Anthropology

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.

Anthropology

‘Modern’ humans get an ancient, nonhuman twist

Two new reports suggest that hominids other than Homo sapiens made complex stone tools and fancy necklaces.

Anthropology

Stone Age campers set up separate activity areas

Hominids displayed advanced organizational thinking almost 800,000 years ago

Anthropology

Ancient Maya king shows his foreign roots

Copán’s first king may have been part of a colonial expansion by another, distant Maya kingdom.

Anthropology

Contested signs of mass cannibalism

A new study yields controversial evidence of mass cannibalism in central Europe 7,000 years ago.

Anthropology

For Hadza, build and brawn don’t matter for choosing mates

Study of hunter-gatherer community in Tanzania shows that, across human groups, mating criteria vary.

Anthropology

Macaws bred far from tropics during pre-Columbian times

Colorful birds possibly raised for ceremonial and trade purposes long before Spanish arrival

Anthropology

Droughts gave early humans survival skills for later travels

Droughts were actually good times for early humans, helping to develop skills for survival in other parts of the world, Lisa Grossman reports in a blog from the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing's New Horizons in Science meeting.

Anthropology

Pygmies’ short stature linked to high death rates

Island-dwelling pygmies provide contested evidence that body size shrinks as mortality rates climb.

Anthropology

DNA points to India’s two-pronged ancestry

Two ancient populations laid the genetic foundation for most people now living in India, a new DNA study suggests.

Anthropology

Stone Age twining unraveled

Plant fibers excavated at a cave in western Asia suggest that people there made twine more than 30,000 years ago.