Anthropology

Anthropology

Iceman mummy shares last meals

DNA analyses of food remains from the intestines of a 5,000-year-old mummified man found in Europe's Tyrolean Alps indicate that his last two meals included meat from mountain goats and red deer, as well as wild cereals.

Anthropology

Lucy on the ground with knuckles

Some early human ancestors appear to have walked on all fours using their knuckles, much as chimpanzees do.

Anthropology

Goat busters track domestication

People began to manage herds of wild goats at least 10,000 years ago in western Iran.

Anthropology

Court releases ancient skeleton

A judge's decision gives scientists the right to study the 9,000-year-old skeleton dubbed Kennewick Man rather than turn the remains over to a coalition of Native American tribes for reburial.

Anthropology

Neandertals return at German cave site

Researchers who tracked down the location of a German cave where the first Neandertal skeleton was discovered in 1856 have unearthed new Neandertal finds.

Anthropology

Lost-and-Found Fossil Tot: Neandertal baby rises from French archive

The approximately 40,000-year-old skeleton of a Neandertal baby, filed and forgotten in a French museum for nearly 90 years, has been recovered by an anthropologist.

Anthropology

Gene change hints at brain evolution

A genetic mutation found only in humans first appeared around 2.8 million years ago, perhaps setting the stage for brain enlargement in the Homo lineage.

Anthropology

Ancient populations were game for growth

Archaeological evidence of a Stone Age shift in dietary preferences, from slow to swift small game, suggests that the human population rose sharply sometime between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago.

Anthropology

Drowned land holds clue to first Americans

A map of a now-flooded region charts the path that Asians may have taken to first reach the Americas.

Anthropology

Evolution’s Surprise: Fossil find uproots our early ancestors

Researchers announced the discovery of a nearly complete fossil skull, along with jaw fragments and isolated teeth, from the earliest known member of the human evolutionary family, which lived in central Africa between 7 million and 6 million years ago.

Anthropology

Cultures of Reason

East Asian and Western cultures may encourage fundamentally different reasoning styles, rather than build on universal processes often deemed necessary for thinking.

Anthropology

Ishi’s Long Road Home

The reappearance of a California Indian's preserved brain, held at the Smithsonian Institution since 1917, triggers debate over the ethics of anthropological research and the repatriation process.