countries has quadrupled to $11.4 trillion (2023). It is...
The Left Chapter
6 days ago5 min read
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What Was It Like for Our Sapiens Ancestors to Meet and Mix With Cousin Species?
Between 50,000 and 35,000 years ago in Eurasia, the disappearance of hominin species or their biocultural assimilation with anatomically...
Michael Laxer
Mar 167 min read
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What Are the Origins of the Money We Use Today? Revisiting Heinrich Schurtz’s Groundbreaking Research
The pioneering research by one of the founders of economic anthropology is essential for understanding the social and institutional...
Michael Laxer
Mar 918 min read
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How Mesopotamia’s Urban and Industrial Revolution Started Politics as We Know It Today
Giorgio Buccellati’s At the Origins of Politics takes readers to the early stages of a process that became the structure of modern life....
Michael Laxer
Mar 612 min read
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Exploring Ancient Understandings of Meteorites in Archaic Societies
By KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Sparks (NSF’s NOIRLab) - Geminids Over Kitt Peak National Observatory, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.o...
Michael Laxer
Feb 2511 min read
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Our Ability to Think in Terms of Numbers Is Universal, Abstract, and Independent From Language
Frederick L. Coolidge explains the link between numerosity and language. morebyless, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons By Marjorie Hecht...
Michael Laxer
Jan 245 min read
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The Controversy Over Cannibalism
A panoramic view of Cheddar Gorge in Somerset, UK - Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC BY-SA 3.0 By Brenna R. Hassett A recent...
Michael Laxer
Dec 26, 20245 min read
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Not as Simple as 1, 2, 3: Humanity Has a Surprisingly Diverse Understanding of Numbers
Language plays an important role in understanding the concept of numbers. Image via Jeuwre, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons By...
Michael Laxer
Dec 10, 20246 min read
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Digging Up the Roots of Human Culture
Display of prehistoric stone tools at Melka Kunture Prehistoric Site -- Richard Mortel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Deborah...
Michael Laxer
Dec 1, 20247 min read
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The Hunter-Gatherer Guide to Keeping Society Equal
By Brenna R. Hassett There is a great deal of attention in modern societies to inequality and the social problems it causes. Often...
Michael Laxer
Nov 27, 20245 min read
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Cities Made Differently: Try Imagining Another Urban Existence
We know from history that there are many ways we can live together—let’s explore the idea. Aerroscape & Lino Zeddies, CC BY-SA 4.0 By...
Michael Laxer
Nov 23, 20246 min read
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Why Is Prehistory Inspiring So Many Artists?
What draws us to such a distant and long-gone time? A fruitful relationship has always existed between prehistory (a scientific...
Michael Laxer
Oct 25, 202410 min read
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The Surprising Ways Inventions and Ideas Spread in Ancient Prehistory
You can learn a lot about humanity from the first technological revolutions of more than 10,000 years ago. By Brenna R. Hassett, Human...
Michael Laxer
Sep 10, 20244 min read
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Keys to Building Human Bridges to the Past
Human technologies have continued to evolve exponentially since the end of the Paleolithic: today we are using them to learn more about...
Michael Laxer
Sep 8, 20246 min read
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The Role of Ancient DNA in Modern Traits
Ancient human retrovirus DNA could be one of the markers of susceptibility to mental illness—specifically schizophrenia, bipolar...
Michael Laxer
Aug 5, 20246 min read
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Can Teething Predict How Fast You Will Grow?
By Brenna R. Hassett, Human Bridges We know that humans live relatively long lives, and we certainly know that we spend a larger...
Michael Laxer
Jun 19, 20246 min read
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Facing a Surge in Wildfires, the U.S. Government Turned to Native Wisdom and Advanced Archaeology
Collaborative efforts between forest agencies and Indigenous communities are improving wildfire management by combining oral histories...
Michael Laxer
Jun 18, 20246 min read
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Some Myths Regarding the Genesis of Enterprise
Not only were “modern” elements of enterprise present and even dominant already in Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC, but the...
Michael Laxer
May 22, 20245 min read
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Seven Features of Ancient Enterprise
The changing context for enterprise through the centuries reminds us that business activities are not universal but fluid and alter...
Michael Laxer
May 15, 20247 min read
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