Anthropology News

The Gateway of the Sun, Tiwanaku, Bolivia. Image credit: Mhwater.

Ancient DNA Study Sheds Light on Deep Population History of Andes

May 11, 2020 by News Staff

A large international team of researchers has conducted the first in-depth, wide-scale study of the genomic history of pre-Columbian Andean civilizations...

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

Neanderthals Made Leather-Working Tools from Bison and Aurochs Ribs

May 11, 2020 by News Staff

Neanderthals selected rib bones from specific animals to make the lissoirs (French for ‘smoothers’), which are bone tools that have been intentionally...

Neolithic rock art in Tassili n’Ajjer National Park, Sahara, Algeria. Image credit: Patrick Gruban, Munich, Germany / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Neolithic East African Pastoralist Societies Consumed Milk

Apr 16, 2020 by News Staff

New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides the first evidence for diet and subsistence practices of Neolithic...

This is an artist's reconstruction of female Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia. Image credit: Elisabeth Daynes, via tabula.ge.

Homo erectus Existed 200,000 Years Earlier than Previously Thought

Apr 3, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of paleoanthropologists has unearthed a 2-million-year-old skull of Homo erectus, the first of our ancestors to be nearly human-like...

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

Homo sapiens Interbred with Various Neanderthal Populations, Study Says

Apr 2, 2020 by News Staff

Modern humans in Eurasia carry genetic material inherited from Altai Neanderthals, according to a study published in the journal Genetics. This is noteworthy...

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

Australopithecus afarensis Had Ape-Like Brain Organization, But Prolonged Brain Growth Like Humans

Apr 2, 2020 by News Staff

Human brains are three times larger, are organized differently, and mature for a longer period of time than those of our closest living relatives, the...

Fish were captured and stored by the Calusa people in complex walled structures called watercourts, constructed of shell and other sediments. Image credit: Merald Clark.

Calusa People Stored Live Fish in Watercourts

Apr 2, 2020 by News Staff

In the 16th century, the Calusa, a fisher-gatherer-hunter society, were the most politically complex polity in Florida, and Mound Key, an island in Estero...

Diet of Figueira Brava Neanderthals Was Rich in Seafood, Archaeologists Say

Mar 27, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists found that the Neanderthals who occupied Gruta da Figueira Brava in the Arrábida range, Portugal, between 86,000...

Little Foot (Australopithecus prometheus) in the Sterkfontein cave, central South Africa. Image credit: Purdue University.

3.67-Million-Year-Old Fossil Unveils More about Australopithecus prometheus

Mar 17, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of paleoanthropologists led by the University of the Witwatersrand has examined the first cervical vertebra (atlas) of the ‘Little...

Sima de los Huesos hominins lived in what is now Spain about 400,000 years ago. Image credit: © Kennis & Kennis / Madrid Scientific Films.

Ancestors of Neanderthals and Denisovans Interbred with ‘Superarchaic’ Hominin

Feb 21, 2020 by News Staff

A new study by researchers from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Utah shows that over 700,000 years ago, the ancestors of Neanderthals...

West Africans Carry DNA from Mysterious Archaic Hominin

Feb 14, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Four West African populations — Yoruba, Esan, Mende, and Gambian — derive 2 to 19% of their genetic ancestry from a yet-undiscovered species...

Paleo-Indians hunting a glyptodont by Heinrich Harder, c. 1920.

Two Different Paleo-Indian Populations Coexisted in Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Mexico

Feb 7, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists and paleoanthropologists has uncovered the 9,900-year-old remains of a Paleo-Indian woman in the Chan Hol underwater...

Ahu Nau Nau, a cultural and religious site built by Rapa Nui society on Easter Island’s Anakena beach, was among 11 sites where previously gathered data were examined as part of the new study. The site is located on the north shore of the Easter Island. Image credit: Robert DiNapoli.

Study: Easter Island’s Monument-Building Society Did Not Collapse Prior to European Contact

Feb 6, 2020 by News Staff

Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is famous for its numerous statues (moai) and the monumental platforms that supported them (ahu). A widely-held...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Neanderthals Entered Southern Siberia on Two Separate Occasions, Study Says

Jan 28, 2020 by News Staff

Neanderthals were once widespread across Europe and western Asia. They also penetrated into the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia, but the geographical...

Archaic hominins. Image credit: Ninara / CC BY 2.0.

Homo erectus Reached Java around 1.3 Million Years Ago

Jan 14, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Homo erectus, a hominin species that originated in equatorial Africa or the Caucasus region of Eurasia, arrived on the island of Java in Indonesia around...

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

Last Population of Homo erectus Survived in Central Java until 108,000 Years Ago

Dec 20, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has pinpointed the first comprehensive age for the last known occurrence of the early hominin species Homo erectus. This...

Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Were Neanderthals, Denisovans and Other Archaic Humans Victims of Sixth Mass Extinction?

Dec 1, 2019 by The Conversation

Nine human species walked the Earth 300,000 years ago. Now there is just one. A reconstruction of a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum. Neanderthals...

Neanderthals are commonly thought to have relied on dangerous close range hunting techniques, using non-projectile weapons like the thrusting spears depicted here; this hunting approach is thought to have brought them into violent contact with large mammals, resulting in high levels of injury especially to the head and neck when compared to modern humans; Beier et al found similar head injury levels in both Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic humans, casting doubt on this hypothesis. Image credit: Gleiver Prieto.

Neanderthal Extinction Caused by Inbreeding and Smallness of Their Populations, Study Suggests

Nov 28, 2019 by News Staff

A long-standing enigma in paleoanthropology is the demise of Neanderthals about 40,000 years ago. There is general agreement that their disappearance coincides...

Music is universal: it exists in every society (both with and without words), varies more within than between societies, regularly supports certain types of behavior, and has acoustic features that are systematically related to the goals and responses of singers and listeners. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Human Songs From Around the World Share Universal Features, Study Says

Nov 25, 2019 by News Staff

Songs from cultures spanning the globe exhibit universal patterns, according to a new study published in the journal Science. Music is universal: it exists...