Table Of ContentJuly/August 2009
archaeology.org
A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America
January/February 2021
THE DECADE’S 10 MOST EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERIES
PLUS:
Peruvian Cult Cat
Extinct Woolly Dogs
Viking God House
Ancient Greek Editors
Tracking
the Great
Arab
Revolt
Lost Oasis
Cities of the
Bronze Age
Germany’s
Stonehenge
TOP 10
DISCOVERIES
OF 2020
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24 ARCHAEOLOGY MAGAZINE’S
TOP 10 DISCOVERIES
OF 2020*
*AND THE DECADE
BY THE EDITORS
36 RETURN TO THE RIVER
Members of Virginia’s Rappahannock tribe are at
work with archaeologists to document the
landscape they call home
BY MARLEY BROWN
40 AN OASIS CIVILIZATION
REDISCOVERED
In the deserts of Central Asia lie the ruined cities
of a lost Bronze Age world
BY MEGAN GANNON
48 UNFOLDING THE
BAYEUX TAPESTRY
A new theory may explain the origins of the
famed medieval textile
BY JASON URBANUS
50 BEHIND THE LINES OF
THE GREAT ARAB REVOLT
Along an abandoned railroad, traces of a
bitter WWI-era guerilla conflict have emerged
from the sands
BY SAMIR S. PATEL
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 • VOLUME 74, NUMBER 1
FEATURES
12 Feline geoglyph, Nazca Desert, Peru
CONTENTS
Cover: A painted wooden sarcophagus, dating to
Egypt’s 26th Dynasty (688–525 B.C.), unearthed at the
Saqqara necropolis
PHOTO: COURTESY EGYPTIAN MINISTRY OF TOURISM & ANTIQUITIES
archaeology.org
1
4 EDITOR’S LETTER
6 FROM THE PRESIDENT
8 LETTERS
Picturing the past, the skill of Nubian artists, a veg-
etable garden still, and a possible case of subversion
9 DIGS & DISCOVERIES
Siberian mummy mask, Maya sweat bathing,
ancient Greek editors, Persian metallurgy, and a
new Nazca cat
20 OFF THE GRID
Ouro Preto, Brazil
22 AROUND THE WORLD
Peopling the Caribbean, Scythian warrior couple, dogs
of the First Nations, and a stonemason’s inside joke
68 ARTIFACT
Praying inside the box
59 STONEHENGE’S
CONTINENTAL COUSIN
A 4,000-year-old ringed sanctuary reveals a
German village’s surprising connections with Britain
BY ANDREW CURRY
DEPARTMENTS
LETTER FROM WOODHENGE
■ MORE FROM THE ISSUE For additional
information about some of our Top 10 Discoveries of the
Decade, see archaeology.org/decade.
■ ARCHAEOLOGICAL NEWS Get daily headlines from
around the world and sign up for our e-Update.
■ FOLLOW US
■ INTERACTIVE DIGS Track ongoing work at
interactivedigs.com.
ARCHAEOLOGY.ORG
20
18
14
9
19
ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2021
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W
e know we aren’t supposed to pick favorites, whether among children, pets, or
articles in the magazine, but we have to admit that it would be hard for a team of
editors not to love “Formatting Bronze Age Tablets,” which appears in this issue’s
Digs & Discoveries section. The image of ancient Greek scribes toiling away at their tablets
more than 3,000 years ago and devising ways to make their work clear and comprehensible
definitely struck a chord with us. Thankfully, we don’t have to edit lists
of bushels of grain or flocks of sheep like those scribes did, and
instead can bring you our annual Top 10 Discoveries. There were so
many wonderful finds from which to choose, including nearly five
dozen mummies in their painted sarcophagi from the Egyptian
necropolis of Saqqara. You’ll also read about the surprising results
of the largest-ever study of Viking DNA and a possible long-lost
shrine dedicated to Rome’s eponymous founder, Romulus. The
news that archaeologists have developed a revolutionary method
to pinpoint the dates of pottery found at ancient sites is yet another
reminder that 2020 was a remarkable year of discovery.
We also have something completely new to share with you in this issue. For the first
time, we bring you our selection of the Top 10 Discoveries of the Decade. Some of you will
remember these stories from previous issues, and we hope you will find some familiar friends
among them. For this issue, we have gone back to the researchers and asked them what they
have learned since they first made their discovery, and what they feel its long-term impact
on the field has been. We know you will find these updates fascinating—we certainly do!
This has been a most difficult year, and I want to extend my thanks to so many of you
who have taken the time to write to us and share that ARCHAEOLOGY magazine has been
a valued companion during the months you have been confined to your homes more than
usual. It’s our hope that we have provided you with an escape to a larger world that has been
temporarily closed to us all. We wish you a very happy and healthy 2021 as we go on toward
the future—always remembering our past.
ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2021
4
EDITOR’S LETTER
Editor in Chief
Jarrett A. Lobell
Deputy Editor Executive Editor
Eric A. Powell Daniel Weiss
Senior Editor Associate Editor
Benjamin Leonard Marley Brown
Editorial Assistant
Malin Grunberg Banyasz
Creative Director
Richard Bleiweiss
Maps
Ken Feisel
Contributing Editors
Roger Atwood, Paul Bahn,
Bob Brier, Karen Coates,
Andrew Curry, Blake Edgar,
Brian Fagan, David Freidel,
Tom Gidwitz, Andrew Lawler,
Stephen H. Lekson,
Jerald T. Milanich, Samir S. Patel,
Heather Pringle, Kate Ravilious,
Neil Asher Silberman, Julian Smith,
Nikhil Swaminathan,
Jason Urbanus, Claudia Valentino,
Zach Zorich
Publisher
Kevin Quinlan
Director of Circulation and Fulfillment
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