Anthropology
- Anthropology
Female big-game hunters may have been surprisingly common in the ancient Americas
A Peruvian burial that indicates that women speared large prey as early as 9,000 years ago sheds new light on gender roles of ancient hunter-gatherers.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
These human nerve cell tendrils turned to glass nearly 2,000 years ago
Part of a young man’s brain was preserved in A.D. 79 by hot ash from Mount Vesuvius’ eruption.
- Anthropology
The first Denisovan DNA outside Siberia unveils a long stint on the roof of the world
Genetic evidence puts Denisovans, humankind’s now-extinct cousins, on the Tibetan Plateau from 100,000 to at least 60,000 years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Mummified llamas yield new insights into Inca ritual sacrifices
Bound and decorated llamas, found at an Inca site in southern Peru, may have been buried alive as part of events in annexed territories.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Homo erectus, not humans, may have invented the barbed bone point
Carved artifacts excavated from Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge suggest now-extinct hominids made barbed bone points long before humans did, researchers say.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
How environmental changes may have helped make ancient humans more adaptable
An East African sediment core unveils ecological changes underlying a key Stone Age transition.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Neandertal babies had stocky chests like their parents
Our evolutionary relatives may have inherited short, deep rib cages from their ancient ancestors.
By Bruce Bower - Archaeology
Bones from an Iron Age massacre paint a violent picture of prehistoric Europe
Bones left unburied, and in one case still wearing jewelry, after a massacre add to evidence that prehistoric Europe was a violent place.
- Anthropology
Seven footprints may be the oldest evidence of humans on the Arabian Peninsula
In what’s now desert, people and other animals stopped to drink at a lake more than 100,000 years ago, a new study suggests.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
A stray molar is the oldest known fossil from an ancient gibbon
A newly described tooth puts ancestors of these small-bodied apes in India roughly 13 million years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Humans
Ancient sculptures hint at universal facial expressions across cultures
Interpreting the emotions carved onto sculptures from long ago offers a new way to study how humans perceive facial expressions.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Better playground design could help kids get more exercise
Playgrounds designed for imaginative play can make a difference in how much kids move
By Emily Anthes