Carl Parker

Carl Parker is one of the most recognized voices in archaeological journalism in the United States. With over 18 years of experience reporting from excavation sites, museum vaults, and academic conferences across six continents, he brings both scholarly depth and narrative clarity to some of the most complex discoveries of the modern era.A graduate of the University of Chicago with a Master's degree in Near Eastern Archaeology, Carl began his career as a field researcher before transitioning to journalism — a combination that gives his writing a rare ground-level authenticity. He has reported on landmark discoveries from the deserts of the American Southwest to the rainforests of the Amazon, the coastal settlements of ancient Scandinavia, and the buried cities of the Levant."I became a journalist because I realized that the most important excavation isn't in the ground — it's in the public's understanding of what the ground holds. Every discovery deserves a story told well."At NKV, Carl serves as Senior Archaeological Correspondent, leading coverage of the Ancient Americas, pre-Columbian civilizations, and U.S. cultural heritage policy. He is the primary author of NKV's flagship series Layers — an ongoing investigation into the political and ethical dimensions of archaeological excavation in the modern world.

The African Emperor: The Life of Septimius Severus

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The African Emperor: The Life of Septimius Severus is archaeologist Simon Elliot‘s comprehensive account of a great emperor, the first African to rule the Roman Empire. Publisher: Icon Books Publication date: 11 September 2025 Language: ‎English Pages: 320 ISBN-10: 1837731721 ISBN-13: 978-1837731725 Septimius Severus was Rome’s black emperor. Born in the blistering heat of a … Read more

Svalbard whalers show scurvy and extreme labor stress in “corpse point” cemetery

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Climate change is rapidly erasing evidence from one of the Arctic’s largest early modern whaling cemeteries, where archaeologists have uncovered signs of harsh labor, poor nutrition, and declining health among the men who worked Europe’s northern whale fisheries. The graves of three whalers buried on Svalbard in the 17th century. Credit: Loktu, L., & Brødholt, … Read more

Greek theatrical mask found in Croatian cave points to ancient Illyrian sanctuary rituals

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Archaeologists working inside Crno Jezero Cave on Croatia’s Pelješac Peninsula have uncovered an intact terracotta head shaped as a Greek theatrical mask, a rare find linked to ritual activity in the ancient Adriatic world. The object dates to the 4th to 3rd centuries BCE and offers new clues about religious life among local Illyrian communities … Read more

Payre fossil teeth reveal regional diversity among Europe’s earliest Neanderthals

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A team led by the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana studied fossil teeth from the Payre site in southeastern France. The material comes from nine teeth found in layers linked to the Middle Pleistocene, around 250,000 years ago. The research focuses on how early Neanderthal populations in Europe changed over time and … Read more

Sasanian military helmets reveal advanced brass technology across the Persian Empire

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Ancient Persian metalworkers worked with brass far earlier and in far more varied ways than researchers once thought. A new study of metal artifacts from the Sasanian Empire shows brass in jewelry, fittings, and military helmets between the 4th and 7th centuries CE. The findings point to skilled metalworkers who understood how different copper alloys … Read more

A large hidden hydraulic system mapped around the Urartian fortress of Argishtikhinili in Armenia

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Archaeologists studying the ancient fortress of Argishtikhinili in Armenia’s Araks Valley have identified more than 1,000 kilometers of water-management features across the landscape, including over 134 kilometers of channels that could trace back to the kingdom of Urartu. The findings offer a new look at how one of the ancient Near East’s lesser-known states transformed … Read more

Medieval bone study identifies microbial communities driving archaeological bone degradation and preservation

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Human bones buried for centuries carry more than traces of the people they once belonged to. They also hold microbial communities linked to decay and preservation. A new study from Norway examined those hidden populations and found clear differences between well-preserved bones and heavily degraded ones. Skeletons exposed during a research excavation in a medieval … Read more