Paleoanthropology News

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

Early Hominins First Arrived in Southern Europe around 1.3 Million Years Ago

Jul 15, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new study, published in the journal Earth-Science Reviews, helps resolve one of the longest controversies in paleoanthropology: when did early hominins...

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

Homo sapiens and Neanderthals Interacted Over 200,000-Year Period, Study Reveals

Jul 11, 2024 by News Staff

New research shows that recurrent episodes of gene flow, beginning 250,000 to 200,000 years ago, affected the genomes and biology of both modern humans...

Denisovans Survived on Tibetan Plateau until 48,000-32,000 Years Ago

Jul 4, 2024 by News Staff

Archaeologists have found a new hominin rib specimen in Baishiya Karst Cave, one of the only two places where Denisovans are known to have lived. Dated...

Eyed needles are among the most iconic of Paleolithic artifacts, traditionally seen as rare indicators of prehistoric clothing, particularly tailoring. Image credit: Mariana Ariza.

Eyed Needles Were Invented around 40,000 Years Ago in Eastern Eurasia, Archaeologists Say

Jun 28, 2024 by News Staff

Eyed needles were a new technological innovation used to adorn clothing for social and cultural purposes, marking the major shift from clothes as protection...

Neanderthal family. Image credit: Field Museum.

New Research Sheds Light on Childhood Stress in Neanderthals and Paleolithic Humans

May 29, 2024 by News Staff

Neanderthals’ lives were historically portrayed as highly stressful, shaped by constant pressures to survive in harsh ecological conditions, thus potentially...

The Hitra man was around 169 cm tall, fair-haired and blue-eyed. Image credit: Thomas Foldberg / Åge Hojem / NTNU University Museum.

Norwegian Archaeologists Unveil Face of Stone Age Hitra Man

May 20, 2024 by News Staff

The 4,000-year-old skeletal remains of a Scandinavian man were found in 1916 on the island of Hitra, Norway. The Hitra man was around 169 cm tall, fair-haired...

Using the latest archaeological data, hindcasted climate projections, and age-structured demographic models, Bradshaw et al. demonstrate evidence for early arrival (14,257 to 13,182 years ago) to Cyprus and predicted that large groups of people (1,000 to 1,375) arrived in 2 to 3 main events occurring within less than 100 years to ensure low extinction risk. Image credit: Bradshaw et al., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2318293121.

Hunter-Gatherers Settled in Cyprus Thousands of Years Earlier than Previously Thought

May 20, 2024 by News Staff

Because of persisting narratives of isolation, inaccessibility, and unattractiveness, the initial peopling of one of the eastern Mediterranean islands...

A Homo heidelbergensis, a Neanderthal and a Cro-Magnon. Image credit: SINC / José Antonio Peñas.

Interspecific Competition Played Key Role in Rise and Fall of Hominins, Study Suggests

Apr 17, 2024 by News Staff

Conventionally, climate is held responsible for the emergence and extinction of hominin species. In most vertebrates, however, interspecies competition...

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

Study: Just Like Homo sapiens, Neanderthals Organized Their Living Space in Structured Way

Apr 11, 2024 by News Staff

Because it is often assumed that fundamental behavioral differences distinguish Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, the ability to structure space within the...

The upper (a) and lower (b) surfaces of the purported sand sculpture from South Africa. Image credit: Helm et al.

120,000-Year-Old Stingray Sand ‘Sculpture’ Found in South Africa

Apr 9, 2024 by News Staff

Nelson Mandela University researcher Charles Helm and his colleagues have found an intriguing rock about 30 km (18.6 miles) east of the South African Blombos...

The wooden spears from the Schöningen site, Germany. Image credit: Minkusimages / Matthias Vogel, NLD.

Study: Woodworking Played Important Role in Human Evolution

Apr 8, 2024 by News Staff

Wooden tools rarely survive in the Paleolithic record limiting our understanding of Pleistocene hunter-gather lifeways. With 187 wooden artifacts, the...

First peopling of Europe. Image credit: Garba et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3.

1.4-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools Found in Ukraine Document Earliest Hominin Occupation of Europe

Mar 7, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

Archaeologists have dated an assemblage of ancient stone tools excavated from the archaeological site of Korolevo on the Tysa River in western Ukraine...

Photographs, drawings, and details of stone tools from Le Moustier, France. Image credit: D. Greinert / Schmidt et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adl0822.

Neanderthals Created Stone Tools Held Together by Ochre-Based Adhesives, Scientists Say

Feb 21, 2024 by News Staff

Archaeologists have found traces of ancient ochre-based multicomponent adhesives on 40,000-year-old stone tools from Le Moustier, France. Photographs,...

Stratigraphy with location of Homo sapiens bones, map of LRJ sites and stone tools from the site of Ranis, Germany. Image credit: Mylopotamitaki et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06923-7.

Homo sapiens Reached Northern Europe by 45,000 Years Ago, Scientists Say

Jan 31, 2024 by News Staff

Homo sapiens associated with the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician culture were present in central and northwestern Europe long before the extinction...

The portrait of Homo longi. Image credit: Cicero Moraes, doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.24648591.

Face of Homo longi Reconstructed

Jan 15, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

A Brazilian anthropologist has reconstructed the face of the archaic human species Homo longi from a well-preserved skull discovered in northeastern China...

An artist’s impression of a group of Gigantopithecus blacki within a forest in southern China. Image credit: Garcia / Joannes-Boyau, Southern Cross University.

Gigantopithecus Went Extinct between 295,000 and 215,000 Years Ago, New Study Says

Jan 10, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest ever primate and one of the largest species of the southeast Asian megafauna, persisted in China from about 2 million...

Map of Sahul showing the extent of the now-submerged continental shelf (dark gray), with the area of the Northwest Shelf demarcated by a dashed black box, and the present-day distribution of the Köppen climate groups (seasonal precipitation and temperature) showing the extent of modern-day Australia and New Guinea. The tropical distribution of Late Pleistocene sites containing early axe technology are shown as black circles, sites without early axe technology as gray circles, and sites demonstrating Late Pleistocene occupation of the now submerged continental shelves as white circles. Image credit: Peter Hiscock / Norman et al., doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108418.

Up To Half Million People Once Lived on Now-Submerged Northwest Shelf of Sahul

Dec 20, 2023 by News Staff

The new-submerged Northwest Shelf of Sahul — the combined landmass of Australia and New Guinea at times of lower sea level — was a vast area...

Velazquez-Arcelay et al. found that genetic material from Neanderthal ancestors may have contributed to the propensity of some people today to be early risers, the sort of people who are more comfortable getting up and going to bed earlier. Image credit: Holger Neumann / Neanderthal Museum.

Neanderthals Were Early Risers, New Research Suggests

Dec 14, 2023 by News Staff

When the ancestors of modern Eurasians migrated out of Africa and interbred with Eurasian archaic hominins, namely Neanderthals and Denisovans, DNA of...

Reconstructed life appearance of the straight-tusked elephant Palaeoloxodon antiquus in (top) side and (bottom) frontal view, based on remains uncovered from the Neumark-Nord 1 site in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Image credit: Hsu Shu-yu.

Straight-Tusked Elephant Exploitation Was Widespread among Neanderthals, Archaeologists Say

Dec 7, 2023 by News Staff

Archaeologists from MONREPOS, the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz and Leiden University have recently learned that around 125,000 years ago, hunting...