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Evolution & Human Origins

We bring you all the latest news and discoveries relating to human origins and evolution. The more fossils that are unearthed, the more researchers admit that there is much that is still unknown about the evolution of humans.

Skull of ‘Luzio’. The investigation that covered four different parts of Brazil carried out analysis of genomic data from 34 fossils, including larger skeletons and the famous mounds of shells and fishbones built on the coast. Source: André Strauss/Nature

Lost Civilization of the Sambaquis Builders: Unraveling the Mystery of Luzio's People

A team of researchers has unearthed and analyzed genomic data from 34 ancient skeletons scattered across Brazil. Their new study reveals the astonishing tale of 'Luzio,' a courageous wanderer who was...
Representation of an Australopithecus family. The evolution of human birth takes us back to Australopithecus afarensis like “Lucy” that may have required some help in childbirth. Source:  Andrii/Adobe Stock

The Evolution of Human Birth: An Incredible Story a Million Years in the Making

Australopithecus afarensis, a human ancestor could have given birth in a way that combines the childbirth practices of chimpanzees and human beings a team of scientists have claimed. They reported...
A comparison of great ape and human skeletons in genetic move to bipedalism. Source: Alexander Potapov/ Adobe Stock

New Study Sheds Light on Genetic Human Skeletal Changes that Led to Bipedalism

Researchers have conducted a groundbreaking study using imaging data from over 30,000 participants in the UK Biobank to gain insights into the genetic basis of human skeletal proportions and their...
Grave goods from the Copper Age cemetery of Varna on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The copper and gold objects are considered the oldest in the world. Source: © Kalin Dimitrov/Max Planck Institute

Early Intermingling Helped Boost Copper Age European Progress

A key aspect of historic human prosperity was “mingling.” In a groundbreaking discovery, a new gene study sheds light on the fascinating interactions between Copper Age civilizations in Europe,...
Artistic reconstruction showing how throwing sticks like the Schöningen Spears would have been thrown.	Source: Benoit Clarys, Universität Tübingen/CC0

300,000-Year-Old Schöningen Spears Reveal Prehistoric Advanced Woodworking

Excavated in the 1990s, the legendary Schöningen spears from Germany, the oldest weapons in human history, have consistently provided fascinating insights into the behavior of our early human...
Carved giant sloth bones indicate humans in South America. Source: ©Mirian Pacheco/The Royal Society Publishing

Historical Timeline Shook: Human Arrival in South America Pushed Back to 25,000 Years Ago

Human arrival in the Americas has a long-disputed timeline, and new evidence supports pushing back the date for human arrival in South America to at least 25,000 years ago. The evidence? Remains of...
CGI of a prehistoric woman hunting big game. Source: nsit0108/Adobe Stock

Study Shows Prehistoric “Man Hunter, Woman Gatherer” View Is Grossly Inaccurate

For a long time, it has been believed that prehistoric men played the role of hunters while women took on the role of gatherers. However, a recent study uncovers that both men and women in hunter-...
View of the hominin tibia from Koobi For a, with magnified area that shows cut marks that are evidence of possible prehistoric cannibalism. 	Source: Jennifer Clark/Smithsonian

Prehistoric Cannibalism Revealed? Human Relatives Butchered Each Other 1.45 Million Years Ago

A human leg bone dating back to 1.45 million years ago is marked with 11 tiny cut marks. A new study shows that while two were made by an animal, probably a lion, the remaining 9 suggest another...
Ancient spearheads. Source: Enrique / Adobe Stock.

Blood Residue Found on 13,000-Year-Old Ice Age Weapons

The earliest people who lived in North America shared the landscape with huge animals. On any day these hunter-gatherers might encounter a giant, snarling saber-toothed cat ready to pounce, or a...
Investigators in Tam Pà Ling Cave in northern Laos. Source: Kira Westaway/ The Conversation

Modern Humans Went to Southeast Asia Before the Big Wave Out of Africa

Kira Westaway /The Conversation In 2009, when our team first found a human skull and jawbone in Tam Pà Ling Cave in northern Laos, some were skeptical of its origin and true age. When we published a...
3D computer generated illustration of male Australopithecus afarensis. Source: SciePro/Adobe Stock

Human Ancestor ‘Lucy’ Was Athletic and Walked Fully Upright, Finds New Study

In a groundbreaking discovery that rewrites our understanding of human evolution, a new study utilizing advanced 3D muscle reconstruction has revealed that Lucy, the 3.2-million-year-old fossil of an...
The hand of a person with Viking’s disease, a.k.a. Dupuytren’s contracture, a condition of the hand that can cause some of a person’s fingers to become permanently bent at an angle. Source: Artwell / Adobe Stock

