Anthropology

  1. 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.

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  2. 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.

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  3. 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.

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  4. Anthropology

    Variety spices up Neandertals’ DNA

    A surprising amount of genetic diversity characterized Neandertals.

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  5. 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.

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  6. 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.

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  7. Anthropology

    Making sacrifices in Stone Age societies

    A half-dozen burials at sites in Europe and western Asia dating to between 27,000 and 23,000 years ago provide clues to possible human sacrifices.

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  8. Anthropology

    Digging up debate in a French cave

    A scientific debate has broken out over whether a French cave excavated more than 50 years ago contains evidence of separate Stone Age occupations by Neandertals and modern humans.

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  9. Anthropology

    Neandertals take out their small blades

    Excavations of Neandertal artifacts have yielded a trove of thin, double-edged stone blades that researchers usually regard as the work of Stone Age people who lived much later.

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  10. Anthropology

    Ancient islanders get a leg up

    A new analysis of bones from a tiny evolutionary cousin of people found on a Pacific island indicates that these late Stone Age individuals carried a lot of weight on short frames and had extremely strong legs.

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  11. Anthropology

    Evolutionary Back Story: Thoroughly modern spine supported human ancestor

    Bones from a spinal column discovered at a nearly 1.8-million-year-old site support the controversial possibility that ancient human ancestors spoke to one another.

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  12. Anthropology

    Branchless Evolution: Fossils point to single hominid root

    Fossils of a 4.1-million-year-old human ancestor in Ethiopia bolster the controversial idea that early members of our evolutionary family arose one species at a time rather than branching out into numerous species.

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