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Cultural Anthropology
This 1524 map of the Aztec capital was a window into an exotic otherworld — and largely a fiction.
In this excerpt from The Breath of the Gods, Simon Winchester explores how the Sumerians first named the wind and shaped our early understanding of the natural world.
We don't learn from history because we can't learn from history.
In the Embers series, historian M.G. Sheftall shares the stories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki’s last survivors and reveals why their testimony must endure.
The Gospels aren’t historical biographies but genre-defining works that blend myth, theology, and a promise of hope.
Experts and Big Think writers recommend their favorite reads for diving deeper into the history and perspectives found in the Book of Books.
An interview with renowned mythologist Martin Shaw about persona, presence, and how to spend life's finite time.
By looking back at future dreams we can see our current hopes and visions in a whole new light.
A new method of mapping migration factors in erratic movements and changing climate.
Architecture in the age of AI — argues professor Nayef Al-Rodhan — should embed philosophical inquiry in its transdisciplinary toolkit.
Are fava beans and chianti really the best pairing for human liver?
Research suggests that experience may matter more than innate ability when it comes to a sense of direction.
A poignant, 2,000-year-old burial in northern Italy could be the latest evidence of an ancient friendship.
NuqneH! Saluton! A linguistic anthropologist (and creator of the Kryptonian language, among others) studies the people who invent new tongues.
The Trojan War was fought in Finland and Ulysses sailed home to Denmark, says one controversial theory.
After listening to the same playlist, people from the United Kingdom, the United States, and China reported feeling nearly identical bodily sensations.
Archaeologists have identified what may be Europe’s oldest human-made megastructure.
Some of the world's most satisfied societies are poor, small, and remote.
Skilled hunters adapted to the changing landscape and left tantalizing clues to who they were.
Along with obsidian that dazzled scientists in Canada.
The Parthenon embodies the ideals of perfection Classical Greeks sought from architecture. The neighboring Erechtheion offers something else.
The tonal Native American language differentiates words based on pitch and makes Spanish conjugation look like child’s play.
Perhaps it’s not just an oddly shaped hill, after all.
The clash of academic archaeology and what might be called folk archaeology comes into stark focus at Stonehenge.
Destruction of the Ukrainian dam unleashed a catastrophic flood—and surfaced centuries of cultural heritage. Now there’s a call not to rebuild it.
Tikal, one of the biggest cities the Maya ever built, was home to a vast and flourishing society.
Serving as the inspiration for the modern horror classic “The Blair Witch Project,” what does our fascination with this unsolvable mystery tell us about our modern psyche?
This minimalist map unties Asia’s mountainous geography, centered on the “Pamir Knot.”
Traditionally, the long history of Japanese thought has not been viewed as “philosophy” — even by Japanese scholars. It’s time for a rethink.
Was the terror of Biscayne Bay a man who escaped slavery, an African chieftain, or a marketing ploy that went viral?