NORTH AMERICA
Chocolate in Ancient U.S. Pottery? What the DNA Revealed
Cacao DNA reported on Etowah pottery offers evidence for a plant's presence, while contamination, deposit history, and the missing recipe limit what the finding establishes.
Arc
North America
Plains sites, river valleys, mounds, caches, and contact-era puzzles.
Latest Case Files
Recent write-ups in this arc.
NORTH AMERICA
How Do You Date a 272-Foot Figure in the Desert?
Rock-varnish analysis proposes a minimum age of roughly 6,500–7,300 years for Arizona's Las Playas Intaglio, while leaving its exact construction date and interpretation unresolved.
NORTH AMERICA
Who Hunted Alberta's Ice Age Horses 13,300 Years Ago?
Wally's Beach preserves evidence of horse and camel hunting around 13,300 years ago, but the associated tools do not securely identify the hunters or their migration route.
NORTH AMERICA
Did Humans Break This Mastodon Bone 130,000 Years Ago?
Cerutti's broken mastodon bones and battered cobbles support a disputed human-activity interpretation. The central test is whether the damage distinguishes people from alternative causes.
NORTH AMERICA
1,548 Carvings Cover This Rock. But Why?
Judaculla Rock's overlapping carvings, quarry traces, and Cherokee landscape connections suggest accumulated meaning rather than one deciphered secret message.
NORTH AMERICA
The Mounties Rode 900 Miles to a Whiskey Fort—Too Late
The 1874 arrival at Fort Whoop-Up produced no legendary whisky raid. Its trading network, archaeological remains, and later reconstruction reveal a more complicated history.
Arc Intelligence: The Eastern Woodlands
Key definitions and context for North American anomalies.
Dry Masonry
A construction technique using stones stacked without mortar. Common in Middle Woodland structures like Fort Mountain.
Hopewellian Sphere
A prehistoric exchange network (c. 200 BC – AD 500) connecting the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, characterized by monumental earthworks and exotic trade goods.
Sterile Site
An archaeological site yielding no artifacts (pottery, lithics) despite structural evidence. Often implies a Temenos (sacred ceremonial separation).