Anthropology

Archaeology

Lucy’s kind used stone tools to butcher animals

Animal bones found in East Africa show the oldest signs of stone-tool use and meat eating by hominids.

Anthropology

Lucy fossil gets jolted upright by Big Man

Scientists have unearthed a 3.6-million-year-old partial hominid skeleton that may recast the iconic species as humanlike walkers.

Anthropology

Contested evidence pushes Ardi out of the woods

A controversial new investigation suggests that the ancient hominid lived on savannas, not in forests.

Anthropology

Lice hang ancient date on first clothes

Genetic analysis puts garment origin at 190,000 years ago.

Anthropology

Hobbit debate goes out on some limbs

A new analysis of fossil hobbits’ limb bones links them to much earlier hominids, and immediately attracts criticism.

Anthropology

For ancient hominids, thumbs up on precision grip

An analysis of a 6-million-year-old bone indicates that a humanlike grasp evolved among some of the earliest hominids.

Anthropology

‘Java Man’ takes age to extremes

New dating of Indonesian strata has produced unexpected results.

Anthropology

Partial skeletons may represent new hominid

Partial skeletons may represent a new hominid species with implications for Homo origins, one researcher claims. But many of his peers disagree.

Anthropology

Inca cemetery holds brutal glimpses of Spanish violence

Bones from a 500-year-old cemetery have yielded the first direct evidence of Inca death at Spaniards’ hands.

Anthropology

Ancient footprints yield oldest signs of upright gait

Human ancestors may have been walking with an efficient, extended-leg technique by 3.6 million years ago.

Anthropology

Farming’s rise cultivated fair deals

A cross-cultural study suggests that the spread of farming unleashed a revolution in concepts of fairness and punishment.

Anthropology

Ancient DNA points to additional New World migration

Scientists have extracted a nearly complete genome from the hairs of a 4,000-year-old man, suggesting a new scenario for Asian migrations into the New World.