‘Viking’s Disease’ Hand Condition Traced Back to Ancestral Neanderthals

Researchers have discovered a link between Neanderthal genetic material and an unusual health disorder that affects modern humans. The disorder in question is Dupuytren’s disease, a.k.a. Viking’s...
Two of the wigs on the test dummy used to test the performance of different hair in heat control.  Source: George Havenith/ Loughborough University

Hair Texture Helped Ancient Human Brains Expand 2-Million-Years-Ago

A team of scientists has unveiled fascinating insights into the evolutionary significance of human hair texture. By testing various wigs on a specially designed dummy exposed to solar radiation in a...
Dr Lee Berger with hashtag carving in Rising Star cave system. Insert; Possible Homo naledi burial pit. 	Source: © Berger et al., 2023

Enigmatic Hominin Seemingly Buried Dead and Carved Symbols 100,000 Years Before Modern Humans

A groundbreaking series of papers published yesterday proposes that Homo naledi , an ancient human species, engaged in burial practices and created engravings deep within a cave system in southern...
Human migration out of Africa seems to have had a long pause in the Arabian Peninsula, acclimatizing, and perhaps enjoying water sources such as these at Wadi Darbat in the Dhofar region of Oman.	Source: hyserb/Adobe Stock

30,000 Year 'Arabian Standstill': New Phase in Human Migration Detected

Ray Tobler / Shane T Grey / Yassine Souilmi /The Conversation Most scientists agree modern humans developed in Africa, more than 200,000 years ago, and that a great human diaspora across much of the...
Were ancient humans hanging out by the fire pits like people do today?         Source: Viks_jin/Adobe Stock

People Were Hanging Out by Fire Pits 250,000 Years Ago

Until now, the use of controlled fires for cooking, in Europe, was thought to have begun around 200,000 years ago. However, scientists in Spain have discovered a set of small prehistoric fire pits or...
Fossil footprints from the Schöningen Paleolithic Site, and a close up of a suspected hominin footprint. Source: ©Senckenberg/Tuebingen University

Oldest Ever Hominin Footprints Uncovered in Germany Offer Insight to Ancient Life

Around 300,000 years ago, a family of early humans visited a lake bordered by an open forest in what is now Lower Saxony, Germany. The footprints left behind at the Schöningen Paleolithic site have...
A Neanderthal premolar tooth from the Almonda cave system, Portugal. Source: João Zilhão/University of Southampton

Tooth Enamel Reveals Differences Between Neanderthal and Human Survival Tactics

A team of archaeologists and earth scientists from the United Kingdom and Portugal have just completed a comparative study of Neanderthals who lived in western Europe approximately 100,000 years ago...
Native Alaskan Eskimo woman - could have Chinese lineage.   Source: Agnieszka/Adobe Stock

Breakthrough in Peopling of the Americas Finds a Female Lineage from China

A groundbreaking new study has harnessed the power of mitochondrial DNA to trace a marvelous female lineage from northern coastal China all the way to the Americas. This has revealed compelling...
Modern lady with long, broad nose, of the type now thought to be inherited from the Neanderthal nose. (Insert, Neanderthal holding a skull)            Source: olly/Adobe Stock; Insert, Roni / Adobe Stock

Long and Broad Noses on Modern Humans Were Inherited From Neanderthals

Long dismissed for being our brutish ancestors, we share more with Neanderthals than we think, and increasingly research is showing us just how much there is in common. Scientists have run computer...
Evidence from stone tools indicate earliest humans migrated to Europe in three waves. Source: Gorodenkoff/Adobe Stock

New Study Claims Earliest Human Migrants Came to Europe in Three Waves

As recently as 2021, most scholars still believed that modern humans first arrived in Europe about 42,000 years ago. But a 2022 research project produced evidence of an earlier wave of migrants who...
Pierced deer tooth discovered from Denisova Cave in southern Siberia that yielded ancient human DNA. Source: © MPI f. Evolutionary Anthropology/Nature

Siberian Woman Identified from DNA Washed Off 20,000-Year-Old Deer Tooth!

Achieving an historic and groundbreaking first, an international team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany have successfully extracted intact...
The teaching of Darwinian evolution is under threat in India. Source: Andrea Izzotti / Adobe Stock

Outrage as India Deletes Darwinian Evolution from Textbooks

Never shy about courting controversy, the Hindu nationalist government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has removed references to Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution from some school...
Aerial view of Erakor Island, Vanuatu. Source: Martin Valigursky/Adobe Stock

Study Traces Epic Polynesian Migration to the Pacific Islands

Applying a form of highly technical analysis known as geochemical fingerprinting to centuries-old stone artifacts, a team of scientists from France, Germany and the island nation of Vanuatu were able...

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