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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.

Rick Potts, director of the National Museum of Natural History’s Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian, surveys an assortment of Early Stone Age hand-axes discovered in the Olorgesailie Basin, Kenya.
17 March, 2018 - 00:59 ancient-origins

New Insights into Rapid Advance in Human Innovative Thinking

The first evidence of human life in the Olorgesailie Basin comes from about 1.2 million years ago. For hundreds of the thousands of years, people living there made and used large stone-cutting tools...
University of York. "Compassion helped Neanderthals to survive, new study reveals." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 March 2018.
15 March, 2018 - 00:55 ancient origins

New Study Shows Compassion Helped Neanderthals to Survive

They have an unwarranted image as brutish and uncaring, but new research has revealed just how knowledgeable and effective Neanderthal healthcare was. The study, by the University of York, reveals...
Ancient art in the Altai Mountains, Russia. While the world’s best-known cave art exists in France and Spain, examples of it abound throughout the world.
14 March, 2018 - 00:40 ancient-origins

Did Humans Speak Through Cave Art? Ancient Drawings and Language's Origins

When and where did humans develop language? To find out, look deep inside caves, suggests an MIT professor. More precisely, some specific features of cave art may provide clues about how our symbolic...
Homo erectus statue, taken at David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins as the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.
23 February, 2018 - 18:54 ashley cowie

Primeval Navigation Suggests Language Began 1.5 Million Years Earlier Than Thought

Were our primeval ancestors skilled mariners who sailed thousand of miles to distant islands using language, or did they grunt at each other while holding onto tree trunks being blown randomly on the...
Neanderthals (CC0)
20 February, 2018 - 13:57 ancient-origins

Five Surprising Things DNA has Revealed About our Ancestors

Researchers recently used DNA from the 10,000-year-old “Cheddar Man”, one of Britain’s oldest skeletons, to unveil what the first inhabitants of what now is Britain actually looked like. But this isn...
Close up of the model of Cheddar Man rendered by Kennis & Kennis Reconstructions
7 February, 2018 - 18:38 ashley cowie

Blue Eyed, Black Skinned British Hunter Closes Race Debate

A 10,000-year-old hunter had “dark to black” skin, a groundbreaking DNA analysis of Britain’s oldest complete skeleton has revealed. The Cheddar Man fossil was unearthed in Gough’s Cave in Somerset...
The 177,000 to 194,000-year-old maxilla (upper jaw) of Misliya-1 hominin
25 January, 2018 - 22:49 ancient-origins

Jawbone of Earliest Modern Human Outside of Africa Discovered in Israel

A large international research team, led by Israel Hershkovitz from Tel Aviv University and including Rolf Quam from Binghamton University, State University of New York, has discovered the earliest...
The Stone Age’ (1882-1885), detail of a painting by Viktor M. Vasnetsov.
12 January, 2018 - 01:48 ancient-origins

Ancient DNA Sheds Light on the Mysterious Origins of the First Scandinavians

Jan Apel / The Conversation Tracking the migration of humans isn’t easy , but genetics is helping us uncover new information at breathtaking speed. We know that our species originated in Africa and...
Pendant, Aurignacian culture, 31000-24000 BC
30 December, 2017 - 22:50 aprilholloway

Did Prehistoric Middle Eastern Culture Visit Europe, Spawn Artistic Culture, and Leave?

A team of archaeologists investigating a cave in Israel, claims to have found evidence that prehistoric tools and artwork from Western Europe could possibly owe their existence to an earlier culture...
A re-analysis of the Dali skull is helping rewrite the story of human origins.
17 November, 2017 - 23:00 Alicia McDermott

Rewriting Our Origins: Skull Found in China Promotes a Wider Perspective on Human Evolution

Most people discussing the origins of our species suggest that Homo sapiens can be traced back to Africa about 200,000 years ago. However, an increasing amount of evidence suggests that there may be...
An illustration depicting the possible path of human evolution.
7 November, 2017 - 18:56 aprilholloway

The Earliest Known Human Ancestor is a What?!

