Anthropology
- Humans
Ancient jaw may hold clues to origins of human genus
A 2.8-million-year-old fossil from Ethiopia raises questions about the origins and evolution of the human genus, Homo.
- Anthropology
Wheat reached England before farming
European hunter-gatherers may have traded for agricultural products 8,000 years ago.
- Anthropology
Fossil teeth flesh out ancient kids’ varied growth rates
X-ray technique sheds light on hominids’ developmental variety.
- Anthropology
Ancient Maya bookmakers get paged in Guatemala
New discoveries peg ritual specialists as force behind bark-paper tomes and wall murals.
- Anthropology
Israeli fossil may recast history of first Europeans
New find suggests humans mated with Neandertals in Middle East before taking on Europe.
- Anthropology
Scans tell gripping tale of possible ancient tool use
South African fossils contain inner signs of humanlike hands, indicating possible tool use nearly 3 million years ago.
- Archaeology
Stones challenge dating of Easter Island collapse
Despite losing ground in some areas, Polynesian farmers outlasted European contact.
- Anthropology
Year in review: Asian cave art got an early start
Stone Age cave painting began at about the same time in Southeast Asia as in Europe, challenging the idea that Western Europeans cornered the market on creativity 40,000 years ago.
- Humans
Year in review: Genes, bones tell new Clovis stories
The genes and bones of the Clovis people reveal the range and legacy of the early North Americans.
- Archaeology
Human ancestors engraved abstract patterns
Indonesian Homo erectus carved zigzags on a shell at least 430,000 years ago.
- Archaeology
Barley elevated Central Asian farmers to ‘the roof of the world’
Hardy western crops allowed villagers to settle in the cold, thin air atop the Tibetan Plateau.
- Neuroscience
A species of invention
From early humans painting on cave walls to modern-day engineers devising ways to help people move better, the drive to innovate is simply part of who humans are.
