Anthropology
- Anthropology
‘Ghost tracks’ suggest people came to the Americas earlier than once thought
Prehistoric people’s footprints show that humans were in North America during the height of the last ice age, researchers say.
By Freda Kreier - Humans
Fossils and ancient DNA paint a vibrant picture of human origins
Paleoanthropologists have sketched a rough timeline of how human evolution played out, centering the early action in Africa.
By Erin Wayman - Earth
This pictogram is one of the oldest known accounts of earthquakes in the Americas
The Telleriano-Remensis, a famous codex written by a pre-Hispanic civilization, describes 12 quakes that rocked the Americas from 1460 to 1542.
- Anthropology
Stone Age humans or their relatives occasionally trekked through a green Arabia
Hominids periodically inhabited ancient Arabia starting around 400,000 years ago when lakes temporarily formed as a result of monsoons, a study finds.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Ancient DNA shows the peopling of Southeast Asian islands was surprisingly complex
Ancient DNA from a hunter-gatherer skeleton points to earlier-than-expected human arrivals on Southeast Asian islands known as Wallacea.
By Bruce Bower - Archaeology
A 1,000-year-old grave may have held a powerful nonbinary person
A medieval grave in Finland, once thought to maybe hold a respected woman warrior, may belong to someone who didn’t have a strictly male or female identity.
By Bruce Bower - Genetics
An Indigenous people in the Philippines have the most Denisovan DNA
Genetic comparisons crown the Indigenous Ayta Magbukon people as having the most DNA, 5 percent, from the mysterious ancient hominids.
By Bruce Bower - Psychology
Psychology has struggled for a century to make sense of the mind
Research into what makes us tick has been messy and contentious, but has led to intriguing insights.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
A skeleton from Peru vies for the title of oldest known shark attack victim
The 6,000-year-old remains of a teen with a missing leg and tell-tale bite marks came to light after news of a 3,000-year-old victim in Japan surfaced.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
A partial skeleton reveals the world’s oldest known shark attack
An ancient shark bite victim died quickly, before his body was recovered and buried, a new study finds.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
‘Dragon Man’ skull may help oust Neandertals as our closest ancient relative
A Chinese fossil has been classified as a new Homo species that lived more than 146,000 years ago, but not all scientists are convinced.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Israeli fossil finds reveal a new hominid group, Nesher Ramla Homo
Discoveries reveal a new Stone Age population that had close ties to Homo sapiens at least 120,000 years ago, complicating the human family tree.
By Bruce Bower