Anthropology

Anthropology

Digging that Maya blue

The unusual pigment Maya blue was probably made over an incense fire as part of a ceremony honoring the rain god Chaak, a new analysis of a pot reveals.

Anthropology

Hairy Forensics: Isotopes can identify the regions where a person may have lived

The proportions of certain chemical isotopes in someone's hair can help detectives pin down that individual's region of origin and track their recent movements, a finding that could be particularly useful in forensic investigations.

Anthropology

Infectious Voyagers: DNA suggests Columbus took syphilis to Europe

A genetic analysis of syphilis and related bacterial strains from different parts of the world fits the theory that Christopher Columbus and his crew brought syphilis from the Americas to Renaissance Europe, where it evolved into modern strains of the sexually transmitted disease.

Anthropology

Ancient Ailment? Early human may have carried tuberculosis

A 500,000-year-old Homo erectus skull from Turkey may show telltale signs of tuberculosis, by far the earliest such evidence of the disease.

Anthropology

Northwest Passage: Americas populated via Alaska, genetics show

A single population of prehistoric Siberians crossed the Bering Strait into Alaska and fanned out to North and South America, a new genetic analysis of living Native Americans suggests.

Anthropology

Ancient-ape remains discovered in Kenya

Newly unearthed fossils of a 9.8-million-year-old ape in eastern Africa come from a creature that may have evolved into a common ancestor of African apes and humans.

Anthropology

Wild chimps scale branches of culture

Distinctive behaviors in wild-chimp communities point to a basic cultural capacity in these animals.

Anthropology

DNA to Neandertals: Lighten up

DNA analysis indicates that some Neandertals may have had a gene for pale skin and red hair.

Anthropology

Fossil Sparks

Two new fossil discoveries and an analysis of ancient teeth challenge traditional assumptions about ape and human evolution.

Anthropology

Not So Clear-Cut: Soil erosion may not have led to Mayan downfall

Hand-planted maize, beans, and squash sustained the Mayans for millennia, until their culture collapsed about 1,100 years ago. Some researchers have suggested that the Mayans’ very success in turning forests into farmland led to soil erosion that made farming increasingly difficult and eventually caused their downfall. But a new study of ancient lake sediments has […]

Anthropology

Going Coastal: Sea cave yields ancient signs of modern behavior

A South African cave yields evidence of complex, symbolic behavior among ancient people about 164,000 years ago, the oldest such indications yet.

Anthropology

Ancient DNA moves Neandertals eastward

Evidence from mitochondrial DNA indicates that Neandertals lived 2,000 kilometers farther east than previously thought.