Since the dawn of our species, the ability to make things has made us who we are. Human-made objects, large... more

Hosts Kate Ellis and Doris Tulifau explore the perils and possibilities of the kind of fieldwork that defined Margaret Mead... more

We turn from Margaret Mead’s and Derek Freeman’s conflicting accounts of adolescence and sexuality in Samoa to more stories from... more

After Derek Freeman publishes Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth, the controversy heats up.... more

SAPIENS is happy to present this bonus episode from Lost Women of Science about another path-breaking thinker. In the 1960s, a... more

The first missionary arrived in Samoa in 1832, almost a century before Margaret Mead set out to study the culture... more

In January 1983, the front page of The New York Times read: “New Samoa Book Challenges Margaret Mead’s Conclusions.”  Anthropologist Derek... more

Sparked by a provocative encounter in American Samoa, Doris Tulifau explores modern-day Samoan attitudes toward Margaret Mead. With a mix... more

In 1925, Margaret Mead set sail for American Samoa. What she claimed she found there—teenagers free to explore and express... more

Being a teenager can be hard. Very hard. Our hosts Kate Ellis and Doris Tulifau recount the tough parts from... more

This special SAPIENS podcast season tells the story of famed anthropologist Margaret Mead’s epic life and controversial research to explore... more

The chart-topping and Signal Award-winning podcast “Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant” has returned for a brand new season. Produced... more

Archaeologists around the world have long unearthed skulls with holes in them. But they were usually dismissed as natural accidents—the result... more

The Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature is an award-winning, international radio and podcast series. Free to everyone, this... more

Outside/In from New Hampshire Public Radio is a show about the natural world and how we use it. The show... more

Deven Grey, a young, isolated mother in Alabama, reached a point of no return on December 12, 2017. She shot... more

When archaeologists excavate, they have some idea of what they will find in the ground. But in 2016, a team... more

Aneho is a little historic West African town that is disappearing due to coastal erosion. But locals defy the sea... more

Julio Tiwiram is a famous shaman in southeast Amazonian Ecuador. He is also a leading political figure among the Shuar... more

The world over people live with plants. Whether it’s in apartment bedrooms or backyards, it’s hard to find a human... more

Anyone who is in prison has been charged for a crime by a prosecutor. The charges are important because they... more

Jeri Hutton Green is a mother, daughter, and advocate for survivors of domestic violence and homicide in Baltimore, Maryland. Her... more

“Prime harvest”—that’s how one early 20th-century explorer described his collection of Icelandic human skulls. But why did he “harvest” those... more

Being human is complicated. We require food and shelter. We have histories to contend with. We create rituals to control... more

Today, we're sharing a teaser from our friends at Whetstone Magazine. They've started something called the Whetstone Radio Collective (WRC).... more

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, or NAGPRA, is supposed to curb the illegal possession of... more

Archaeology helps reimagine a fuller range of experiences, including how people ate, innovated, and rebelled. In this episode, “slave cuisine”... more

The sky island of Dzil Nchaa Si'an is more than a mountain. It is a significant landmark in Arizona for... more

In this episode, museum curators challenge the status quo and connect their ancestry to advance how history is told in... more

For its practitioners, archaeology can feel like it is unearthing events deep in the past … until it doesn’t. What... more