Evolution & Human Origins (Page 12)

Neanderthal tools included shell scrapers. Source: procy_ab & Comugnero Silvana / Adobe Stock

16 January, 2020 - 14:44 ancient-origins

Coastal Neanderthals Went Diving For Tools

Neanderthals are known to have used tools, but the extent to which they were able to exploit coastal resources has been questioned. New research shows they collected clam shells and volcanic rock...

Colorful Indian Kangayam Holy Cow ready for pongal festival. Source: pradeep/ Adobe stock

15 January, 2020 - 19:03 Ed Whelan

Happy Pongal! The Ancient Indian Festival That Honors Nature

Many societies celebrate the changing of the seasons and harvest time. One of the most elaborate festivals in India is the Lohri, better known as the Pongal. This is a four-day Hindu festival that...

A capuchin monkey in Brazil hoists a stone tool to crack open nuts. Source: Luca Antonio Marino / CC BY-ND 4.0

14 January, 2020 - 01:57 ancient-origins

Monkeys Smashing Nuts Hint at How Human Toolmaking Evolved

Kristen S. Morrow / The Conversation Human beings used to be defined as “the tool-maker” species. But the uniqueness of this description was challenged in the 1960s when Dr. Jane Goodall discovered...

11 January, 2020 - 13:55 ancient-origins

Did Ice Age Extinctions Force Us to Invent Civilization?

Nick Longrich / The Conversation Why did we take so long to invent civilization? Modern Homo sapiens first evolved roughly 250,000 to 350,000 years ago. But initial steps towards civilization –...

Sunrise over plantation, representation of lost crop field. Source: somkak / Adobe stock

7 January, 2020 - 12:31 ashley cowie

The Revival of Ancient Lost Crops Reveals Surprising Results

The scientific cultivation of lost ancient seed crops has yielded much higher than expected growth rates, challenging assumptions about maize (corn) growth in prehistoric North America . According to...

Southwest Africa, one of the places of human origins. Source: mezzotint_fotolia / Adobe Stock.

6 January, 2020 - 18:46 Ed Whelan

New Findings Change the Theories of Human Origins

The evolution and spread of Homo sapiens is perhaps one of the greatest mysteries in all of science. Until recently, it was believed that the origins of the species and the ancestors of every person...

5 January, 2020 - 14:03 ashley cowie

Keto Queen Makes Millions with Ancient Indian Ghee

Ancient Indian ghee butter has been turned into gold by a Brazilian entrepreneur. Raquel Tavares, who lives in Los Angeles, California , founded the company Fourth & Heart with her life savings...

Border Cave Excavation site, Lebombo Mountains, South Africa. Source: Credit Dr Lucinda Backwell/ Wits University

3 January, 2020 - 14:02 ashley cowie

170,000-Year-Old Human Diet Contained Roast Vegetables

New research focused on the roasted remnants of rootstalks found in a Lebombo Mountain cave in South Africa suggests early humans brought the plants to the cave to feed to their young and old. A new...

Artistic reconstruction of ‘Lola, based on the information from the DNA found in the birch tar. Source: Tom Björklund / Nature

17 December, 2019 - 18:53 ancient-origins

Chewing Gum Reveals Look of Neolithic Scandinavian

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have succeeded in extracting a complete human genome from a thousands-of-years old “chewing gum”. According to the researchers, it is a new untapped...

8 December, 2019 - 22:35 ashley cowie

Ancient Human Smile Used as an Effective ‘Get-Sex’ Tool

A study on the history of facial expressions has discovered humans developed friendly facial expressions to attract less-aggressive, selected breeding partners, as a result of ‘self-domestication’...

Illustration of Neanderthal Man Holding Neanderthal's Skull Source: Roni / Adobe Stock

2 December, 2019 - 01:43 Ed Whelan

Neanderthals Died Out due to Inbreeding and Bad Luck

Researchers now believe that they may have established why the Neanderthals became extinct. Expert analysts using population models believe that inbreeding and the internal dynamics of their small...

Study shows human migration could have followed monsoons to the Levant. Source: mdesigner125 / Adobe Stock

27 November, 2019 - 18:14 ancient-origins

Human Migration Route Out of Africa Tracked Monsoons

By Kelly April Tyrrell /University of Wisconsin-Madison Last year, scientists announced that a human jawbone and prehistoric tools found in 2002 in Misliya Cave, on the western edge of Israel, were...

14 November, 2019 - 17:33 Ed Whelan

Lucy Wasn’t As Smart As Today’s Great Apes

Researchers have found that early humans such as the famous ‘Lucy’ were not as smart as the great apes. Using new methods, they have been able to determine that early humans did not have the same...

