Anthropology
- Anthropology
Iceman mummy shares last meals
DNA analyses of food remains from the intestines of a 5,000-year-old mummified man found in Europe's Tyrolean Alps indicate that his last two meals included meat from mountain goats and red deer, as well as wild cereals.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Lucy on the ground with knuckles
Some early human ancestors appear to have walked on all fours using their knuckles, much as chimpanzees do.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Goat busters track domestication
People began to manage herds of wild goats at least 10,000 years ago in western Iran.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Court releases ancient skeleton
A judge's decision gives scientists the right to study the 9,000-year-old skeleton dubbed Kennewick Man rather than turn the remains over to a coalition of Native American tribes for reburial.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Neandertals return at German cave site
Researchers who tracked down the location of a German cave where the first Neandertal skeleton was discovered in 1856 have unearthed new Neandertal finds.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Lost-and-Found Fossil Tot: Neandertal baby rises from French archive
The approximately 40,000-year-old skeleton of a Neandertal baby, filed and forgotten in a French museum for nearly 90 years, has been recovered by an anthropologist.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Gene change hints at brain evolution
A genetic mutation found only in humans first appeared around 2.8 million years ago, perhaps setting the stage for brain enlargement in the Homo lineage.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Ancient populations were game for growth
Archaeological evidence of a Stone Age shift in dietary preferences, from slow to swift small game, suggests that the human population rose sharply sometime between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Drowned land holds clue to first Americans
A map of a now-flooded region charts the path that Asians may have taken to first reach the Americas.
- Anthropology
Evolution’s Surprise: Fossil find uproots our early ancestors
Researchers announced the discovery of a nearly complete fossil skull, along with jaw fragments and isolated teeth, from the earliest known member of the human evolutionary family, which lived in central Africa between 7 million and 6 million years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Cultures of Reason
East Asian and Western cultures may encourage fundamentally different reasoning styles, rather than build on universal processes often deemed necessary for thinking.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Ishi’s Long Road Home
The reappearance of a California Indian's preserved brain, held at the Smithsonian Institution since 1917, triggers debate over the ethics of anthropological research and the repatriation process.
By Bruce Bower