Anthropology
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AnthropologyConflict reigns over the history and origins of money
Thousands of years ago, money took different forms as a means of debt payment, archaeologists and anthropologists say.
By Bruce Bower -
AnthropologyHow an ancient stone money system works like cryptocurrency
Money has ancient and mysterious pedigrees that go way beyond coins.
By Bruce Bower -
EarthYou’re living in a new geologic age. It’s called the Meghalayan
The newly defined Meghalayan Age began at the same time as a global, climate-driven event that led to human upheavals.
By Beth Geiger -
GeneticsNorth America’s earliest dogs came from Siberia
North America’s first dogs have few descendants alive today, a study of ancient DNA suggests.
By Bruce Bower -
AnthropologyFoot fossil pegs hominid kids as upright walkers 3.3 million years ago
A foot from an ancient hominid child suggests that Lucy’s species, Australopithecus afarensis, walked early in life.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologyMongolians practiced horse dentistry as early as 3,200 years ago
Horse dentistry got an early start among Bronze Age Mongolian herders.
By Bruce Bower -
AnthropologyKoko the gorilla is gone, but she left a legacy
An ape that touched millions imparted some hard lessons about primate research.
By Bruce Bower -
AnthropologyA 2,200-year-old Chinese tomb held a new gibbon species, now extinct
Researchers have discovered a new gibbon species in an ancient royal Chinese tomb. It's already extinct.
By Bruce Bower -
ArchaeologyThis theory suggests few workers were needed to cap Easter Island statues
A small workforce may have put huge stones on the heads of Easter Island statues.
By Bruce Bower -
ClimateThe first Americans could have taken a coastal route into the New World
Alaskan glaciers retreated in time for ancient coastal entries of the first Americans.
By Bruce Bower -
AnimalsPregnant bonobos get a little delivery help from their friends
As in humans, female bonobos become helpers for mothers giving birth, data from captive apes suggest.
By Bruce Bower -
AnthropologyAncient Chinese farmers sowed literal seeds of change in Southeast Asia
Two waves of ancient migration from China to Southeast Asia spread farming and languages.
By Bruce Bower