Anthropology News

Unprecedented Genomic Study Shines Light on Ancestry of Indigenous Australians

Depiction of the Jarijari (Nyeri Nyeri) people near Merbein engaged in recreational activities, including a type of Aboriginal football, by William Blandowski & Gustav Mützel, 1857.
Sep 22, 2016 by News Staff

The first comprehensive genomic study of Indigenous Australians has revealed that they are indeed the direct descendants of Australia’s earliest settlers and diverged from their Papuan neighbors about 37,000 years ago. The study also confirmed that all modern non-African populations are descended from a single wave of migrants, who left Africa approximately 72,000 years ago. Depiction of the Jarijari (Nyeri Nyeri) people near Merbein engaged in...

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

Australopithecus afarensis ‘Lucy’ Died after Falling from Tall Tree, Anthropologists Say

Aug 30, 2016 by News Staff

‘Lucy,’ perhaps the world’s most famous early human ancestor, probably died after falling from a tall tree, according to an international team of...

250,000-year-old stone tool that tested positive for rhino protein residue. Image credit: April Nowell.

Hominins Used Stone Tools to Butcher Rhinos, Other Animals 250,000 Years Ago

Aug 9, 2016 by News Staff

New research led by University of Victoria’s April Nowell reveals surprisingly sophisticated adaptations by early humans living 250,000 years ago in...

Image of the external morphology of a hominin foot bone (Paranthropus robustus or Homo ergaster) shows the extent of expansion of the primary bone cancer beyond the surface of the bone. Image credit: Patrick Randolph-Quinney.

South African Fossils Reveal Earliest Hominin Evidence of Cancer

Jul 29, 2016 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists led by Dr. Patrick Randolph-Quinney from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) in Johannesburg, South Africa,...

Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Elisabeth Daynes.

Homo floresiensis Remains Unique, Valid Species

Jun 13, 2016 by News Staff

A new study contradicts the claim that LB1, the type specimen of Homo floresiensis, had Down syndrome, and further confirms its status as a valid and distinct...

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

Scientists Find 700,000-Year-Old Remains of Proto-Homo floresiensis

Jun 9, 2016 by News Staff

New hominin fossils from the Indonesian island of Flores shed light on the origin of the mysterious ‘hobbit’ species, Homo floresiensis. Hominin remains...

A group of Neanderthals in a cave. Image credit: Tyler B. Tretsven.

Climate Change Contributed to Neanderthals’ Demise, Study Suggests

May 12, 2016 by News Staff

Neanderthals showed signs of nutritional stress during periods of extreme cold, according to a new study published in the July 2016 issue of the Journal...

Spatial frequency distribution map of haplogroup R0a. Image credit: Francesca Gandini et al.

Humans Arrived in Southern Arabia Earlier Than Thought

May 11, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of genetic researchers from the United States and Europe has found new evidence that there was an Ice Age refugium in southern Arabia. Spatial...

Ancient DNA Study Sheds New Light on Genetic History of Europeans

May 3, 2016 by News Staff

Analyses of genome-wide data from 51 Eurasians from 7,000 – 45,000 years ago reveal two big changes in prehistoric human populations that are closely...

Life reconstruction of a pair of Chasmaporthetes gangsriensis. Image credit: Julie Selan.

Tooth-Marks on 500,000-Year-Old Bone Indicate Hominin Hunting/Scavenging by Large Carnivores

Apr 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

According to a team of scientists headed by Dr. Jean-Jacques Hublin at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, tooth-marks...

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

Neanderthals May Have Been Infected with Diseases Carried out of Africa by Homo sapiens

Apr 11, 2016 by News Staff

A new study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology suggests that the transfer of infectious pathogens between populations of Neanderthals...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Genetic Scientists Complete First Analysis of Neanderthal Y Chromosome

Apr 8, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Neanderthal Y-chromosome genes disappeared from the genome of modern humans long ago, suggests a new study published this week in the American Journal...

This is a map of Indonesia, the green circle shows the island of Flores. The inset shows facial approximation of LB1, female Homo floresiensis (Susan Hayes / Australian Archaeological Association)

Homo floresiensis May Have Disappeared Earlier than Thought

Mar 30, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

According to a multinational team of scientists, Homo floresiensis — a primitive hominin species discovered in the Late Pleistocene sediments at...

Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Scientists Produce Map of Neanderthal, Denisovan Ancestry in Present-Day Humans

Mar 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Dr. David Reich from Harvard Medical School and his colleagues have produced a world map of Denisovan and Neanderthal ancestry in 120 diverse populations....

‘Not’ faces. Image credit: Ohio State University.

Scientists Say ‘Not Face’ is Universal Part of Language

Mar 28, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists, led by Ohio State University cognitive researcher Prof. Aleix Martinez, has identified a universal facial expression that is interpreted...

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

New Fossils of Australopithecus afarensis Found in Kenya

Mar 24, 2016 by Sergio Prostak

Fieldwork at the Pliocene site of Kantis, Kenya, has yielded fossilized teeth and forearm bone attributable to Australopithecus afarensis, a hominid species...

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

Denisovan DNA Found in Modern-Day Melanesians

Mar 18, 2016 by News Staff

Residents of the Pacific islands of Melanesia share fragments of genetic code with two early human species: Denisovans, whose remains were found in Siberia,...

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

Sima de los Huesos Hominins Were Actually Early Neanderthals, Say Anthropologists

Mar 15, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

The first analysis of nuclear DNA from Sima de los Huesos hominins, conducted by Dr. Matthias Meyer of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Neanderthals Ate Rhinos, Woolly Mammoths, and Plants

Mar 15, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Neanderthals lived mainly on mammoth and rhino meat, as well as some plant food, says a team of researchers led by Prof. Hervé Bocherens from the University...

An artist’s rendition of an early human habitat in Tanzania 1.8 million years ago. Image credit: M. Lopez-Herrera / Enrique Baquedano / Olduvai Paleoanthropology and Paleoecology Project.

Researchers Reconstruct African Landscape Where Early Humans Lived 1.8M Years Ago

Mar 10, 2016 by News Staff

Life in what is now Tanzania was difficult and dangerous 1.8 million years ago, according to a team of scientists from the United States, Switzerland and...

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