Anthropology News

Scientists Have New Theory on Origin of State

This is an artist’s impression of Çatalhöyük. Image credit: Dan Lewandowski.
Apr 11, 2022 by News Staff

The conventional theory about the origin of the state is that the adoption of farming increased land productivity, which led to the production of food surplus; this surplus was a prerequisite for the emergence of tax-levying elites and, eventually, states. Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Professor Joram Mayshar and colleagues challenge this theory and propose that hierarchy arose as a result of the shift to dependence on appropriable cereal grains. Mayshar...

read more...
View of Grotte Mandrin, France. Image credit: Ludovic Slimak.

54,000-Year-Old Molar is Earliest Known Evidence of Anatomically Modern Humans in Western Europe

Feb 11, 2022 by News Staff

In a new paper published this week in the journal Science Advances, paleoanthropologists report hominin fossils from Grotte Mandrin in France that reveal...

A view of the Omo-Kibish geological formation in southwestern Ethiopia. Credit: Céline Vidal.

Africa’s Oldest Known Modern Human Fossils are 233,000 Years Old, Research Suggests

Jan 19, 2022 by News Staff

In the 1960s, paleoanthropologists uncovered the remains of anatomically modern Homo sapiens — known as Omo I — in the lower Omo valley of...

El Sidron Neanderthals taste wild mushrooms, pine nuts and forest moss. Image credit: Abel Grau, CSIC Communication.

Study: Neanderthals Transformed Landscapes 125,000 Years Ago

Dec 21, 2021 by News Staff

According to an analysis of paleoenvironmental and archaeological data from the 125,000-year-old Neanderthal site of Neumark-Nord in Germany, our closest...

Laetoli location and site rediscovery: (a) a model of Laetoli site A generated using photogrammetry showing the five hominin footprints; (b) corresponding contour map of the site generated from a 3D surface scan with scale bar; (c) map of Laetoli localities 7 and 8, indicating the positions of bipedal trackways A, G and S; (d, e) topographical maps of the two best preserved A footprints, A2 (d) and A3 (e). Image credit: McNutt et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04187-7.

Study: At Least Two Hominin Species with Different Feet and Gaits Coexisted at Laetoli, Tanzania

Dec 2, 2021 by News Staff

Bipedal trackways discovered in 1978 at Laetoli site G, Tanzania, and dated to 3.66 million years ago are widely accepted as the oldest unequivocal evidence...

Life reconstruction of Australopithecus sediba commissioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. Image credit: Elisabeth Daynes / S. Entressangle.

Australopithecus sediba Comfortably Walked on Two Legs, But Could Climb Like Ape

Nov 24, 2021 by News Staff

Paleoanthropologists have discovered and examined the fossil lumbar vertebrae of Australopithecus sediba, a small hominin that lived about 2 million years...

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.

Paleoanthropologists Find Fossil Remains of Immature Homo naledi

Nov 5, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of paleoanthropologists has discovered a partial skull and teeth from an immature individual of Homo naledi, a recently-discovered...

Homo bodoensis had a pan-African distribution with the peripheral range extending into the eastern Mediterranean (Southeast Europe and the Levant) from which it could have contributed to the repopulation of European (and possibly Central and East Asian) demographic sinks after the glaciations. Image credit: Ettore Mazza.

Meet Homo bodoensis, New Species of Human Ancestor

Oct 29, 2021 by News Staff

Homo bodoensis lived in Africa during the early Middle Pleistocene, around 500,000 years ago, and was the direct ancestor of the Homo sapiens lineage;...

DeSilva et al. suggest that patterns of human brain evolution were influenced by collective intelligence, a convergent characteristic of diverse group-living animals. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Human Brains Decreased in Size 3,000 Years Ago, New Study Says

Oct 25, 2021 by News Staff

Human brain size nearly quadrupled in 6 million years since Homo last shared a common ancestor with chimpanzees, but human brains are thought to have decreased...