Bones from the hand of a male human ancestor Danuvius guggenmosi. Source: Christoph Jäckle / Nature

7 November, 2019 - 13:57 ashley cowie

Evidence Suggests Human Ancestor Walked Upright In Trees

Scientists have described an 11.62 million-year-old ape that moved like no other creature on Earth using its human legs and orangutan arms. A team of scientists from Eberhard Karls University of...

An Aurignacian tooth found in the Manot Cave, Israel. (Tel Aviv University) Cro-Magnon artists painting in Font-de-Gaume by Charles Robert Knight. (Public Domain)

7 November, 2019 - 01:54 ancient-origins

Aurignacian Secrets Revealed in Cutting-Edge Dental Research

Who exactly were the Aurignacians who lived in the Levant 40,000 years ago? They first appeared in Europe some 43,000 years ago, bringing a cultural golden period of the Paleolithic with them. Their...

Does the unique nature of our evolution mean we are alone in the universe? Source: CC0

26 October, 2019 - 01:24 ancient-origins

Evolution Tells Us We Might Be the Only Intelligent Life in the Universe

Nick Longrich / The Conversation Are we alone in the universe? It comes down to whether intelligence is a probable outcome of natural selection, or an improbable fluke. By definition, probable events...

Possibilities for human origins are being explored with the finds at Qesem cave Israel. Source: ginettigino / Adobe Stock

14 October, 2019 - 14:06 Andrew Collins

New Shocking Clues Into Human Origins From Qesem Cave

Just one week after it was announced that the inhabitants of the Qesem Cave, located 12 kilometers east of Tel Aviv in Israel, perhaps practiced swan shamanism as much as 420,000 years ago, comes...

Ancient ecosystems were very different from those found today. Source: Heinrich Harder (1858-1935) / Public Domain

10 October, 2019 - 14:05 ancient-origins

Early Humans Evolved in Ecosystems Unlike Any Found Today

To understand the environmental pressures that shaped human evolution, scientists must first piece together the details of the ancient plant and animal communities that our fossil ancestors lived in...

Pilbara, Australia where scientists discovered microbial remains in ancient rocks. Source: Terry / Adobe Stock.

9 October, 2019 - 01:31 ancient-origins

Oldest Life On Earth Traced To Land

Scientists have found exceptionally preserved microbial remains in some of Earth's oldest rocks in Western Australia - a major advance in the field, offering clues for how life on Earth originated...

Muscles in the back of a 10 week old human embryo’s hand called dorsometacarpales (the two smallest horizontal muscles highlighted at center) will be lost or fuse with other muscles during development. Source: Diogo, Siomava, Gitton.

4 October, 2019 - 02:12 ashley cowie

Ancient Reptilian Hand Muscles Found in Human Embryos

High resolution 3D microscope images have revealed truths about early human development proving human embryos have more muscles than adults! At seven weeks of gestation a human embryo is the size of...

This illustration shows the structure of the Eustachian Tube in a Neanderthal male and it's similarity to the human infant. Source: SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.

19 September, 2019 - 23:07 ancient-origins

Did a Common Childhood Illness Take Down the Neanderthals?

A 21st century nuisance for parents may have proved deadly to early man . It is one of the great unsolved mysteries of anthropology. What killed off the Neanderthals , and why did Homo sapiens thrive...

Archaeologists have discovered hundreds of Neanderthal footprints in France dating to around 80,000 years ago, mostly from children. (trendobjects/AdobeStock)

11 September, 2019 - 13:58 ashley cowie

The Pitter Patter of Tiny Neanderthal Feet Echo Across Time as Footprints Found in France

They walked and perhaps played along the beach in a prehistoric world; we know this as archaeologists have discovered hundreds of Neanderthal footprints in France— with most of them left by children...

Representation of discovery of the skeleton at the Rakhigarhi archaeological site. Source: Elena / Adobe Stock.

7 September, 2019 - 01:45 ashley cowie

DNA of 5,000-Year-Old Woman Links Modern Indians to Ancient Indus Valley Civilization

Ancient DNA from India’s Rakhigarhi archaeological site is telling volumes about the destiny of the mysterious Indus Valley Civilization. Around 3000 BC, Neolithic hunters in northern Scotland began...

Neanderthals have been commonly found to suffer from ear problems. Source: Kovalenko I / Adobe Stock

16 August, 2019 - 22:58 Alicia McDermott

Half of Neanderthal Population Suffered from Surfer’s Ear!

A new study suggests that Neanderthals commonly suffered from “swimmer's ear” or “surfer’s ear” - dense bony growths that protrude into the ear canal. This is usually caused by a habitual exposure to...