Anthropology

  1. Humans

    Ancient hominid had an unusual diet

    A long-extinct member of the human evolutionary family had an uncommon taste for grasses and sedges.

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  2. Humans

    An ancient civilization’s wet ascent, dry demise

    Cave data suggest that ancient rainfall patterns swayed the course of Classic Maya societies.

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  3. Humans

    Ancient blades served as early weapons

    African find reveals complex toolmaking 71,000 years ago.

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  4. Humans

    Shoulder fossil may put Lucy’s kind up a tree

    Fossils of an ancient child suggest the more than 3-million-year-old hominid mixed climbing with walking.

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  5. Math

    Living longer comes easier

    Human longevity is largely a modern phenomenon.

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  6. Humans

    Human-Neandertal mating gets a new date

    Late Stone Age interbreeding between Neandertals and people may have left a mark on Europeans’ DNA.

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  7. Humans

    In New Guinea, peace comes with a price

    Conflict resolution in small-scale societies may have contributed to declines in state-sponsored violence.

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  8. Humans

    Feather finds hint at Neandertal art

    Plumage found at ancient sites may indicate capability for abstract thought among humans’ Stone Age cousins.

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  9. Humans

    Herders, not farmers, built Stonehenge

    Farming’s temporary demise in ancient Britain may have spurred the creation of the iconic stone circle.

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  10. Humans

    Language family may have Anatolian origins

    Major language family started in Anatolia 8,000 years ago or more, a contentious analysis concludes.

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  11. Humans

    Good times led to grisly custom

    Ancient Chileans developed artificial mummification after an increase in the numbers of living and dead people made naturally preserved bodies hard to ignore.

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  12. Humans

    New fossils hint at ancestral split

    Jaw and face bones suggest two Homo species lived in East Africa nearly 2 million years ago.

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