Archaeology

Humans

Fossils reveal a strong-armed, dead-end hominid

Olduvai Gorge finds suggest extinct hominid both walked and hung out in trees.

Archaeology

Early shrine unearthed at Nepal Buddhist site

Ritual structure could help pin down when the sage known as the Buddha lived in South Asia.

Genetics

Ancient Siberian bones clarify Native American origins

Some New World ancestors came from western Eurasia, not East Asia.

Anthropology

Human ancestors threw stone-tipped spears at prey

African discoveries show that hunting weapons thrown from a distance appeared by 279,000 years ago.

Anthropology

Ancient farming populations went boom, then bust

Agriculture’s introduction led to big falls as well as rises in numbers of Europeans.

Astronomy

‘Space beads’ push back origins of iron working

Ancient Egyptians used advanced techniques to make beads out of 'metal from the sky.'

Archaeology

Notorious Bones

South African finds enter fray over origins of the human genus.

Anthropology

Agriculture’s roots spread east to Iran

Dig supports prolonged development of domesticated crops at ancient sites across the Fertile Crescent.

Archaeology

Pre-Inca empire tomb found untouched in Peru

Gold jewelry, bronze axes and dozens of bodies were among the contents of the Wari empire ceremonial room.

Humans

Aerial radar sizes up ancient urban sprawl

Angkor, the capital of Cambodia's Khmer empire, included carefully planned  suburbs that spread across the landscape.

Archaeology

Ancient Siberians may have rarely hunted mammoths

Occasional kills by Stone Age humans could not have driven creatures to extinction, researchers say.

Archaeology

Italians taught French wine-making

Archaeology suggests Etruscans brought the grape to Gaul.