AIMING HIGH
There are several photographs in this issue that might make even those without the slightest fear of heights a bit uneasy. On page 28, there is an image of a vertiginous rock-cut staircase ascending a mountain in the Saudi Arabian desert. On page 36, we see bioarchaeologist Marla Toyne casually taking notes while suspended on a cliff at the site of La Petaca in northern Peru. And look closely at the photo on page 57—those half-moon-shaped areas high in a canyon in Mexico’s Sierra Madre are filled with sturdy buildings. In their time, the ancient people who created these sites conquered heights that modern researchers often struggle to merely visit, leaving behind an enduring record of their values and accomplishments. For the prehistoric inhabitants of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, the…