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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.

A Neanderthal premolar tooth from the Almonda cave system, Portugal. Source: João Zilhão/University of Southampton
11 May, 2023 - 14:58 Nathan Falde

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
10 May, 2023 - 17:57 Sahir

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
9 May, 2023 - 14:53 Sahir

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
4 May, 2023 - 22:57 Nathan Falde

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
3 May, 2023 - 22:58 Nathan Falde

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
2 May, 2023 - 14:59 Nathan Falde

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
25 April, 2023 - 18:56 Nathan Falde

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...
Representational image of human cooperation thought to have sparked the Neolithic Revolution. Source: Freve / Adobe Stock
15 April, 2023 - 14:59 Nathan Falde

Israeli Researchers Say Human Cooperation Sparked Neolithic Revolution

A new study by a pair of Israeli researchers published in the Royal Society journal Philosophical Transactions B puts forward a fresh and innovative theory about the causes of the Neolithic...
Some of the stages of skull photogrammetry and initial anatomical deformation (Moacir Elias Santos & Cicero Moraes /CC BY 4.0)
5 April, 2023 - 01:52 ashley cowie

Digital Scientists Resurrect A 30,000-Year-Old Egyptian Man

Fusing scientific theory with artistry, a team of researchers has generated “stunning” 3D images of the oldest person ever discovered in Egypt. Using photogrammetry, a team of researchers have...
The new study shows how horses were domesticated by the Native Americans before the Europeans came. Source: André Ulysses De Salis
1 April, 2023 - 15:00 Sahir

Study Upends European Narrative of Horse Domestication in the USA

Horses and the American West – not just a recipe for the classic Western films of 20th century Hollywood, but a long and storied association. Now a study has revealed this extends further back into...
Ruins of the 9th‐Century City of Kilwa Kisiwani, where some Swahili have their origins. Source: Gereza/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
30 March, 2023 - 18:59 ancient origins

Ancient DNA is Restoring the Origin Story of the Swahili People of the East African Coast

Chapurukha Kusimba /The Conversation The legacy of the medieval Swahili civilization is a source of extraordinary pride in East Africa, as reflected in its language being the official tongue of Kenya...
Ceramic strainer and collared flasks found to have high-curd content indicating the production of dairy products (Evans et al./The Royal Society)
16 March, 2023 - 13:59 Sahir

Neolithic Solutions to Lactose Intolerance Revealed in New Study

During the Neolithic period up until the Late Bronze Age, lactose intolerance was prevalent among the European population. However, a genetic mutation eventually became widespread, allowing adults to...
Example of a long-tailed macaque using a stone tool to access food. Source: © Lydia V. Luncz/Science
13 March, 2023 - 21:55 Nathan Falde

Is Archaeology Getting it Wrong? ‘Ancient Stone Tools’ Accidentally Made by Modern Monkeys

Archaeologists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology have announced their discovery of stone fragments that closely resemble ancient stone tools made by prehistoric humans. What...
Ancient DNA analysis is unlocking secrets about the genetic legacy of the Levites of ancient Israel. Source: Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing/ CC BY-SA 3.0 overlayed and cropped onto ankreative / Adobe Stock
11 March, 2023 - 00:58 Dr. Eran Elhaik

Ancient DNA Analysis Reconstructs Legacy of the Biblical Levites

The biblical Levites were a group of people from the tribe of Levi set apart for religious service in ancient Israel. The most famous Levite was Aaron, Moses 's big brother and the first priest. The...
Reconstruction of a hunter-gatherer associated with the Gravettian culture (32,000-24,000 years ago), inspired by the archaeological findings at the Arene Candide site (Italy). Source: Tom Bjoerklund/Nature
2 March, 2023 - 13:56 Sahir

