Anthropology News

New research shows that, while human hunter-gatherers from around 7,000 years ago had bones comparable in strength to modern orangutans, farmers from the same area over 6,000 years later had significantly lighter and weaker bones that would have been more susceptible to breaking. Image credit: Alabama Cooperative Extension System / A&M University / Auburn University.

Shift from Foraging to Farming Led to Fragile, Lightweight Human Skeletons

Dec 24, 2014 by News Staff

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that modern human skeletons have become much lighter and more fragile...

Fifteen moais of Ahu Tongariki. Image credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Early Inhabitants of Easter Island Thrived on Sweet Potato Diet

Dec 17, 2014 by News Staff

Ancient Easter Islanders had a diet of mostly sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) before European contact, according to researchers Dr John Dudgeon from Idaho...

A model of a Neanderthal man in modern clothing. Image credit: H. Neumann / Neanderthal Museum.

Homo neanderthalensis: Neanderthals Represent Separate Human Species

Nov 19, 2014 by News Staff

According to a new study that analyzed different aspects of the nasal complex in Neanderthals and other later Pleistocene fossils from Europe and Africa,...

This image shows stone tools found at the site of Nor Geghi, Armenia: top - biface tool; bottom - a Levallois core. Image credit: © Dan Adler.

Stone Tool Discovery in Armenia Gives Insight into Human Innovation 325,000 Years Ago

Sep 27, 2014 by News Staff

An analysis of about 3,000 stone tools from a 325,000-year-old archaeological site near the village of Nor Geghi in the Kotayk Province of Armenia challenges...

The top panel shows total world population projected to 2100; dotted lines are the range or error using the older scenario method, while shaded regions are the uncertainties using statistical methods; the darker shading is the 80 % confidence bars, and the lighter shading shows the 95 % confidence bars; at the bottom are the population projections for each continent. Image credit: Adrian Raftery / University of Washington.

Earth’s Population Could Reach 12.3 Billion by 2100, Scientists Say

Sep 19, 2014 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Dr John Wilmoth of the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs announced yesterday in the journal Science that, according...

A Sami indigenous northern European family in Norway around 1900. The picture was probably taken in 1896 around the Kanstadfjord near Lødingen, Nordland. The adults on the left are Ingrid (born Sarri) and her husband Nils Andersen Inga. In front of the parents are Berit and Ole Nilsen. The lady on the right is Ellen, sister of Ingrid. In front of Ellen are the children Inger Anna and Tomas. The children of Inger Anna are reindeer herders still today. Detroit Publishing Co. print no. 7123.

Europeans Descended from 3 Groups of Ancient Humans, Study Reveals

Sep 18, 2014 by News Staff

Modern Europeans are the descendants of at least three groups of ancient humans, not two as was previously thought, reveals a comparative analysis of DNA...

Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Neanderthals Coexisted with Humans for More Than 5,000 Years

Aug 21, 2014 by News Staff

Anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals were both living in Europe for up to 5,400 years, says a new study conducted by Oxford University researcher...

Facial approximation of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Susan Hayes / Australian Archaeological Association.

Homo floresiensis is not Distinct Human Species, Suggests New Research

Aug 9, 2014 by News Staff

A fresh study on Homo floresiensis, conducted by Prof Robert Eckhardt of Pennsylvania State University and his colleagues, suggests that LB1 – the...

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

Low Testosterone Led to Technology Boom 50,000 Years Ago, Anthropologists Say

Aug 2, 2014 by News Staff

According to a group of anthropologists headed by Dr Brian Hare of Duke University, a decline in testosterone levels about 50,000 years ago led to the...

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

100,000-Year-Old Human Skull with Neanderthal-Like Inner Ear Found in China

Jul 8, 2014 by News Staff

Anthropologists are surprised by the presence of a unique inner-ear formation – long thought to occur only in Neanderthals – in an early human...

Pre-Columbian Native Americans Had Baby Boom in 500-1300 CE

Jul 1, 2014 by News Staff

According to a new study conducted by Washington State University anthropologists Dr Tim Kohler and Dr Kelsey Reese, pre-Columbian Native Americans experienced...

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

New Study Provides Strong Evidence that Neanderthals Ate Plants

Jun 26, 2014 by News Staff

Analysis of sediment samples from El Salt – a known site of Neanderthal occupation in Spain that dates back 50,000 years – suggests that Neanderthals...

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 Hominin is proto-Neanderthal, Say Scientists

Jun 20, 2014 by News Staff

The Sima de los Huesos hominin, previously thought to belong to an ancient human species known as Homo heidelbergensis, is now reported to be an early...

Top to bottom: skull reconstructions of the common chimpanzee Pan troglodytes, Australopithecus afarensis, Paranthropus boisei, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. Scale bar - 10 cm. Image credit: University of Utah.

Study Sheds New Light on Hominin Face Evolution

Jun 9, 2014 by News Staff

Hominin faces – especially those of australopithecines – evolved to minimize injury from punches to the face during fights between males –...

Cave diver inspects the skull of Naia, a 12,500-year-old teenage girl discovered in a submerged cave on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. Image credit: Daniel Riordan Araujo.

Naia: 12,500-Year-Old Skeleton Sheds Light on First Americans

May 16, 2014 by News Staff

The well-preserved, genetically intact skeleton of a teenage girl who lived about 13,000-12,000 years ago in what is now Mexico is helping resolve a long-standing...

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

Neanderthals were as Smart as Early Humans, Say Scientists

May 1, 2014 by News Staff

In a new review of recent studies on Neanderthals, anthropologists have found that complex interbreeding and assimilation may have been responsible for...

Members of an uncontacted tribe in the Brazilian state of Acre. Image credit: Government of Brazil.

Scientists Use Satellite Images to Track Uncontacted Amazonian Tribes

Apr 24, 2014 by News Staff

U.S. researchers from the University of Missouri and the University of New Mexico have used satellite images to track the movements and demographic health...

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...