Anthropology News

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...

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

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...

Handprints at the El Castillo cave, Spain. Image credit: University of Cantabria.

Paleolithic Cave Painters in Europe were Mostly Women, Researcher Says

Oct 16, 2013 by News Staff

Anthropologist Prof Dean Snow from Pennsylvania State University analyzing ochre-stenciled handprints in Paleolithic caves in France and Spain has determined...

This photograph shows soldiers of the Eight nations alliance in 1900. British and also American soldiers are taller than continental European and Asian soldiers. Left-to-right: Britain, United States, Australian, British India, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Japan.

European Men Grow Four Inches in Century, Says Researcher

Sep 4, 2013 by News Staff

According to a new study by Prof Timothy Hatton from the University of Essex and the Australian National University in Canberra, the average height of...

Henry Blackburn Randolph Caldecott, A Personal Memoir (London, England: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, Limited, 1889; via the Florida Center for Instructional Technology)

Study Reveals Evolutionary Pathway for Emergence of Monogamy

Jul 30, 2013 by News Staff

According to a new study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the threat of infants being killed by rival males is the key...

New study shows that lunar cycle modulates human sleep and melatonin rhythms (Image: Luc Viatour)

Full Moon Can Disturb Human Sleep, New Research Shows

Jul 26, 2013 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Current Biology provides the first scientific evidence that the lunar cycle can influence human sleep. New study shows...

Scientists find a strong relationship between the ability to remember words and the structure of arcuate fasciculus, a bundle of axons connecting the Wernicke's area to the Broca's area

Researchers Identify Neural Pathways Involved in Learning of New Words

Jul 23, 2013 by News Staff

European scientists reporting in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences have identified how unique neural pathways in the brain allows...

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 Distinct Human Species, Says New Research

Jul 15, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

A study led by Dr Katerina Harvati from Tübingen University, Germany, suggests the small-brained Indonesian hominin was a distinct species of human, rather...

Left: schematic diagram of the human eye showing the cornea (Mikael Häggström / CC0 1.0). Right: vertical section of human cornea (Gray's Anatomy / Sci-News.com)

Scientists Discover Previously Undetected Layer in Human Eye – Dua’s Layer

Jun 12, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

British ophthalmologists have discovered a new layer in the cornea, the clear, dome-shaped surface that covers the front of the eye. Left: schematic diagram...

Artist’s impression of the Toba super-eruption (world.edu)

Modern Humans did not Settle in Asia before Toba Eruption 74,000 Years Ago

Jun 12, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

New genetic research reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences refutes a recent theory that there is evidence for the presence of...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal (Neanderthal Museum)

120,000-Year-Old Tumor Shows Neanderthals Suffered from Cancer

Jun 7, 2013 by News Staff

The first definitive case of a fibrous dysplastic neoplasm in a 120,000-year-old Neanderthal rib from the site of Krapina in present-day Croatia reveals...

Reconstruction of Paranthropus boisei (Nachosan / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Scientists Discover Surprising Change in Diet of Early Human Ancestors 3.5 Million Years Ago

Jun 4, 2013 by Sergio Prostak

Four new studies of carbon isotopes in fossilized tooth enamel from early hominins, including Australopithecus afarensis, Paranthropus boisei and Kenyanthropus...