Little Plume and son Yellow Kidney seated on ground inside lodge, pipe between them in a Piegan Lodge.

Edward S. Curtis: Romance vs. Reality

In a famous 1910 photograph "In a Piegan Lodge," a small clock appears between two seated Native American men. In a later print, the clock is missing.
bored woman

On Embracing Boredom

What does "boredom" even mean? As both a word and a concept, boredom is not a universal phenomenon but a historical construction specific to our times.
Dracula in a 1931 movie poster

The Real Vampires of Europe

In general, a vampire is a malicious spirit or soul of the deceased who is not confined to the grave. Where did the idea come from?
Origins of speech crow

The Origins of Human Speech: More Like a Raven or a Writing Desk?

Language is the cognitive faculty that separates humans from other animals, but interjections have often been equated with the primitive cries of animals.
Bonnie Nardi avatar

Bonnie Nardi

Welcome to Ask a Professor, our series that offers an insider’s view of life in academia. This month we interviewed Bonnie Nardi.
Lise Dobrin

Lise Dobrin and Language Documentation in Papua New Guinea

Q&A: Lise Dobrin, Associate Professor & Director of the Interdepartmental Program in Linguistics at the University of Virginia's Department of Anthropology.
Copenhagen

The Cozy Linguistics of Hygge and Other “Untranslatable” Words

Why English speakers love "hygge" and other "untranslatable" words about emotional states.
Piltdown man

Whatever Happened To Piltdown Man?

Piltdown Man was once considered the missing link between apes and humans. What happened?
Oracle bone pit

How to Read the Bones Like a Scapulimancer

In Shang Dynasty China, fortune-telling with oracle bones was the key to political power.
Cormorants on a Guano Island

Are We Entering a New Golden Age of Guano?

A history of civilization could be written in fertilizers. And the history of guano—bird poop—tells us a lot about slavery, imperialism, and U.S. expansion.