Writings
How Did Humans Evolve to Use Everyday Tools? Smithsonian Magazine (2024)
Too Much Stuff: Can We Solve Our Addition to Consumerism. The Guardian (2023)
What's the Point of Giving Gifts? An Anthropologist Explains This Ancient Part of Being Human. The Conversation (2023)
Black Friday’s Capitalist Roots Actually Stretch Back 3.4 million Years. No, Seriously. Big Issue (2023)
Material World: What Prehistoric Possessions Tell Us About Ourselves. LitHub (2023)
The Laws Regarding Native American Remains Leave Too Much Up to Museums. Apollo Magazine (2023)
US Museums Hold the Remains of Thousands of Black People. The Conversation (2021)
A Bridge of Repair for Native and Black America. Indian Country Today (2020)
The Ancient Heritage at Risk from Trump's Border Wall. Apollo Magazine (2020)
Native American Children's Historic Forced Assimilation. SAPIENS (2020)
Can Museums Heal History's Wounds? The New York Times (2019)
The Repatriation of the Vigango. TEDxMileHigh (2019)
The First Cut. Speculative Nonfiction (2019)
I've Started Acknowledging the People Who Lived on This Land First—and You Should Too. The Conversation (2019)
Lesson from Brazil: Museums Are Not Forever. The Conversation (2018)
Rights of the Living and Dead Clash When Scientists Extract DNA From Human Remains. The Conversation (2018)
Is This Bears Ears' Final Battle? CounterPunch (2018)
Niemand besitzt Kriegsgötter. Süeddeutsche Zeitung (2018)
Your Bones Live On Without You. The Atlantic (2017)
The Long Ethical Arc of Displaying Human Remains. Atlas Obscura (2017)
The Struggle to Protect a Tree at the Heart of Hopi Culture. SAPIENS (2017)
A Monumental Contradiction: The National Monuments that Trump Does Want Removed. Foreign Affairs (2017)
The Scalp from Sand Creek. Aeon (2017)
Native America's Necessary and Imperfect Law. Huffington Post (2017)
Native American Art Hasn't Changed, But Museums Have. Apollo Magazine (2017)
How Indigenous Groups Can Reclaim Stolen Property. Foreign Affairs (2017)
Native American Artifacts and Lessons Learned in Colorado. Denver Post (2017)
Kennewick Man: Build Bridges to Prevent a Repeat of Ill Will. Seattle Times (2017)
Sure, Pipelines are Good for Oil Companies, but What About Jobs Related to Preserving Nature and Culture? The Conversation (2017)
What Has the Ancient One’s Epic Journey Taught Us? CounterPunch (2017)
Destroying Heritage: How the Dakota Access Pipeline Plans Went All Wrong. Salon (2016)
What If Nature, Like Corporations, Had the Rights of a Person? The Guardian (2016)
Speaking Out Against Blood Antiquities. Science (2016)
How Should the Ancient One's Story End? Denver Post (2016)
The Dangers of Kennewick Man's DNA. Huffington Post (2015)
Rest for the King, No Rest for Native Americans. Huffington Post (2015)
Why Does Heritage Become Hostage? Huffington Post (2015)
Forgetting the 9/11 Victims. Huffington Post (2014)
A Promise Unfulfilled on Thanksgiving. Denver Post (2013)
Laying Unidentified Remains to Rest. New York Times (2012)
No, It's Not "Cool" to Deface Native Rock Art. Denver Post (2011)
Opening America's Skeleton Closets. Denver Post (2010)
Native American Remains. New York Times (2010)
Too Much Stuff: Can We Solve Our Addition to Consumerism. The Guardian (2023)
What's the Point of Giving Gifts? An Anthropologist Explains This Ancient Part of Being Human. The Conversation (2023)
Black Friday’s Capitalist Roots Actually Stretch Back 3.4 million Years. No, Seriously. Big Issue (2023)
Material World: What Prehistoric Possessions Tell Us About Ourselves. LitHub (2023)
The Laws Regarding Native American Remains Leave Too Much Up to Museums. Apollo Magazine (2023)
US Museums Hold the Remains of Thousands of Black People. The Conversation (2021)
