Cover image of the first issue of American Archaeology. Click to read entire issue.
The Conservancy’s quarterly magazine, American Archaeology, was another Mark Michel project launched in 1997 with its inaugural issue featuring the mysteries of Chacoan roads, the French at Old Mobile, and effigy mounds of the Upper Midwest. The magazine replaced the Conservancy’s newsletter and expanded its scope. Michael Bawaya, the publication’s previous editor (2000-2022), with the help of assistant editor Tamara Jager Stewart and art director Vicki Singer, shaped the magazine into a consistent source of deep and technical—yet accessible—content about archaeological research in North America. Jager Stewart wrote the feasibility study in 1998 and continues her work with the magazine.
The Winter 99-2000 issue of American Archaeology was awarded a silver award in the Magazines and Bookseller’s Annual Magazine Cover Contest.
Its award-winning writers have garnered several Gene S. Stuart awards. The publication won a Silver award in the Magazines and Bookseller’s Annual Magazine Cover Contest in 1999. In the Folio Awards, it nabbed an Ozzie in 2008 for best use of photos and an Eddie in 2013 for its technology issue. American Archaeology was won two honorable mentions in categories of the 2024 Folio Awards: an Eddie for a feature about the destruction of cultural resources in Mexico as a tourist train in the Yucatán Peninsula was built, and an Ozzie for the magazine’s recent redesign. It remains the only popular magazine in the United States focused solely on the rich diversity of North American archaeology.
Things to know about American Archaeology
- American Archaeology magazine is featured on our website. Scroll to the bottom of the magazine page to read excerpts of articles from the most recent issue and access an archive of all issues (2 years old and older).
- Members of the Conservancy have access to the eight most current issues of American Archaeology through our online portal that can be accessed from our home page.
