Anthropology

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.

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.

Anthropology

Mystery Drilling: Ancient teeth endured dental procedures

Researchers have discovered the oldest known examples of dental work, 11 teeth with drilled holes dating to between 9,000 and 7,500 years ago.

Anthropology

Chimps scratch out grooming requests

Pairs of adult males in a community of wild African chimps often communicate with gestures.

Anthropology

Capuchins resist inbreeding chances

Wild capuchin monkeys manage to avoid inbreeding, despite rampant opportunities for high-status fathers to mate with their grown daughters.

Anthropology

Evolution persisted in agricultural era

Natural selection has continued to propagate survival-enhancing gene variants in human populations over the past 10,000 years, according to a new genetic analysis.

Anthropology

Polynesian Latecomers: Easter Islanders took fast track to culture

New radiocarbon dates from Easter Island indicate that the isolated Polynesian island was first colonized around A.D. 1200, up to 800 years later than had previously been thought.

Anthropology

Big Woman with a Distant Past: Stone Age gal embodies humanity’s cold shifts

A 260,000-year-old partial skeleton previously found in China represents the largest known female among human ancestors and underscores the ancient origins of large, broad bodies adapted for survival in cold conditions.

Anthropology

India cultivated homegrown farmers

A new analysis of Y chromosome structure supports the view that around 10,000 years ago, people living in what's now India took up farming rather than giving way to foreigners who brought agriculture into South Asia.

Anthropology

Stone Age Footwork: Ancient human prints turn up down under

An ancient, dried-up lakeshore in Australia has yielded the largest known collection of Stone Age footprints, made about 20,000 years ago.

Anthropology

European face-off for early farmers

A new analysis of modern and ancient human skulls supports the idea that early farmers in the Middle East spread into Europe between 11,000 and 6,500 years ago, intermarried with people there, and passed on their agricultural way of life to the native Europeans.

Anthropology

The Pirahã Challenge

A linguist has sparked controversy with his proposal that a tribe of about 200 people living in Brazil's Amazon rain forest speaks a language devoid of counting and color terms, clauses, and other elements of grammar often considered to be universal.