A Bridge of Repair for Native and Black America. Indian Country Today (2020)
The Ancient Heritage at Risk from Trump's Border Wall. Apollo Magazine (2020)
Native American Children's Historic Forced Assimilation. SAPIENS (2020)
Can Museums Heal History's Wounds? The New York Times (2019)
The Repatriation of the Vigango. TEDxMileHigh (2019)
The First Cut. Speculative Nonfiction (2019)
I've Started Acknowledging the People Who Lived on This Land First—and You Should Too. The Conversation (2019)
Lesson from Brazil: Museums Are Not Forever. The Conversation (2018)
Rights of the Living and Dead Clash When Scientists Extract DNA From Human Remains. The Conversation (2018)
Is This Bears Ears' Final Battle? CounterPunch (2018)
Niemand besitzt Kriegsgötter. Süeddeutsche Zeitung (2018)
Your Bones Live On Without You. The Atlantic (2017)
The Long Ethical Arc of Displaying Human Remains. Atlas Obscura (2017)
The Struggle to Protect a Tree at the Heart of Hopi Culture. SAPIENS (2017)
A Monumental Contradiction: The National Monuments that Trump Does Want Removed. Foreign Affairs (2017)
The Scalp from Sand Creek. Aeon (2017)
Native America's Necessary and Imperfect Law. Huffington Post (2017)
Native American Art Hasn't Changed, But Museums Have. Apollo Magazine (2017)
How Indigenous Groups Can Reclaim Stolen Property. Foreign Affairs (2017)
Native American Artifacts and Lessons Learned in Colorado. Denver Post (2017)
Kennewick Man: Build Bridges to Prevent a Repeat of Ill Will. Seattle Times (2017)
Sure, Pipelines are Good for Oil Companies, but What About Jobs Related to Preserving Nature and Culture? The Conversation (2017)
What Has the Ancient One’s Epic Journey Taught Us? CounterPunch (2017)
Destroying Heritage: How the Dakota Access Pipeline Plans Went All Wrong. Salon (2016)
What If Nature, Like Corporations, Had the Rights of a Person? The Guardian (2016)
Speaking Out Against Blood Antiquities. Science (2016)
How Should the Ancient One's Story End? Denver Post (2016)
The Dangers of Kennewick Man's DNA. Huffington Post (2015)
Rest for the King, No Rest for Native Americans. Huffington Post (2015)
Why Does Heritage Become Hostage? Huffington Post (2015)
Forgetting the 9/11 Victims. Huffington Post (2014)
A Promise Unfulfilled on Thanksgiving. Denver Post (2013)
Laying Unidentified Remains to Rest. New York Times (2012)
No, It's Not "Cool" to Deface Native Rock Art. Denver Post (2011)
Opening America's Skeleton Closets. Denver Post (2010)
Native American Remains. New York Times (2010)
Interviews
Why We Have Too Much Stuff. Templeton Podcast (2024)
The Wrong Stuff. Big Picture Science (2024)
Former Museum Curator Explains How He Returned Items to Native Americans. Created Equal (2024)
We're Not Buying It. Sherwood News (2024)
How Our Stuff Makes Us. Chasing Leviathan Podcast (2024)
A Trip to Denver’s Dump Inspired a Book About Humanity’s Stuff. Denverite (2023)
A Prominent Museum Obtained Items From a Massacre of Native Americans in 1895. The Survivors’ Descendants Want Them Back. ProPublica (2023)
Do We Have Too Much Stuff? France 24 (2023)
A Racist Harvard Scientist Commissioned Photos of Enslaved People. One Possible Descendant Wants to Reclaim Their Story. ProPublica (2023)
Senate Committee Probes Top Universities, Museums Over Failures to Repatriate Human Remains. ProPublica (2023)
America’s Biggest Museums Fail to Return Native American Human Remains. ProPublica (2023)
The Bodes in the Cave. The New Yorker (2022)
Indigenous Founders of a Museum Cafe Put Repatriation on the Menu. New York Times (2022)
Is It Time for Britain to Return the Rosetta Stone? BBC (2022)
Stolen Spirits. The Extreme History Project Podcast (2022)
Chip Colwell. Public History in a Virtual Age (2022).