For those that believe human beings were created in God’s own image, the idea that we have monkeys in our evolutionary history is a little hard to swallow, so it is likely to cause even more upset...
A reconstruction of ‘Lucy’ (public domain). Inset: One of the fossilized teeth discovered at Eppelsheim. Credit: The Museum of Natural History in Mainz
19 October, 2017 - 23:27 aprilholloway

9.7 Million-Year-Old Teeth Found in Germany Belong to Hominin Only Known To Have Existed in Africa 4 Million Years Later

Archaeologists have made a discovery so sensational that they have waited 1 year to announce it as they had to be sure they had the dating correct. A set of teeth belonging to an early hominin...
Moai statues on Easter Island
16 October, 2017 - 01:57 ancient-origins

Mystery Deepens As Study Finds Native Americans Did NOT Help to Populate Easter Island

Easter Island is a place of mystery that has captured the public imagination. Famous for ancient carved statues and a location so remote it boggles the mind, the island presents a captivating puzzle...
Comparison of faces of Homo sapiens (left) and Homo neanderthalensis (right). (CC BY-SA 4.0)
8 October, 2017 - 02:00 ancient-origins

Prehistoric Humans are Likely to Have Formed Mating Networks to Avoid Inbreeding

Early humans seem to have recognized the dangers of inbreeding at least 34,000 years ago, and developed surprisingly sophisticated social and mating networks to avoid it, new research has found. The...
Paranthropus boisei (Forensic facial reconstruction) likely contracted the virus from eating chimpanzees.
4 October, 2017 - 02:02 Theodoros Karasavvas

Our Ancestors Should Have Avoided Parathropus Boisei – They Gave Us Genital Herpes

Scientists claim that they have identified the ancient hominin species that gave early humans genital herpes two million years ago. Parathropus boisei was a heavyset human-like species with a very...
Neanderthal man at the Natural History Museum London
7 September, 2017 - 14:00 Alicia McDermott

Refined Analysis Asserts There was No Human-Neanderthal Interaction at Vindija Cave

Researchers have used a more refined screening method in conjunction with radiocarbon dating on a popular collection of Neanderthal remains found at Vindija Cave in Croatia. Their results show that...
The footprints discovered on Crete
2 September, 2017 - 22:54 ancient-origins

Controversial Footprint Suggests Human-like Creatures May Have Roamed Crete Nearly 6 Million Years Ago

The human foot is distinctive. Our five toes lack claws, we normally present the sole of our foot flat to the ground, and our first and second toes are longer than the smaller ones. In comparison to...
25 August, 2017 - 02:04 ancient-origins

Evolution of Genetic Health Improvements in Humans Stall over Last Millennium

Had an arrow in his back not felled the legendary Iceman some 5,300 years ago, he would have likely dropped dead from a heart attack. Written in the DNA of his remains was a propensity for...
Weakened Neanderthal amongst plant foodstuff
9 August, 2017 - 13:58 Theodoros Karasavvas

New Studies Clash with Previous Analyses On the Life and Fate of Neanderthals

Two new studies have emerged in the past week claiming to provide more details than ever about the Neanderthal’s genetic contribution to the modern population plus a new theory on how it eventually...
Painted side of sarcophagus from Agia Triada, Crete, around 1400 BC. Painted plaster on limestone. Shows the relationship between the Minoans and Egyptians.
4 August, 2017 - 13:58 Theodoros Karasavvas

Ancient DNA Analysis Reveals the ‘Mythical’ Heritage of Modern Greeks

Phys Org reports that a recent analysis of ancient DNA suggests that Ancient Minoans and Mycenaeans were genetically identical, with both peoples descending from early Neolithic farmers. The study...
Adam and Eve by Jacob Jordaens, 1640s
29 July, 2017 - 22:37 aprilholloway

Genetic ‘Adam and Eve’: All Humans are Descendants of One Man and Woman Who Lived Over 100,000 Years Ago

According to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, Adam and Eve were the first man and woman and the ancestors of all humans. While non-believers refute the idea of a God that created human...
Model of two ancient humans. Credit: Genetic Literacy Project
22 July, 2017 - 22:54 ancient-origins

Hominid Hanky Panky Led to 'Ghost' Species of Ancient Human

In saliva, scientists have found hints that a "ghost" species of archaic humans may have contributed genetic material to ancestors of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa today. The research adds to a...
Researcher Elspeth Hayes with Mark Djandjomerr and traditional owner May Nango extracting comparative samples at a cave adjacent Madjedbebe. Credit: David Vadiveloo / Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation
21 July, 2017 - 13:58 Theodoros Karasavvas

New Findings in Australia Have Shocking Ramifications for Human Occupation, Species Extinction and Out of Africa Theories

A group of archaeologists in Australia has discovered the world's oldest stone axes with a ground edge. This discovery is extremely significant as it pushes Australia's human history back to 65,000...
New DNA Study Suggests African Humans Interbred With European Neanderthals Way Earlier Than We Think
6 July, 2017 - 13:57 Theodoros Karasavvas

New DNA Study Suggests African Humans Interbred With European Neanderthals Way Earlier Than We Think

Phys Org reports that in 1937, a 124,000-year-old Neanderthal thigh bone was discovered during excavations near the entrance of Hohlenstein-Stadel cave in southwestern Germany. After 80 years its...

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