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The mysterious group of marauders who struck fear across the Mediterranean

Thousands of years before Blackbeard, buccaneers raided ships, stole booty—and even kidnapped a young Julius Caesar. But the most feared of them all, a group known as the Sea Peoples, came to overshadow all others. Their identity and nationality remains one of the biggest questions in the history of the ancient Mediterranean.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOE MCNALLY, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

Multiple lines of mysterious ancient humans interbred with us

DNA suggests the ghostly Denisovans may be not one, but three distinct kinds of human. What's more, one group co-existed and mixed with modern humans in New Guinea until at least 30,000 years ago—but perhaps as recently as 15,000 years ago—a date that, if confirmed, means Denisovans were the last known humans save ourselves to walk the Earth.

A NEW TWIST: Tooth from mysterious human relative adds new wrinkles to their story +

PHOTOGRAPH BY GRANGER/AURIMAGES (LEFT) AND PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIDGEMAN/ACI (RIGHT)

Who was the real Robin Hood?

Like the roots of Sherwood Forest, the origins of the Robin Hood story extend deep into English history. The earliest versions of the folk hero, which date back to the 14th century, would be almost unrecognizable when compared to the green-clad, bow-wielding Robin Hood of today. But just as Robin Hood eludes the Sheriff of Nottingham, pinning down the folk hero's exact origins has proved to be a challenge.

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COURTESY OF NPS AND BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY

10,000 years ago, a young traveler made an incredible trek. The story is in the footprints.

A woman or young man—a toddler balanced on one hip—set out on the harried trip northward through what is now White Sands National Park, New Mexico. Several hours later, the traveler followed the same route south, this time empty-handed. "I've never seen anything quite like it."

INCREDIBLE DETAILS IN FOSSIL FOOTPRINTS

QUOTE

Rain may have pelted the traveler's face as their bare feet slid on the mud. They paused to briefly set the toddler on the ground before pressing on; a wooly mammoth and giant sloth ambled across their freshly laid tracks. Several hours later, the traveler followed the same route south, this time empty-handed.

—MAYA WEI-HAAS, writer

From: Incredible details of 10,000-year-old trek revealed in fossil footprints

PHOTOGRAPH BY THOMAS PESCHAK, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

These amazing pictures show life in one of Earth's oldest deserts

Photographer Thomas Peschak describes Namibia as a kaleidoscope of life, where its unique inhabitants have had 55 million years to adapt to the environment of the harsh, ancient Namib desert—which is one of the oldest in existence.

PHOTOGRAPH BY TIM PATTERSON

Welcome to the Age of Man. The trick is figuring out when it began.

The shift in Earth's systems is so profound, some researchers argue, that we've entered a new geological epoch. After the Pleistocene ice ages and the warm and stable Holocene epoch that, over the last 12,000 years or so, gave rise to human civilization, we've now created the “Anthropocene." If so, geologists need a way to pinpoint its beginning in a tangible way. They're getting close.

HUMANITY'S IMPRINT ON THE ROCKS

OTHER GREAT READS

The mystery behind the crime wave at 312 Riverside Drive (New York Times) ››

The utterly engrossing search for the origin of eels (Smithsonian Magazine) ››

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