Anthropology

  1. Anthropology

    Low-status chimps revealed as trendsetters

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

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  2. 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.

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  3. 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.

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  4. 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.

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  5. 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.

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  6. Archaeology

    Real-life adventure tale details search for legendary city

    "The Lost City of the Monkey God" recounts archaeological expedition to uncover truth behind Honduras’ “White City" myth.

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  7. Archaeology

    Hunter-gatherers were possibly first to call Tibetan Plateau home

    Hunter-gatherers may have been Asia’s first year-round, high-altitude settlers.

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  8. Archaeology

    Ancient Egyptian pot burials were not just for the poor

    In ancient Egypt, using pots for burial containers was a symbolic choice, not a last resort, archaeologists say.

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  9. Anthropology

    Monkeys have vocal tools, but not brains, to talk like humans

    Macaques have vocal tracts, but not brains, built for talking much as people do, scientists say.

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  10. Anthropology

    New footprint finds suggest range of body sizes for Lucy’s species

    Tracks discovered in Tanzania appear to have belonged to the tallest known Australopithecus afarensis individual, but stature estimates can be tricky.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Oldest traces of smallpox virus found in child mummy

    The oldest genetic evidence of smallpox comes from variola virus DNA found in a child mummy buried in a church crypt in Lithuania.

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  12. Anthropology

    Readers ponder hominid hookups and more

    Neandertal evolution, quantum internet and more in reader feedback.

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