Anthropology
- Anthropology
Ancient humans may have had apelike brains even after leaving Africa
Modern humanlike brains may have evolved surprisingly late, about 1.7 million years ago, a new study suggests.
- Genetics
Europe’s oldest known humans mated with Neandertals surprisingly often
DNA from ancient fossils suggests interbreeding regularly occurred between the two species by about 45,000 years ago, two studies find.
By Bruce Bower - Science & Society
Parents in Western countries report the highest levels of burnout
The first survey comparing parental exhaustion across 42 countries links it to a culture of self-reliance.
By Sujata Gupta - Anthropology
How using sheepskin for legal papers may have prevented fraud
Removing fat is key to turning animal skin into parchment. With sheepskin, the process creates a writing surface easily marred by scratched-out words.
- Anthropology
Riches in a Bronze Age grave suggest it holds a queen
Researchers have long assumed mostly men ran ancient Bronze Age societies, but the find points to a female ruler in Spain 3,700 years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Finds in a Spanish cave inspire an artistic take on warm-weather Neandertals
Iberia’s mild climate fostered a host of resources for hominids often pegged as mammoth hunters.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Ardi may have been more chimplike than initially thought — or not
A contested study of hand and foot fossils suggests this 4.4-million-year-old hominid was a tree climber and branch swinger.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
A body burned inside a hut 20,000 years ago signaled shifting views of death
Ancient hunter-gatherers burned a hut in which they had placed a dead woman, suggesting a change in how death was viewed.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Humanlike thumb dexterity may date back as far as 2 million years ago
A computer analysis suggests early Homo species developed a powerful grip, giving them an evolutionary edge over some other tool-using hominids.
By Bruce Bower - Anthropology
Ice Age hunters’ leftovers may have fueled dog domestication
Ancient people tamed wolves by feeding them surplus game, researchers suggest.
By Bruce Bower - Genetics
Plague may have caused die-offs of ancient Siberians
DNA suggests that the deadly bacterium that causes the plague reached northeast Asia by 4,400 years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Archaeology
Ancient people may have survived desert droughts by melting ice in lava tubes
Bands of charcoal from fires lit long ago, found in an ice core from a New Mexico cave, correspond to five periods of drought over 800 years.