Anthropology

Anthropology

Asian primates hit hard by ancient climate change

Chinese fossils suggest primates diverged in Asia and Africa around 34 million years ago.

Anthropology

Risky skull surgery done for ritual reasons 6,000 years ago

Some ancient skull surgeries hinged on ritual, not on medical treatment.

Archaeology

Lasers unveil secrets and mysteries of Angkor Wat

The world’s largest temple, Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, was revealed by laser and radar studies to be part of a sprawling medieval metropolis.

Anthropology

Belize cave was Maya child sacrifice site

Bones in Central American cave suggest many Maya sacrificial victims were children.

Humans

Pieces of Homo naledi story continue to puzzle

Researchers defend Homo naledi as a new hominid species and debate how it reached an underground cave.

Anthropology

Viking-era woman sheds light on Iceland’s earliest settlers

Viking-era woman accompanied island’s early settlers as a child from Scandinavia or Britain.

Anthropology

Hobbits died out earlier than thought

Tiny Indonesian hominids disappeared earlier than thought, around 50,000 years ago.

Anthropology

Ancient DNA reveals who is in Spain’s ‘pit of bones’ cave

Ancient DNA shows Neandertals lived in northern Spain 430,000 years ago; the early date raises new questions about Neandertals’ origins.

Neuroscience

Readers respond to stress, tattoos, and the universe

Stress, tattoos, cosmic origins and more reader feedback.

Anthropology

H. erectus cut, chewed way through evolution

A diet that included raw, sliced meat changed the face of early Homo evolution, scientists say.

Anthropology

Rise of human civilization tied to belief in punitive gods

Beliefs in all-knowing, punitive deities may have fueled the growth of human civilizations.

Animals

Africa’s poison arrow beetles are key in traditional hunting method

In the Kalahari of Namibia, some San people still hunt with a traditional method — arrows laced with poison taken from beetle larvae.