The Archaeological Conservancy

06/19/2026

TICONDEROGA, N.Y.—Fort Ticonderoga will be featured in the new five-part Netflix documentary series, The American Experiment, debuting June 24. The series explores the founding of the United States, from resistance to British rule through the Revolutionary War, the drafting of the Constitution, and beyond.

Scenes filmed at Fort Ticonderoga use the historic site’s grounds, staff, and living history resources to visualize events including the Boston Massacre and battles such as Princeton and Saratoga. The fort is also marking the 250th anniversary of 1776 with programming and major reenactment events.

Read more: www.fortticonderoga.org

06/16/2026

ONLINE—Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert has launched a new online course, BTM 320 Hopi Runners, through Beyond the Mesas, LLC. The eight-lesson course draws on years of research into Hopi long-distance running and explores Hopi cultural understandings of running, Hopi participation in American marathons, off-reservation Indian boarding schools, Indigenous modernity, and contemporary Hopi runners.

The course is available now, with a discounted registration option through June 26.

Read more: https://beyondthemesas.com/course/btm-320-hopi-runners/

Taught by Hopi professor and author Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert, this course examines the history of Hopi long-distance running from ancient times to the modern era. It centers on the cyclical aspec…

06/14/2026

KING WILLIAM ISLAND, NUNAVUT—Researchers have identified the remains of four more sailors from the doomed 1845 Franklin Expedition through DNA matches with living descendants. The men were members of the crews of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, which set out to find the Northwest Passage and ended with the deaths of all 129 expedition members.

The new identifications bring the total number of Franklin sailors positively identified through DNA to six and help resolve a long-standing mystery involving Harry Peglar, whose papers were found with human remains more than 160 years ago.

Read more: uwaterloo.ca/news/media/dna-matches-identify-four-more-sailors-franklin-expedition

Researchers have identified four more members of Sir John Franklin's 1845 expedition, one of whom was the subject of great debate lasting for more than a century. Anthropologists from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Waterloo led the work that analyzed DNA samples extracted from skeletal rem...

06/14/2026

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI— Archaeologists working at the former Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum cemetery on the University of Mississippi Medical Center campus have now excavated more than 1,000 graves.

The asylum operated from 1855 to 1935, and earlier archaeological studies estimated that between 5,000 and 7,000 people may have been buried in the cemetery. The ongoing Asylum Hill Project is documenting remains and personal items, supporting research into the lives of people who died at the institution, and planning for respectful reburial and memorialization.

Read more: https://www.wapt.com/article/archaeologists-uncover-graves-and-artifacts-at-former-mississippi-asylum/71385174
Project background: https://asylumhillproject.org/

JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI—According to a WAPT report, more than 1,000 graves have been found at the […]

06/13/2026

WESTERN NORTH AMERICA—New research is clarifying when and how bow-and-arrow technology spread across western North America. A study published in PNAS Nexus found that the bow appeared in the region around 1,400 years ago, but its adoption varied widely: some communities rapidly replaced the atlatl and dart, while others continued using both technologies for centuries.

Read more: https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/5/3/pgag040/8524400

Abstract. The replacement of the atlatl and dart by the bow and arrow marks a major technological transformation in the human past, yet the timing and dyna

06/12/2026

PANAMA—New analyses have identified five green stones from elite burials at El Caño and Sitio Conte as emeralds likely sourced from Colombia more than 1,000 years ago.

Researchers used several non-destructive techniques to study the stones, finding chemical signatures consistent with Colombian emerald deposits, including regions associated with Muzo and Chivor. The burials, dated to about A.D. 800 to 1000, also included objects such as gold, pyrite mirrors, and fossilized megalodon teeth, signifying long-distance trade networks.

Read more: https://phys.org/news/2026-05-green-stones-panama-ancient-chiefs.html
Study: https://doi.org/10.1017/laq.2025.10126

More than 1,000 years ago, Panama elites were buried together with translucent green stones long suspected to be emeralds. However, scientific analysis confirming the suspicion has never been conducted. Now, scientists have confirmed for the first time that these green gems were emeralds that travel...

06/12/2026

MACKINAW CITY, MICHIGAN—Archaeologists preparing for the 2026 field season at Colonial Michilimackinac uncovered a brass jaw harp in the central cellar of the 18th-century fort and fur trading village.

According to Mackinac State Historic Parks, it is the 13th jaw harp found in this house, all from the central cellar and adjacent excavation squares. Jaw harps were common trade goods, and researchers are considering whether the cellar may have been used to store trade goods or whether the finds reflect changing patterns between the French and later occupations of the site.

Read more: https://www.mackinacparks.com/blog/archaeology-returns-first-week-of-june/

Archaeology

06/12/2026

ST. MARY’S CITY, MARYLAND—Ancient DNA is helping restore names to some of Maryland’s earliest colonial-era burials. Researchers studying remains from the 17th-century Brick Chapel cemetery at Historic St. Mary’s City analyzed DNA from 49 individuals and compared it with modern genetic data, identifying more than 1.3 million living genetic relatives of people buried there.

The work also helped researchers propose identities for three previously unknown individuals, including Thomas Greene, Maryland’s second colonial governor, his wife Anne Cox, and their son, Leonard Greene.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2026/06/07/ancient-dna-helps-identify-bones-lost-maryland-governor-family/

A pioneering technique restored names to anonymous 300-year-old remains in St. Mary’s City.

06/11/2026

The centuries-old artifacts emerged from the riverbed between 2021 and 2022. Experts spent several years carefully restoring 17 of them, which will make their public debut in a new exhibition

06/11/2026

CONSERVANCY SITE SPOTLIGHT: The Cavanaugh Mound in Fort Smith, Arkansas, was acquired in 2005 and is the tallest mound in the Conservancy’s Southeast region. This truncated platform mound is almost 30 feet tall and 200 feet across.

Although there are no official dates for the mound, it is believed to be a Caddoan/late Mississippian (ca. A.D. 1000) mound. While still mostly intact, this mound has suffered some damage from looting, tunnels dug in the sides, and the removal of one side to be used as fill dirt.

This damage led to a massive erosion problem that was addressed in 2017. The Conservancy cleared the trees and brush from the exposed side, covered it with sterile fill, and then ground cover was placed to help stop further erosion.