JULY/AUGUST 2022 * VOLUME 75, NUMBER 4 CONTENTS FEATURES 44 Bird's-eye view of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 26 JOURNEYS OF THE PYRAMID BUILDERS The story of the highly skilled workers who helped build Egypt's Great Pyramid is emerging from a papyrus cache unearthed at the world's oldest harbor BY DANIEL WEISS 34 CITY POLITICS In sixteenth-century Mexico, the democratic city-state of Tlaxcallan thrived in the face of Aztec imperialism BY ROGER ATWOOD 40 BEAUTY UNDER BRUGES Vibrant paintings discovered in forgotten crypts reflect the rise of Belgium's first great medieval city BY MARLEY BROWN 44 A TICKET TO THE WORLD'S FAIR Excavating the hidden traces of Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition BY JARRETT A. LOBELL 50 THE PHILISTINE AGE Archaeologists are reconsidering the origins and history of a much-maligned ancient people BY ILAN BEN ZION Cover: The pyramids of (front to back) the pharaohs Menkaure, Khafre, and Khufu tower over Egypt's Giza Plateau. The small pyramids in the foreground may have served as tombs for Menkaure's queens. PHOTO: Adobestock 2 ARCHAEOLOGY * July/August 2022