26 DIGGING DEEPER INTO
POMPEII’S PAST
New research is uncovering the ancient city’s
dynamic story from its origins to the eruption
that buried it
BY BENJAMIN LEONARD AND JARRETT A. LOBELL
36 MAGNETIC
MESOAMERICANS
Did an ancient culture master a fundamental
force of nature?
BY JASON URBANUS
38 THE PRAYERSTONE
HYPOTHESIS
Thousands of decorated stone artifacts in the
American West may be the key to understanding a
people’s contested history
BY ERIC A. POWELL
42 PLACE OF THE LOYAL
SAMURAI
On the beaches and in the caves of a small
Micronesian island, archaeologists have identified
evocative evidence of one of WWII’s most
brutal battles
BY DANIEL WEISS50 SACRED RITES OF AN
EARLY ANDEAN EMPIRE
A trove of offerings discovered in Lake Titicaca
shows how the Tiwanaku used religion to
control their territory
BY MARLEY BROWNJULY/AUGUST 2019 • VOLUME 72, NUMBER 4FEATURES
42 U.S. troops during the Battle of Peleliu in 1944CONTENTS
Cover: A newly discovered fresco from a snack bar
in Pompeii’s Regio V
PHOTO: Pasquale sorrentinoarchaeology.org 1