Skeletons in the Closet. NPR Code Switch (2021)
Anthropology for the World. Yale Historical Review (2021)
Repatriating Native American Remains. Harvard Magazine (2021)
Push to Return 116,000 Native American Remains is Long-Awaited. New York Times (2021)
Was This Statue in the Denver Art Museum’s Collection Originally Stolen From Nepal? 5280 (2021)
"We Shouldn't Be Curating People's Souls." Denver Post (2020)
The Stolen Land Pledge. KGNU (2020)
The History of Museums Is More Fraught Than You Might Think. 5280 (2020)
Activist Curators Are Sharpening the Debate on Restitution. The Economist (2020)
Stolen. KUNC News (2020)
Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits. New Books Network Podcast (2019)
Returning Home. Constant Wonder/BYURadio (2019)
To Right Historic Wrongs, Colorado Museums Embraced the Spirit of a Law. The Colorado Sun (2019)
Sacred Objects, Human Remains and Culture Clash Sparked a Colorado Author’s Desire to Tell a Tragic Story. The Colorado Sun (2019)
Traditions of Burying Our Dead. Creative Mornings (2018)
Civilizations: The Podcast. BBC Radio (2018)
Outcry Prompts Withdrawal of Native American Artifacts from Medford Library Auction. The Boston Globe (2018)
Medford Cancels Auction of Native American Artifacts, Citing Federal Law. The Tufts Daily (2018)
In a Study of Human Remains, Lessons in Science (and Cultural Sensitivity). Undark (2018)
She Has Her Mother's Laugh: A Conversation with Carl Zimmer. BookTV/C-SPAN (2018)
What's an Anasazi? Mesa Verde Voices (2018)
After Brazil Museum Burning, What Guarantees Preservation Of History? KJZZ (2018)
Chile and Its Scientists Protest Research on Tiny Mummy. New York Times (2018)
In a Million Years, Denver's Garbage Could Be All That's Left of Us. Denverite (2018)
Human Remains in Museums. BBC (2017)
Who Owns the Past? Colorado Public Radio (2017)
How One Anthropologist Balances Human Skeletons and Human Rights. Forbes (2017)
Bears Ears and Native American Approaches to the Environment. Top of Mind (2017)
Traditions Revived at Tribal Culture Camp. New York Times (2017)
Still Missing: Unidentified Remains Leave a Lingering Void for 9/11 Families. NBC News (2016)
Can a Skeleton Heal Rift Between Native Americans, Scientists? National Geographic (2015)
Sending Artwork Home, But to Whom? New York Times (2014)
Zuni Asks Europe to Return Sacred Art. New York Times (2014)
How to Honor the Dead We Cannot Name. Slate (2014)
US Museums' About Face on Restitution. The Art Newspaper (2014)
For 9/11 Museum Dispute Over Human Remains. New York Times (2011)
Science Careers for Native Americans Touted. Indian Country Today (2011)
Massacre at Camp Grant. C-SPAN (2009)
The Wrong Stuff. Big Picture Science (2024)
Former Museum Curator Explains How He Returned Items to Native Americans. Created Equal (2024)
We're Not Buying It. Sherwood News (2024)
How Our Stuff Makes Us. Chasing Leviathan Podcast (2024)
A Trip to Denver’s Dump Inspired a Book About Humanity’s Stuff. Denverite (2023)
A Prominent Museum Obtained Items From a Massacre of Native Americans in 1895. The Survivors’ Descendants Want Them Back. ProPublica (2023)
Do We Have Too Much Stuff? France 24 (2023)
A Racist Harvard Scientist Commissioned Photos of Enslaved People. One Possible Descendant Wants to Reclaim Their Story. ProPublica (2023)
Senate Committee Probes Top Universities, Museums Over Failures to Repatriate Human Remains. ProPublica (2023)
America’s Biggest Museums Fail to Return Native American Human Remains. ProPublica (2023)
The Bodes in the Cave. The New Yorker (2022)
Indigenous Founders of a Museum Cafe Put Repatriation on the Menu. New York Times (2022)
Is It Time for Britain to Return the Rosetta Stone? BBC (2022)
Stolen Spirits. The Extreme History Project Podcast (2022)
Chip Colwell. Public History in a Virtual Age (2022).
