Genetics
South Americans may have traveled to Polynesia 800 years ago
DNA analyses suggest that Indigenous people from South America had a role in the early peopling of Polynesia.
Anthropology
More Stories in Anthropology
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AnthropologyAfrica’s biggest collection of ancient human footprints has been found
Preserved impressions in East Africa offer a glimpse of ancient human behavior.
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AnthropologyThe earliest known humans in Europe may have been found in a Bulgarian cave
New finds from Bulgaria point to a relatively rapid expansion of Homo sapiens into Eurasia starting as early as 46,000 years ago, two studies suggest.
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Anthropology16th century skeletons suggest the slave trade brought some diseases to Mexico
Slaves buried in a 16th century grave in Mexico had hepatitis B and yaws, suggesting the slave trade helped spread some versions of those diseases.
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AnthropologySkeletal damage hints some hunter-gatherer women fought in battles
Contrary to traditional views, women in North American hunter-gatherer societies and Mongolian herding groups likely weren’t all stay-at-home types.
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PaleontologyTwo primate lineages crossed the Atlantic millions of years ago
Peruvian primate fossils point to a second ocean crossing by a now-extinct group roughly 35 million to 32 million years ago.
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HumansSouthern Africa may have hosted a hominid transition 2 million years ago
Braincases excavated from the Drimolen caves suggest Homo erectus and Paranthropus robustus may have coexisted in southern Africa.
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AnthropologyLucy’s species heralded the rise of long childhoods in hominids
Australopithecus afarensis had prolonged brain growth before the Homo genus appeared, but it still resulted in brains with chimplike neural structure.
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AnthropologyThis 300,000-year-old skull may be from an African ‘ghost’ population
The age of the mysterious Broken Hill fossil suggests it came from a hominid that lived around the same time as both Homo sapiens and H. naledi.
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ArchaeologyNeandertals’ extensive seafood menu rivals that of ancient humans
Finds from a coastal cave in Portugal reveal repeated ocean foraging for this European hominid.