Cassowaries use their casque much in the same way as some other birds use their beaks for heat exchange. Image credit: Lolame.

Prehistoric New Guineans May Have Collected Cassowary Eggs to Hatch and Rear Chicks

Sep 28, 2021 by News Staff

As early as 18,000 years ago, early foragers in the montane rainforests of New Guinea preferentially collected eggs of cassowaries (Casuarius sp.) in late...

The ancient human footprints found at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, the United States. Image credit: Bennett et al., doi: 10.1126/science.abg7586.

23,000-Year-Old Human Footprints Discovered in New Mexico

Sep 24, 2021 by News Staff

In a study of exposed outcrops of Lake Otero in New Mexico, the United States, archaeologists have discovered numerous human footprints dating to about...

Japanese samurai in armor, print by Kusakabe Kimbei, 1870s. Image credit: Getty’s Open Content Program.

Ancient DNA Reveals Tripartite Origins of Japanese People

Sep 21, 2021 by News Staff

The Japanese archipelago, which has been occupied by humans for at least 38,000 years, underwent rapid transformations in the past 3,000 years, first from...

The reconstructed face of Krijn. Image credit: Servaas Neijens, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden / Adrie and Alfons Kennis, Kennis & Kennis Reconstructions.

Dutch Neanderthal’s Face Revealed

Sep 20, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Adrie and Alfons Kennis, two paleo-artists from the Kennis & Kennis Reconstructions, have used facial approximation techniques and the latest findings...

Parietal art panel at Quesang, Tibet. Image credit: Zhang et al., doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2021.09.001.

Middle-Pleistocene Hominin Hand and Foot Impressions Found in Tibet

Sep 15, 2021 by News Staff

A series of previously unreported hand and foot impressions from the Tibetan Plateau dates to between 169,000 and 226,000 years ago (middle Pleistocene...

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

New Study Examines Chewing Biomechanics of Homo floresiensis

Aug 25, 2021 by News Staff

The feeding biomechanics of Homo floresiensis, a small-bodied hominin lived until about 50,000 years ago on Flores, Indonesia, closely resembled the patterns...

A portrait of a juvenile female Denisovan based on a skeletal profile reconstructed from ancient DNA methylation maps. Image credit: Maayan Harel.

Philippine Ayta Magbukon People Have Highest Amount of Denisovan DNA in the World

Aug 12, 2021 by News Staff

New research led by Uppsala University scientists suggests that there were multiple archaic human species that inhabited the Philippines prior to the arrival...

Condemi et al. analyzed the blood types of Neanderthals and Denisovans by looking at their DNA. Image credit: CNRS.

Researchers Decipher Blood Groups of Neanderthals and Denisovans

Jul 30, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

An analysis of the high-quality nuclear genomes previously published from three Neanderthals and one Denisovan shows that these extinct hominins were polymorphic...

The 65,000-year-old leaf point from Hohle Fels Cave, Germany. Image credit: University of Tübingen.

Neanderthals Hunted with Leaf-Shaped Spears, Archaeologists Say

Jul 28, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists say they have found a 65,000-year-old leaf point in a cave in the Swabian Jura, Germany. The 65,000-year-old leaf point from Hohle Fels...

This is an artist’s impression of Çatalhöyük. Image credit: Dan Lewandowski.

New Research Sheds Light on Foodways and Plant Processing at Neolithic Çatalhöyük

Jul 19, 2021 by News Staff

Archaeologists have analyzed a rich microbotanical assemblage from Çatalhöyük, a renowned archaeological site in central Anatolia, Turkey, best known...

Rapanui people. Image credit: © Santiago Caruso.

Pre-Contact Easter Island Society Didn’t Experience Ecologically-Induced Collapse, Study Suggests

Jul 14, 2021 by News Staff

Easter Island (Rapa Nui in the native language), a small volcanic island in southeastern Polynesia, has long been the focus of debate regarding the impact...

© 2011-2025. Sci.News. All Rights Reserved. | Back to top