Ancient DNA Reveals Contrasting Fates of Hunter-Gatherer Groups in Europe

Ancient DNA gathered from the bones and teeth of hunter-gatherers who lived as the Last Glacial Maximum was waning, around 19,000-25,000 years ago, has revealed exciting new information about our...
The largest penguin to ever waddle on Earth, Kumimanu fordycei, steps onto a beach surrounded by another newly discovered species, Petradyptes stonehousei, in this life reconstruction. Source: Simone Giovanardi
17 February, 2023 - 22:00 Nathan Falde

Massive Penguins the Size of Gorillas Once Waddled Around New Zealand

Scientists have discovered what appears to be the world’s biggest penguin species known to have swum Earth’s oceans or waddled across its surface, and it was the size of a gorilla! This newly...
Examples of an Oldowan percussive tool, core and flakes dating from roughly 2.9 million years ago and found at the Nyayanga site in Kenya are seen in this undated handout image. Source: T.W. Plummer, J.S. Oliver, and E. M. Finestone/Homa Peninsula Paleoanthropology Project
10 February, 2023 - 21:56 Nathan Falde

Results of Kenyan Dig Suggest Africa’s First Toolmakers Were Not Human

A multi-year series of excavations at a site near Lake Victoria in Kenya unearthed a collection of Oldowan stone tools that are likely the oldest ever found on Earth, dating back to the Pliocene...
Representational image of the peopling of the ancient supercontinent of Sahul. Source: intueri / Adobe Stock
8 February, 2023 - 13:58 ashley cowie

Virtual Reality Tracks 75,000-Year-Old Footsteps of Sahul Explorers

Newly published and ground-breaking research has revealed previously unknown information about the populating of the ancient supercontinent of Sahul, which once comprised Australia and New Guinea...
Neanderthals were eating brown crabs like this 90,000 years ago. Source: davemhuntphoto/Adobe Stock
7 February, 2023 - 21:52 Nathan Falde

Proof Emerges that Neanderthals Harvested and Ate Crabs 90,000 Years Ago

New research has once again illustrated that the Neanderthals were neither primitive nor unsophisticated. It shows that Neanderthals living in a cave near Lisbon, Portugal 90,000 years ago enjoyed a...
The elephants hunted by the Neanderthal groups would have been even larger than this African elephant. Source: peterfodor/Adobe Stock
2 February, 2023 - 17:59 Sahir

Giant Elephant Hunt Reveals Emerging Neanderthal Society

New evidence has emerged that Neanderthals were more advanced hunters and gatherers than previously thought. A study published in Science Advances reveals that these ancient humans hunted and...
Archaeologists found a selection of animal skulls at the Neanderthal cave in Spain, including this bison skull. Source: Nature Human Behaviour / CC BY 4.0
27 January, 2023 - 21:52 Nathan Falde

Neanderthals Filled This Spanish Cave with Animal Skulls. But Why?

As the data continues to accumulate, it becomes more and more clear that Neanderthals were highly intelligent hominins who built their own unique and remarkable culture. Some of the latest...
Human skeletal remains (representational image). Source: Thanakrit / Adobe Stock
25 January, 2023 - 21:54 ashley cowie

11,000-Year-Old Human Remains Found in British Cave

An astounding discovery in the Heaning Wood Bone Cave in northern England has revealed the oldest human remains found in the region, dating back 11,000 years. A team from the University of Central...
Ancient cave paintings in Patagonia, southern Argentina. Source: elnavegante/Adobe Stock
18 January, 2023 - 00:51 ancient origins

The Oldest Art in the World Wasn’t Made By Homo sapiens

By Paul Pettitt / The Conversation One of the most hotly debated questions in the history of Neanderthal research has been whether they created art. In the past few years, the consensus has become...
Representational image depicting east-west migration to Siberia by hunter-gatherers. Source: Gorodenkoff / Adobe Stock
17 January, 2023 - 13:51 Nathan Falde

East-West Migration to Siberia Found in 7,500-Year-Old DNA

The Americas were settled by people who migrated across the Bering Sea land bridge that connected Siberia (North Asia) and North America during the last Ice Age, between 30,000 and 12,000 years ago...

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