Not Climate Alone: Could Pregnancy Risks Have Weakened the Neanderthals?
For decades, the disappearance of the Neanderthals has been told as a story of cold winds and new rivals. Around 40,000 years ago, Homo neanderthalensis…
human evolution
A Primate Study Suggests the Roots of Language Date Back 40 Million Years
Language may feel like the sharpest line separating humans from the rest of the animal world. It carries myth, law, memory, and mathematics. Yet a…
Europe’s Oldest Elephant Bone Tool Reveals Unexpected Skill Among Early Humans in Britain
Archaeologists working in southern England have identified what is now considered the oldest elephant bone tool ever documented in Europe—a discovery that reshapes how researchers…
Before Homo sapiens Had a Name: 773,000-Year-Old Fossils in Morocco Redraw Humanity’s Deepest Roots
For decades, the search for humanity’s deepest origins revolved around a familiar map: East Africa as the unquestioned cradle, Europe as the stage for later…
DNA Reveals the Hidden Social Life of a 3,500-Year-Old Bronze Age Community in Southern Italy
Deep in the rugged mountains of southern Italy, a prehistoric cave has quietly preserved the genetic memory of a forgotten Bronze Age community. Now, for…
New Study Reveals Neandertals Targeted Outsider Women in Ritual Cannibalism
A newly published study has reshaped our understanding of one of Europe’s most intriguing Neandertal assemblages. Human remains unearthed in the Troisième caverne of Goyet…
DNA From a 46,000-Year-Old Bone in Crimea Reveals Neanderthal Link Between Europe and Siberia
For decades, scientists have been trying to connect the dots between Europe’s fading Neanderthal populations and their eastern relatives in Asia. Now, a single, nearly…
Ardipithecus ramidus: The Early Ancestor That Redefines the Origins of Human Bipedalism
A new study of Ardipithecus ramidus — the 4.4-million-year-old hominin known as “Ardi” — has reignited the debate over how the first humans began to…
Ancient Human Genome from South Africa Reveals One of the Oldest Maternal Lineages Ever Found
A 2,300-year-old skeleton discovered on South Africa’s west coast has provided one of the earliest genetic links to humanity’s common ancestor — a woman known…