Anthropology

Archaeology

Shock-absorbing spear points kept early North Americans on the hunt

Ancient Americans invented a way to make spear points last on an unfamiliar continent.

Archaeology

Stone Age hunter-gatherers tackled their cavities with a sharp tool and tar

Late Stone Age hunter-gatherers scraped and coated away tooth decay.

Anthropology

Neandertals had an eye for patterns

Neandertals carved notches in a raven bone, possibly to produce a pleasing or symbolic pattern, scientists say.

Archaeology

Ancient Romans may have been cozier with Huns than they let on

Nomadic Huns and Roman farmers shared ways of life on the Roman Empire’s fifth century frontier.

Archaeology

Ancient nomadic herders beat a path to the Silk Road

Herders’ mountain treks helped mold the Silk Road, an ancient, cross-continental trade network.

Anthropology

‘Monkeytalk’ invites readers into the complex social world of monkeys

In Monkeytalk, a primatologist evaluates what’s known about monkeys’ complex social lives in the wild.

Anthropology

Power may have passed via women in ancient Chaco Canyon society

DNA points to a 330-year-long reign of a maternal dynasty centered in New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon.

Anthropology

Low-status chimps revealed as trendsetters

Outranked chimpanzees trigger spread of useful new behaviors among their comrades.

Animals

‘Cannibalism’ chronicles grisly science of eating your own

In "Cannibalism", a zoologist explores a grisly topic that scientists have only recently begun to study seriously.

Anthropology

DNA points to millennia of stability in East Asian hunter-fisher population

Ancient hunter-gatherers in East Asia are remarkably similar, genetically, to modern people living in the area. Unlike what happened in Western Europe, this region might not have seen waves of farmers take over.

Archaeology

Iron Age secrets exhumed from riches-filled crypt

Wealthy woman’s 2,600-year-old grave highlights Central Europe’s early Iron Age links to Mediterranean societies.

Anthropology

Snooze patterns vary across cultures, opening eyes to evolution of sleep

Sleep plays out differently across cultures, but a consistent cycle of z’s and activity appears crucial.