Anthropology News

45,000-Year-Old Tiny Stone Tools Found in Sri Lanka

Cores from Phase D (48,000-34,000 years ago) and Phase C (13,000-12,000 years ago) of Fa-Hien Lena Cave, Sri Lanka: bipolar core (4, 5, 6), bipolar orthogonal core (1, 2, 7, 8), unidirectional abrupt core (3). Image credit: Wedage et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222606.
Oct 4, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists has found a collection of microliths — small, retouched, often-backed stone tools — at the cave site of Fa-Hien Lena in the tropical evergreen rainforests of Sri Lanka. Some of these microliths are 45,000 years old and represent the earliest evidence of such advanced technology in South Asia. Cores from Phase D (48,000-34,000 years ago) and Phase C (13,000-12,000 years ago) of Fa-Hien Lena Cave,...

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

Scientists Reconstruct Skeletal Anatomy of Denisovans

Sep 19, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Israel and Spain has produced reconstructions of Denisovans, an extinct sister group of Neanderthals, based on patterns of methylation...

The structure of the Eustachian tube in a Neanderthal man. Image credit: SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.

Chronic Ear Infections Contributed to Neanderthal Extinction

Sep 19, 2019 by News Staff

Neanderthals may have been doomed to extinction because they had persistent, life-long ear infections due to the structure of their Eustachian tubes, a...

Rudapithecus hungaricus was pretty ape-like and probably moved among branches like apes do now. However, it would have differed from modern great apes by having a more flexible lower back, which would mean when Rudapithecus hungaricus came down to the ground, it might have had the ability to stand upright more like humans do. Image credit: John Siddick.

Miocene Hominid Fossil Sheds New Light on Evolution of Human Bipedalism

Sep 18, 2019 by News Staff

Researchers have analyzed a pelvis of the 10 million-year-old fossil ape Rudapithecus hungaricus and found that human bipedalism might possibly have deeper...

An artist’s reconstruction of the gateway and drain at the ancient city of Harappa. Image credit: Chris Sloan.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Ancient Harappan Woman

Sep 9, 2019 by News Staff

A multinational team of scientists has sequenced the first genome of an individual from the Harappan Civilization. The genome, which belongs to a woman...

A reconstruction of a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Denisovan Fingers are Indistinguishable from Those of Modern Humans, Researchers Say

Sep 5, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists from Canada and Europe has identified the missing part of a fifth finger bone from the Denisova Cave, revealing that...

3.8-Million-Year-Old Skull of Australopithecus anamensis Found

Aug 29, 2019 by News Staff

Australopithecus anamensis is the earliest-known species in the genus Australopithecus. The species is widely accepted as the ancestor of Lucy’s species,...

Archaeologists Unearth 45,000-Year-Old Stone Tools in Mongolia

Aug 19, 2019 by News Staff

A collection of stone artifacts unearthed at the archaeological site of Tolbor-16 in the northern Khangai Mountains of Mongolia indicates that anatomically...

Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Neanderthals and Ancient Humans Suffered from Swimmer’s Ear: Study

Aug 15, 2019 by News Staff

Exostoses of the ear canal — more commonly called swimmer’s ear — were surprisingly common in Neanderthals, according to new research by...

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

Humans Interbred with Four Extinct Hominin Species, Research Finds

Jul 29, 2019 by News Staff

As anatomically modern Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa and around the rest of the world, they met and interbred with at least four different hominin...

Photographs of the two engraved bone fragments from the site of Lingjing, China. Image credit: F. d’Errico & L. Doyon.

115,000-Year-Old Engraved Bones Found in China

Jul 19, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists digging at an early hominin site in China have discovered two engraved bone fragments that date back nearly 115,000 years. Photographs of...

Australopithecus africanus, a mother with an infant. Image credit: Jose Garcia & Renaud Joannes-Boyau, Southern Cross University.

Australopithecus Mothers Breastfed Their Infants for Year after Birth

Jul 17, 2019 by News Staff

A high-resolution trace-element analysis of 2.6-2.1-million-year-old teeth from an extinct hominin called Australopithecus africanus has revealed that...

Artist’s reconstruction of an Asian caveman. Image credit: Peter Schouten.

Enigmatic Skull Found in Greece Suggests Early Homo sapiens Reached Europe 210,000 Years Ago

Jul 11, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

A 210,000-year-old partial skull found in southern Greece about four decades ago has been identified as the earliest example of anatomically modern Homo...

Denisovans were probably dark-skinned, unlike the pale Neanderthals. The picture shows a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.

Modern Asians Acquired Rare Dental Trait from Denisovans: Study

Jul 10, 2019 by News Staff

A 3-rooted lower molar, a rare trait primarily found in modern Asian lineages, was previously thought to have evolved after Homo sapiens dispersed from...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

DNA of Early Neanderthals Reveals 80,000 Years of Genetic Continuity in Europe

Jun 27, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has sequenced the nuclear genomes of two Neanderthals who lived in Europe around 120,000 years ago. They found that...

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

Neanderthals Used Pine Resin as Glue to Haft Stone Tools into Handles

Jun 27, 2019 by News Staff

The hafting of stone tools was an important advance in the technological evolution of Paleolithic humans. Joining a handle to a knife or scraper and attaching...

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

Neolithic Çatalhöyük Experienced Modern Urban Problems

Jun 18, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has found that the inhabitants of the Neolithic settlement Çatalhöyük (7100-5950 BCE) experienced overcrowding,...

A scientific illustration of the Upward Sun River camp in what is now Interior Alaska. Image credit: Eric S. Carlson / Ben A. Potter.

Genetic Analysis Reveals Previously Unknown Group of Ancient Siberians

Jun 7, 2019 by News Staff

Northeastern Siberia has been inhabited by humans for more than 40,000 years but its deep population history remains poorly understood. In a new study,...

A large rhyolite flake at the site of Bokol Dora 1, Ethiopia. Image credit: Braun et al, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1820177116.

Researchers Find 2.6-Million-Year-Old Oldowan Tools in Ethiopia

Jun 5, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has unearthed a collection of 2.6-million-year-old systematically flaked stone tools at the site of Bokol Dora 1 (BD1)...

Prehistoric rock paintings in Manda Guéli Cave in the Ennedi Mountains, Chad, Central Africa. Image credit: David Stanley / CC BY 2.0.

Ancient DNA Study Tells Story of East Africa’s First Herders and Farmers

May 30, 2019 by News Staff

How food production entered sub-Saharan Africa some 5,000 years ago and the ways in which herding and farming spread through the continent in ancient times...

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