Anthropology

Archaeology

To find answers about the 1921 race massacre, Tulsa digs up its painful past

A century ago, hundreds of people died in a horrific eruption of racial violence in Tulsa. A team of researchers may have found a mass grave from the event.

Anthropology

A child’s 78,000-year-old grave marks Africa’s oldest known human burial

Cave excavation of a youngster’s grave pushes back the date of the first human burial identified in the continent by at least a few thousand years.

Anthropology

Little Foot’s shoulders hint at how a human-chimp common ancestor climbed

The shape of the 3.67-million-year-old hominid’s shoulder blades suggests it had a gorilla-like ability to climb trees.

Humans

Neandertal DNA from cave mud shows two waves of migration across Eurasia

Genetic material left behind in sediments reveals new details about how ancient humans once spread across the continent.

Anthropology

A coronavirus epidemic may have hit East Asia about 25,000 years ago

An ancient viral outbreak may have left a genetic mark in East Asians that possibly influences their responses to the virus that causes COVID-19.

Anthropology

‘First Steps’ shows how bipedalism led humans down a strange evolutionary path

In a new book, a paleoanthropologist argues that walking upright has had profound effects on human anatomy and behavior.

Anthropology

Ancient humans may have had apelike brains even after leaving Africa

Modern humanlike brains may have evolved surprisingly late, about 1.7 million years ago, a new study suggests.

Genetics

Europe’s oldest known humans mated with Neandertals surprisingly often

DNA from ancient fossils suggests interbreeding regularly occurred between the two species by about 45,000 years ago, two studies find.

Science & Society

Parents in Western countries report the highest levels of burnout

The first survey comparing parental exhaustion across 42 countries links it to a culture of self-reliance.

Anthropology

How using sheepskin for legal papers may have prevented fraud

Removing fat is key to turning animal skin into parchment. With sheepskin, the process creates a writing surface easily marred by scratched-out words.

Anthropology

Riches in a Bronze Age grave suggest it holds a queen

Researchers have long assumed mostly men ran ancient Bronze Age societies, but the find points to a female ruler in Spain 3,700 years ago.

Anthropology

Finds in a Spanish cave inspire an artistic take on warm-weather Neandertals

Iberia’s mild climate fostered a host of resources for hominids often pegged as mammoth hunters.