Anthropology

  1. Anthropology

    How humans (maybe) domesticated themselves

    Prior to taming other species, humans selected for more docile traits among fellow Homo sapiens, a slew of recent studies suggest.

    By Erika Engelhaupt
  2. Anthropology

    The southern drawl gets deconstructed

    Analysis of the diversity of vowel sounds found in southern accents could help developers of speech recognition software.

    By Rachel Ehrenberg
  3. Anthropology

    Carved human skulls found at ancient worship center in Turkey

    Visitors to an ancient ritual site may have carved human skulls as part of ancestor worship.

    By Bruce Bower
  4. Archaeology

    Sound-reflecting shelters inspired ancient rock artists

    Ancient Europeans sought rock art sites where sounds carried.

    By Bruce Bower
  5. Anthropology

    Oldest known Homo sapiens fossils come from northern Africa, studies claim

    Moroccan fossils proposed as oldest known H. sapiens, from around 300,000 years ago.

    By Bruce Bower
  6. Archaeology

    Peru’s plenty brought ancient human migration to a crawl

    Ancient Americans reached Peru 15,000 years ago and stayed put, excavations suggest.

    By Bruce Bower
  7. Archaeology

    Tool sharpens focus on Stone Age networking in the Middle East

    Stone Age tool’s route to Syrian site covered at least 700 kilometers.

    By Bruce Bower
  8. Anthropology

    European fossils may belong to earliest known hominid

    With new analyses of Graecopithecus fossils from Greece and Bulgaria, researchers argue for possible hominid origins in Europe, not Africa.

    By Bruce Bower
  9. Animals

    Orangutans take motherhood to extremes, nursing young for more than eight years

    Weaning in orangutans has been tricky to see in the wild, so researchers turned to dental tests to reveal long nursing period.

    By Susan Milius
  10. Archaeology

    Chaco Canyon’s ancient civilization continues to puzzle

    A dynasty may have risen from the dead in an ancient Chaco great house.

    By Bruce Bower
  11. Science & Society

    New museum exhibit explores science of racism

    “Us and Them,” a new exhibit at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, draws on genetics, psychology, anthropology and sociology to examine why racism and prejudice persist.

    By Laura Spinney
  12. Anthropology

    Homo naledi may have lived at around same time as early humans

    South African species Homo naledi is much younger than previously thought.

    By Bruce Bower