Skeletons in the Closet. NPR Code Switch (2021)
Anthropology for the World. Yale Historical Review (2021)
Repatriating Native American Remains. Harvard Magazine (2021)
Push to Return 116,000 Native American Remains is Long-Awaited. New York Times (2021)
Was This Statue in the Denver Art Museum’s Collection Originally Stolen From Nepal? 5280 (2021)
"We Shouldn't Be Curating People's Souls." Denver Post (2020)
The Stolen Land Pledge. KGNU (2020)
The History of Museums Is More Fraught Than You Might Think. 5280 (2020)
Activist Curators Are Sharpening the Debate on Restitution. The Economist (2020)
Stolen. KUNC News (2020)
Plundered Skulls and Stolen Spirits. New Books Network Podcast (2019)
Returning Home. Constant Wonder/BYURadio (2019)
To Right Historic Wrongs, Colorado Museums Embraced the Spirit of a Law. The Colorado Sun (2019)
Sacred Objects, Human Remains and Culture Clash Sparked a Colorado Author’s Desire to Tell a Tragic Story. The Colorado Sun (2019)
Traditions of Burying Our Dead. Creative Mornings (2018)
Civilizations: The Podcast. BBC Radio (2018)
Outcry Prompts Withdrawal of Native American Artifacts from Medford Library Auction. The Boston Globe (2018)
Medford Cancels Auction of Native American Artifacts, Citing Federal Law. The Tufts Daily (2018)
In a Study of Human Remains, Lessons in Science (and Cultural Sensitivity). Undark (2018)
She Has Her Mother's Laugh: A Conversation with Carl Zimmer. BookTV/C-SPAN (2018)
What's an Anasazi? Mesa Verde Voices (2018)
After Brazil Museum Burning, What Guarantees Preservation Of History? KJZZ (2018)
Chile and Its Scientists Protest Research on Tiny Mummy. New York Times (2018)
In a Million Years, Denver's Garbage Could Be All That's Left of Us. Denverite (2018)
Human Remains in Museums. BBC (2017)
Who Owns the Past? Colorado Public Radio (2017)
How One Anthropologist Balances Human Skeletons and Human Rights. Forbes (2017)
Bears Ears and Native American Approaches to the Environment. Top of Mind (2017)
Traditions Revived at Tribal Culture Camp. New York Times (2017)
Still Missing: Unidentified Remains Leave a Lingering Void for 9/11 Families. NBC News (2016)
Can a Skeleton Heal Rift Between Native Americans, Scientists? National Geographic (2015)
Sending Artwork Home, But to Whom? New York Times (2014)
Zuni Asks Europe to Return Sacred Art. New York Times (2014)
How to Honor the Dead We Cannot Name. Slate (2014)
US Museums' About Face on Restitution. The Art Newspaper (2014)
For 9/11 Museum Dispute Over Human Remains. New York Times (2011)
Science Careers for Native Americans Touted. Indian Country Today (2011)
Massacre at Camp Grant. C-SPAN (2009)