Archaeology
- Anthropology
Ancient kids’ toys have been hiding in the archaeological record
Some unusual finds from thousands of years ago are actually toys and children’s attempts at mimicking adult craftwork.
- Psychology
When it’s playtime, many kids prefer reality over fantasy
Given a choice between fantasy play and doing the things that adults do, children prefer reality-based tasks, studies suggest.
- Archaeology
Sharp stones found in India signal surprisingly early toolmaking advances
Toolmaking revolution reached what’s now India before Homo sapiens did, a new study suggests.
- Anthropology
An ancient jaw pushes humans’ African departure back in time
If an ancient jaw found in an Israeli cave belongs to Homo sapiens, the humans left Africa tens of thousands of years earlier than we thought.
- Cosmology
Readers wonder about the universe’s expansion and more
Readers had questions about the universe's accelerating expansion, a hidden void in the Great Pyramid of Giza and what happens to human waste in space.
- Anthropology
‘First Face of America’ explores how humans reached the New World
New documentary shows how an ancient teen and an infant have illuminated scientists’ understanding of the peopling of the Americas.
- Anthropology
DNA solves the mystery of how these mummies were related
Two ancient Egyptian mummies known as the Two Brothers had the same mother, but different dads.
- Archaeology
How the Dead Sea Scrolls survived a war in the 1960s
50 years after the Dead Sea Scrolls survived a war, another possible scroll cave offered tantalizing new clues.
- Humans
The story of humans’ origins got a revision in 2017
Human evolution may have involved the gradual assembly of scattered skeletal traits, fossils of Homo naledi and other species show.
- Anthropology
Strong-armed women helped power Europe’s ancient farming revolution
Intensive manual labor gave ancient farm women arms that female rowers today would envy.
- Archaeology
Hidden hoard hints at how ancient elites protected the family treasures
A secret stash at an ancient site in Israel called Megiddo illuminates the Iron Age practice of hoarding wealth.
- Archaeology
Skeletons could provide clues to who wrote or protected the Dead Sea Scrolls
Skeletons suggest a group of celibate men inhabited Dead Sea Scrolls site.
