Anthropology

Anthropology

Evolution’s Child: Fossil puts youthful twist on Lucy’s kind

Researchers have announced the discovery of the oldest and most complete fossil child in our evolutionary family yet found.

Anthropology

Neandertal debate goes south

A controversial report concludes that Neandertals lived on southwestern Europe's Iberian coast until 24,000 years ago, sharing the area for several thousand years with modern humans before dying out.

Anthropology

Scripted Stone: Ancient block may bear Americas’ oldest writing

A slab of stone found by road builders in southern Mexico may contain the oldest known writing in the Americas, although some scientists regard the nearly 3,000-year-old inscriptions cautiously.

Anthropology

Chimps spread out their tools

Chimpanzees use stones to crack nuts in an African region far from where that behavior was thought to be relegated.

Anthropology

Mental Leap

As scientists discover traits shared by human and ape ancestors millions of years ago, they try to fill in the gaps of human evolution.

Anthropology

Evolution’s DNA Difference: Noncoding gene tied to origin of human brain

Investigators have discovered a gene that shows signs of having evolved rapidly in people and of having made a substantial contribution to the emergence of a uniquely human brain.

Anthropology

Little Ancestor, Big Debate: Tiny islanders’ identity sparks dispute

New measurements bolster the 2-year-old claim that fossils of a half-size human ancestor found on an Indonesian island represent a new species.

Anthropology

Did small hominids have a genetic defect?

Miniature humans whose prehistoric remains were recently unearthed on an Indonesian island may have had a genetic disease known as Laron syndrome.

Anthropology

Mexican find reveals ancient dental work

A 4,500-year-old human skeleton found in Mexico represents the earliest instance in the Americas of intentionally modified teeth, apparently to create space for a ceremonial mouthpiece.

Anthropology

Variety spices up Neandertals’ DNA

A surprising amount of genetic diversity characterized Neandertals.

Anthropology

Hybrid-Driven Evolution: Genomes show complexity of human-chimp split

A controversial new genetic comparison suggests that human and chimpanzee ancestors interbred for several million years before evolving into reproductively separate species no more than 6.3 million years ago.

Anthropology

Cattle’s Call of the Wild: Domestication may hold complex genetic tale

A new investigation of DNA that was obtained from modern cattle and from fossils of their ancient, wild ancestors challenges the idea that herding and farming groups in the Near East domesticated cattle about 11,000 years ago.