Anthropology
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LifeNeandertal relative bred with humans
Known only through DNA extracted from a scrap of bone, a Siberian hominid group suggests a much more complicated prehistory for Homo sapiens.
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HumansAncient hominid butchers get trampled
Bone marks advanced as evidence of stone-tool use to butcher animals 3.4 million years ago may actually have resulted from animal trampling, scientists say.
By Bruce Bower -
HumansDeep African roots for toolmaking method
A method for trimming stone-tool edges appeared 75,000 years ago in southern Africa, archaeologists contend, long before previous evidence of the practice.
By Bruce Bower -
HumansAncient New Guinea settlers headed for the hills
Humans had reached the rugged land by sea and quickly adapted to the mile-high forested interior by nearly 50,000 years ago, stone tools and plant remains indicate.
By Bruce Bower -
HumansNeandertals blasted out of existence, archaeologists propose
An eruption may have wiped out Neandertals in Europe and western Asia, clearing the region for Stone Age Homo sapiens.
By Bruce Bower -
HumansClues to child sacrifices found in Inca building
Children killed in elaborate rituals were drawn from all over the South American empire, new research suggests.
By Bruce Bower -
AnthropologyPrehistoric ‘Iceman’ gets ceremonial twist
Rather than dying alone high in the Alps, Ötzi may have been ritually buried there, a new study suggests.
By Bruce Bower -
AnthropologyGenome of a chief
Ancient DNA experts say they are analyzing a lock of Sitting Bull's hair.
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ArchaeologyLucy’s kind used stone tools to butcher animals
Animal bones found in East Africa show the oldest signs of stone-tool use and meat eating by hominids.
By Bruce Bower -
AnthropologyLucy fossil gets jolted upright by Big Man
Scientists have unearthed a 3.6-million-year-old partial hominid skeleton that may recast the iconic species as humanlike walkers.
By Bruce Bower -
AnthropologyContested evidence pushes Ardi out of the woods
A controversial new investigation suggests that the ancient hominid lived on savannas, not in forests.
By Bruce Bower -
AnthropologyLice hang ancient date on first clothes
Genetic analysis puts garment origin at 190,000 years ago.
By Bruce Bower