Humans
Evolving an arch across the foot’s width helped hominids walk upright
The arch across the foot evolved at least 3.4 million years ago, possibly before the lengthwise arch. Both arches help humans to walk and run.
Anthropology
More Stories in Anthropology
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AnthropologyNeandertals dove and harvested clamshells for tools near Italy’s shores
The discovery of sharpened shells broadens the reputation of Stone Age human relatives: Neandertals weren’t just one-trick mammoth hunters.
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HumansHomo erectus arrived in Indonesia 300,000 years later than previously thought
The extinct, humanlike hominid likely reached the island of Java by around 1.3 million years ago, a study finds.
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AnthropologyHomo erectus’ last known appearance dates to roughly 117,000 years ago
New evidence helps resolve a debate over how long ago Home erectus survived in what’s now Indonesia, a study finds.
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Science & SocietyThese science claims from 2019 could be big deals — if true
Some of this year’s most tantalizing scientific finds aren’t yet ready for a “best of” list.
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HumansMysterious Denisovans emerged from the shadows in 2019
Denisovan fossil and DNA finds this year highlighted the enigmatic hominid’s complexity and our own hybrid roots.
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Science & SocietyA Dallas museum hosts rare hominid fossils from South Africa
Fossils of the South African hominids Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi are on display at the Perot Museum of Science and History in Dallas.
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HumansThe medieval Catholic Church may have helped spark Western individualism
Early Catholic Church decrees transformed families and may help explain why Western societies today tend to be individualistic and nonconformist.
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HumansFossils suggest tree-dwelling apes walked upright long before hominids did
A partial skeleton from an 11.6-million-year-old European ape still doesn’t answer how hominids adopted a two-legged gait.
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ArchaeologyA toe bone hints that Neandertals used eagle talons as jewelry
An ancient eagle toe bone elevates the case for the use of symbolic bird-of-prey pendants among Neandertals, researchers say.