Anthropology News

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...

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...

Scientists: Neanderthals Mated with Humans 100,000 Years Ago

Feb 17, 2016 by News Staff

A multinational group of researchers has found strong genetic evidence of an interbreeding event between Neanderthals and anatomically modern Homo sapiens...

The fossilized skull of Australopithecus sediba specimen MH1 and a finite element model of its cranium depicting strains experienced during a simulated bite on its premolars: ‘warm’ colors indicate regions of high strain, ‘cool’ colors indicate regions of low strain. Image credit: Brett Eloff / Lee Berger / University of the Witwatersrand.

Study: Australopithecus sediba Didn’t Eat Hard Foods

Feb 8, 2016 by News Staff

According to a study published today in the journal Nature Communications, a recently discovered species of early human ancestor called Australopithecus...

The study supports a single and rapid dispersal of all non-Africans populations around 50,000 years ago not only across Asia but also into Europe. Image credit: Annette Guenzel / Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Pre-Neolithic DNA Suggests Major Late Glacial Population Turnover in Europe

Feb 5, 2016 by News Staff

DNA evidence lifted from the bones and teeth of hunter-gatherers who lived in Europe from 35,000 years ago (Late Pleistocene) to 7,000 years ago (early...

Neanderthal. Image credit: Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.

Neanderthal DNA Gave Humans Allergies, Immunity Boost

Jan 8, 2016 by News Staff

Interbreeding of anatomically modern Homo sapiens with Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) around 40,000 years ago may have left humans with gene variants...

Reconstruction of Ballynahatty Neolithic skull by Elizabeth Black. Her genes tell us she had black hair and brown eyes. Image credit: Barrie Hartwell.

Ancient Genomes from Ireland Sequenced for the First Time

Dec 30, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

A large team of researchers reported this week that it had sequenced the whole genomes of four prehistoric Irish individuals: a Neolithic woman (3343 –...

Artist’s reconstruction of a Red Deer Cave man. Image credit: Peter Schouten.

14,000-Year-Old Bone Found in Red Deer Cave Points to Archaic Human Species

Dec 18, 2015 by News Staff

An archaic species of the genus Homo from China, thought to be long extinct, likely survived until as recently as 14,000 years ago, a thigh bone found...