Anthropology News

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

Little Foot: Scientists Discover 3-Million-Year-Old Australopithecus prometheus

Mar 17, 2014 by News Staff

The nearly complete skeleton of the Australopithecus prometheus named Little Foot discovered in the Sterkfontein caves in South Africa is the oldest complete...

This polar projection map of Asia and North America shows the approximate terminal Pleistocene shoreline: the center of geographic distribution of Yeniseian and Na-Dene language is in Beringia; from this center burgundy arrows extend toward the North American coast and into Siberia; a blue arrow indicates Interior dispersals of Na-Dene. Image credit: Mark Sicoli / Gary Holton.

Linguistic Study Reveals Back-Migration of Early Native Americans

Mar 13, 2014 by News Staff

Evolutionary analysis applied to North American and Siberian languages suggests that while most of the Beringia people migrated into North America, some...

The new study shows that ancestors of Native Americans migrated to the Americas from Siberia and not directly from Europe. Painting by G. Mülzel.

Ancestors of Native Americans Spent 10,000 Years on Bering Land Bridge

Feb 28, 2014 by News Staff

An international team of scientists led by Dr Dennis O’Rourke from the University of Utah has discovered how Native Americans may have survived the...

800,000-year-old human footprint. Image credit: British Museum.

800,000-Year-Old Human Footprints Discovered in UK

Feb 7, 2014 by News Staff

Archaeologists today announced the discovery of a series of footprints left by a group of adults and children about 800,000 years ago. Human footprints,...

Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Scientists Identify Neanderthal Genes in Modern Human DNA

Jan 30, 2014 by News Staff

In two new studies, genetic researchers have shown that about 20 percent of the Neanderthal genome survives in modern humans of non-African ancestry and...

Paranthropus boisei. Image credit: © Roman Yevseyev.

Paranthropus boisei: Early Hominin Survived on Tiger-nut Diet

Jan 12, 2014 by News Staff

Paranthropus boisei, an early hominin that lived in East Africa between 2.3 and 1.2 million years ago, mainly ate tiger-nuts – edible bulbous tubers...

Ardipithecus ramidus, a hominid that lived in Africa more then 4 million years ago. Illustration by Arturo Asensio, via Quo.es.

Ardipithecus ramidus: Study Links Ancient Hominid to Human Lineage

Jan 10, 2014 by News Staff

A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, confirms close relationship of Ardipithecus ramidus – a species of...

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

Neanderthal Genome Reveals Fourth, Mysterious Human Lineage

Dec 18, 2013 by News Staff

A comparison of the high-quality genome sequence of a 50,000-year-old Neanderthal woman with those of modern humans and Denisovans reveals a long history...

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

Homo erectus? 1.4-Million-Year-Old Human-like Hand Bone Found

Dec 17, 2013 by News Staff

A tiny bone of an early human species, possibly Homo erectus, found in Kenya is the earliest evidence of a modern human-like hand, according to a team...

A forensic facial reconstruction of Paranthropus boisei. Image credit: Cicero Moraes / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Paranthropus boisei: 1.34-Million-Year-Old Hominin Found in Tanzania

Dec 6, 2013 by News Staff

A 1.34-million-year-old partial skeleton of the Plio-Pleistocene hominin Paranthropus boisei – including arm, hand, leg and foot fragments – found...

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: Scientists Sequence Genome of Enigmatic Hominin

Dec 4, 2013 by News Staff

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have sequenced the mitochondrial genome of a 400,000-year-old...

Neanderthal family. Image credit: Field Museum.

Neanderthals Organized Their Living Spaces, Scientists Say

Dec 3, 2013 by News Staff

According to an international group of anthropologists and archaeologists led by Dr Brigitte Holt from the University of Massachusetts, Neanderthals (Homo...

24,000-Year-Old Siberian Boy Sheds New Light on Origins of Native Americans

Nov 21, 2013 by News Staff

The genome sequence of a 24,000-year-old young Siberian individual found in Russia shows that 14 to 38 percent of modern Native American’s ancestry came...

Little Red Riding Hood by Arthur Rackham, 1909.

Little Red Riding Hood: Study Provides Insights into Origins, Evolution of Folktales

Nov 14, 2013 by News Staff

According to Durham University anthropologist Dr Jamshid Tehrani, evolutionary analysis can be used to study similarities among folktales. His findings...

This colorized scanning electron micrograph shows Mycobacterium tuberculosis, gram-positive bacteria that cause tuberculosis. Image credit: Ray Butler / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Scientists Describe 7,000-Year-Old Case of Tuberculosis in Europe

Oct 31, 2013 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Hungary and the United Kingdom says tuberculosis was present in Europe as early as 7,000 years ago. This colorized scanning...

This image shows a Neanderthal and a human kid. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

New Study Finds No Last Common Ancestor of Modern Humans and Neanderthals

Oct 22, 2013 by News Staff

A dental study of 1,200 molars and premolars from 13 hominin species shows that no known species matches the expected profile of the last common ancestor...

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

Denisovans: Mysterious Homo Species Interbred with Modern Humans in Australasia

Oct 20, 2013 by News Staff

According to a study published in the journal Science, Denisovans – relatives to both Neanderthals and humans – somehow managed to cross Wallace’s...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Neanderthals May Have Eaten Stomach Contents of Their Prey

Oct 18, 2013 by News Staff

Bitter root plant material found on teeth of Neanderthals suggests their complex diet may have included the stomach contents of hunted animals. Reconstruction...

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

Dmanisi Human: Skull from Georgia Implies All Early Homo Species were One

Oct 18, 2013 by News Staff

An analysis of a complete 1.8-million-year-old hominid skull found at the archaeological site of Dmanisi in Georgia suggests the earliest Homo species...