Anthropology News

Denisovans were probably dark-skinned, unlike the pale Neandertals. The picture shows a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Mauro Cutrona.

‘Denisova 11’ Had Neanderthal Mother and Denisovan Father

Aug 23, 2018 by News Staff

Neanderthals and Denisovans are extinct groups of hominins that separated from each other more than 390,000 years ago. These two groups inhabited Eurasia...

Dr. Dunn and Dr. Smaers report a positive correlation between vocal repertoire size and the relative size of cortical association areas in non-human primates. Image credit: Herbert Aust.

Primate Study Offers Important Insight into Evolution of Human Speech

Aug 14, 2018 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience has found a link between vocal repertoire and relative size of key regions of the brain. Dr....

This is an artist's reconstruction of Homo erectus. Image credit: Yale University.

Homo erectus Were Technologically Conservative, Used Least-Effort Strategies, Researchers Say

Aug 13, 2018 by News Staff

Archaeological excavations at the Acheulean site of Saffaqah near Dawadmi in central Saudi Arabia have found that Homo erectus, an extinct hominid species...

Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Kinez Riza / Atelier Elisabeth Daynes, Sangiran Museum.

Flores Pygmies Show No Genetic Link to Mysterious Homo floresiensis

Aug 3, 2018 by News Staff

Modern pygmies living in a village near the Liang Bua cave on the Indonesian island of Flores, where fossils of the dwarfed human species Homo floresiensis...

The occasional use of stone tools as ‘strike-a-lights’ was a technocultural feature shared among Neanderthals in France.

Neanderthals Could Start Fires with Mineral Pyrite and Stone Tools

Jul 23, 2018 by News Staff

New research published in the journal Scientific Reports provides clear evidence that Neanderthals made fire by striking a piece of pyrite, the yellow...

Prehistoric Central European women’s manual labor was tougher than rowing in today’s boat crews.

Southeast Asians Derive Ancestry from Four Ancient Populations

Jul 13, 2018 by News Staff

Modern-day Southeast Asian populations are the result of mixing among four ancient populations, including multiple waves of genetic material from more...

The 2.12-million-year-old stone artifact at the Shangchen site, China. Image credit: Zhaoyu Zhu.

2.1-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools Unearthed in China

Jul 12, 2018 by News Staff

Archaeologists working in the southern Chinese Loess Plateau have unearthed stone tools crafted at least 2.1 million years ago by early humans. The discovery,...

Neanderthals consumed plants, too. Image credit: University of Utah via kued.org.

Neanderthals Hunted Fallow Deer Using Close-Range Thrusting Spears: Study

Jul 6, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a study published June 25 in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, an international team of researchers reports lesions observed on two fallow...

Female Australopithecus afarensis with a child. Image credit: Concavenator / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Juvenile Australopithecus Climbed Trees, 3.32-Million-Year-Old Foot Fossil Shows

Jul 5, 2018 by News Staff

A nearly complete foot of Australopithecus afarensis, a hominid species that lived between 3.85 and 2.95 million years ago, from Ethiopia has several ape-like...

Scalise Sugiyama et al analyzed how competitive team sports shaped the physical and psychological skills of early humans. Image credit: Sasin Tipchai.

Competitive Team Sports May Have Very Ancient Roots: Study

Jul 2, 2018 by News Staff

According to new research published in the journal Human Nature, competitive team games are universal across the world and may have deep roots in humans’...

Forensic facial reconstruction of another Australopithecus species - A. afarensis. Image credit: Cicero Moraes / CC BY-SA 3.0.

4-Million-Year-Old Skull of Australopithecus Shows Similarities to That of Modern Humans

Jun 27, 2018 by News Staff

An Australopithecus partial cranium found in the Jacovec Cavern of the Sterkfontein Caves, South Africa, one of the richest early hominin fossil localities...

A study of the inhabitants of Easter Island served in part as the basis for a mathematical model showing the ways a technologically advanced population and its planet might develop or collapse together. Image credit: Michael Osadciw / University of Rochester.

How Do Extraterrestrial Technological Civilizations Solve Climate Change?

Jun 7, 2018 by News Staff

As the population of a technologically advanced civilization grows, it uses more and more of its planet’s resources. By consuming the resources, the...

Social gathering of six bonobos at San Diego Zoo. Image credit: William H. Calvin, University of Washington / CC BY-SA 4.0.

First Detailed Anatomical Study of Bonobos Contradicts Key Dogmas about Human Evolution

May 24, 2018 by News Staff

Bonobos (Pan paniscus) and other apes, such as common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla sp.), have muscles long-believed to be only...

Lipson et al identify at least three major waves of human migration into Southeast Asia over the last 50,000 years.

Ancient DNA Study Reveals Prehistory of Southeast Asia

May 21, 2018 by News Staff

The first whole-genome analysis of ancient human DNA from Southeast Asia, defined as the area east of India and south of China, identifies at least three...

A reconstruction of Homo naledi’s head by paleoartist John Gurche, who spent some 700 hours recreating the head from bone scans. The find was announced by the University of the Witwatersrand, the National Geographic Society and the South African National Research Foundation and published in the journal eLife. Image credit: John Gurche / Mark Thiessen / National Geographic.

Homo naledi Had Small but Surprisingly Complex Brain

May 16, 2018 by News Staff

A species of extinct hominin called Homo naledi was discovered in 2013 in a remote cave chamber of the Rising Star cave system in South Africa. This species...

Selected artifacts from the Panga ya Saidi site: (a) Levallois core; (b) two backed lithic artifacts; (c) backed lithic artifact; (d-e) notched bones; (f) ocher crayon; (g) ostrich eggshell bead; (h) conus shell bead; (i) gastropod shell bead. Image credit: Shipton et al, doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-04057-3.

Kenyan Cave Provides New Insights into Later Stone Age

May 10, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered more than 30,000 artifacts at Panga ya Saidi, a cave in the humid coastal forest of Kenya, which is...

An archaic hominin. Image credit: Ninara / CC BY 2.0.

Archaic Hominins Arrived in Philippines as Early as 700,000 Years Ago

May 7, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has unearthed 57 stone tools and butchered animal bones at Kalinga in the Cagayan Valley of northern Luzon, the largest...

The engraved flint flake from the Kiik-Koba site, Crimea, Ukraine; the arrow indicates the point of impact. Scale bar - 1 cm. Image credit: Majkić et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195049.

Engraved Flint Flake Found in Ukraine May Demonstrate Neanderthal Symbolism

May 4, 2018 by News Staff

According to a study published in the journal PLoS ONE, a 35,000-year-old flint flake found at a Middle Paleolithic site in Crimea, Ukraine, was likely...

The Al Wusta-1 finger bone from Saudi Arabia. Image credit: Ian Cartwright.

90,000-Year-Old Finger Bone Found in Saudi Arabia Could Rewrite Human Migration History

Apr 11, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered a fossilized human finger bone in the Nefud Desert of Saudi Arabia estimated to be about 90,000 years...