The Wild Hunt

1 week ago | wildhunt.org | Sean McShee

PHOENIX – A federal judge in Arizona has sharply criticized the U.S. government for reversing its position on a controversial land transfer that would hand over Oak Flat, a sacred Apache site, to a mining company. During a tense hearing on Monday, U.S. District Judge Dominic Lanza challenged Justice Department attorney Erika Norman over the government’s abrupt shift, which appears to undercut prior commitments to allow time for legal challenges before the land is transferred to Resolution Copper.

2 weeks ago | wildhunt.org | Sean McShee

THE WILD HUNT – Since 2014, the Apache have fought in court to stop the transfer of their sacred land. People speaking English call that land “Oak Flat.” People speaking the Apache language call it “Chi-chil Bildagoteel.”Since 2024, the case of the Apache has awaited a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. In mid-April, the second Trump administration announced that it would start the transfer of the land’s mining rights to Resolution Copper, a mining company, after June 16.

1 month ago | wildhunt.org | Sean McShee

TWH –  In late 2024, the journal Antiquity published an article titled “A spectral cavalcade,” detailing new discoveries from the Tunnug 1 burial mound in eastern Russia. Led by Timur Sadykov of the Institute for the History of Material Culture in St. Petersburg, the international research team unearthed findings that echo ancient texts and visual traditions from the Scythian world.

1 month ago | wildhunt.org | Meg Elison

Like many veteran reporters, I have a decent amount of experience in preparing obituaries while their subjects are still alive. When someone starts to go gray, there’s time to compile a nice write-up on their vital details and accomplishments so that when the bell tolls, all you have to do is cap it off with the latest and the last: a date of death. Then you let it R.I.P.With that experience in mind, I’ve started to think about elegies for America and the things I loved best about her.

2 months ago | wildhunt.org | Sean McShee

TWH – In November of 2024, Scientific Reports published “Multianalytical investigation reveals psychotropic substances in a Ptolemaic Egyptian vase.” Archaeologists had found evidence of psychotropic and medicinal substances inside a ritual vessel, a Bes Cup. It dated to the 2nd Century B.C.E. Inside, they found traces of alcohol, honey, and human fluids. Davide Tanasi and the other authors of that article theorized that people used the cup as part of a ritual of dream incubation.