Paleoanthropology News

Illustration of one of the early settlers in the Caribbean. Image credit: Tom Björklund.

Humans Colonized Caribbean Islands in Three Waves: Study

Jun 5, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has sequenced and analyzed the genomes of 93 ancient Caribbean islanders and found evidence of at least three separate...

The occasional use of stone tools as ‘strike-a-lights’ was a technocultural feature shared among Neanderthals in France.

Study: Women with Neanderthal Progesterone Gene Have Higher Fertility

May 29, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A hormone called progesterone is important for preparing the uterine lining for egg implantation and in maintaining the early stages of pregnancy. Almost...

Facial reconstruction of Australopithecus sediba. Image credit: Cicero Moraes et al.

Australopithecus sediba Used Their Hands for Both Climbing and Human-Like Manipulation

May 21, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of paleoanthropologists has found that the hand of Australopithecus sediba, a small hominin that lived about 2 million years ago...

Stone artifacts from the Initial Upper Paleolithic at Bacho Kiro Cave: (1-3, 5-7) pointed blades and fragments from Layer I; (4) sandstone bead with morphology similar to bone beads; (8) the longest complete blade. Image credit: Tsenka Tsanova / CC-BY-SA 2.0.

Humans Created Earliest Modern Artifacts in Europe, Research Shows

May 12, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has discovered and dated the remains of Homo sapiens and associated artifacts — including pendants manufactured...

The Gateway of the Sun, Tiwanaku, Bolivia. Image credit: Mhwater.

Ancient DNA Study Sheds Light on Deep Population History of Andes

May 11, 2020 by News Staff

A large international team of researchers has conducted the first in-depth, wide-scale study of the genomic history of pre-Columbian Andean civilizations...

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

Neanderthals Made Leather-Working Tools from Bison and Aurochs Ribs

May 11, 2020 by News Staff

Neanderthals selected rib bones from specific animals to make the lissoirs (French for ‘smoothers’), which are bone tools that have been intentionally...

Neolithic rock art in Tassili n’Ajjer National Park, Sahara, Algeria. Image credit: Patrick Gruban, Munich, Germany / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Neolithic East African Pastoralist Societies Consumed Milk

Apr 16, 2020 by News Staff

New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides the first evidence for diet and subsistence practices of Neolithic...

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

Homo erectus Existed 200,000 Years Earlier than Previously Thought

Apr 3, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of paleoanthropologists has unearthed a 2-million-year-old skull of Homo erectus, the first of our ancestors to be nearly human-like...

Homo sapiens Interbred with Various Neanderthal Populations, Study Says

Apr 2, 2020 by News Staff

Modern humans in Eurasia carry genetic material inherited from Altai Neanderthals, according to a study published in the journal Genetics. This is noteworthy...

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

Australopithecus afarensis Had Ape-Like Brain Organization, But Prolonged Brain Growth Like Humans

Apr 2, 2020 by News Staff

Human brains are three times larger, are organized differently, and mature for a longer period of time than those of our closest living relatives, the...

Fish were captured and stored by the Calusa people in complex walled structures called watercourts, constructed of shell and other sediments. Image credit: Merald Clark.

Calusa People Stored Live Fish in Watercourts

Apr 2, 2020 by News Staff

In the 16th century, the Calusa, a fisher-gatherer-hunter society, were the most politically complex polity in Florida, and Mound Key, an island in Estero...

Diet of Figueira Brava Neanderthals Was Rich in Seafood, Archaeologists Say

Mar 27, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists found that the Neanderthals who occupied Gruta da Figueira Brava in the Arrábida range, Portugal, between 86,000...

Little Foot (Australopithecus prometheus) in the Sterkfontein cave, central South Africa. Image credit: Purdue University.

3.67-Million-Year-Old Fossil Unveils More about Australopithecus prometheus

Mar 17, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of paleoanthropologists led by the University of the Witwatersrand has examined the first cervical vertebra (atlas) of the ‘Little...

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

Ancestors of Neanderthals and Denisovans Interbred with ‘Superarchaic’ Hominin

Feb 21, 2020 by News Staff

A new study by researchers from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Utah shows that over 700,000 years ago, the ancestors of Neanderthals...

West Africans Carry DNA from Mysterious Archaic Hominin

Feb 14, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Four West African populations — Yoruba, Esan, Mende, and Gambian — derive 2 to 19% of their genetic ancestry from a yet-undiscovered species...

Paleo-Indians hunting a glyptodont by Heinrich Harder, c. 1920.

Two Different Paleo-Indian Populations Coexisted in Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Mexico

Feb 7, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of archaeologists and paleoanthropologists has uncovered the 9,900-year-old remains of a Paleo-Indian woman in the Chan Hol underwater...

Ahu Nau Nau, a cultural and religious site built by Rapa Nui society on Easter Island’s Anakena beach, was among 11 sites where previously gathered data were examined as part of the new study. The site is located on the north shore of the Easter Island. Image credit: Robert DiNapoli.

Study: Easter Island’s Monument-Building Society Did Not Collapse Prior to European Contact

Feb 6, 2020 by News Staff

Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is famous for its numerous statues (moai) and the monumental platforms that supported them (ahu). A widely-held...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Neanderthals Entered Southern Siberia on Two Separate Occasions, Study Says

Jan 28, 2020 by News Staff

Neanderthals were once widespread across Europe and western Asia. They also penetrated into the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia, but the geographical...

Archaic hominins. Image credit: Ninara / CC BY 2.0.

Homo erectus Reached Java around 1.3 Million Years Ago

Jan 14, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Homo erectus, a hominin species that originated in equatorial Africa or the Caucasus region of Eurasia, arrived on the island of Java in Indonesia around...