> “It’s an incredibly exciting finding, because for so long, the intellectual aspects of native Native American cultures have really been sidelined, if not consciously suppressed by colonial powers,” Wiener said.

Really? That's what this is motivated by? Plain old boring science and more objective documentation of artifacts aren't good enough reasons?

How is anything being suppressed if there are a ton of random stories constantly being published about Native Americans apparently being secret geniuses with magical powers?

This is borderline racist. NBC has really gone down the shitter.

> Madden left legal practice in 2017 and started independent research on the Olmec civilization, an early Mesoamerican population, before he began a master’s program in archaeology — his “original love” — in 2022.

At least they're honest about who they're interviewing and leave it up to the reader to decide credibility?