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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.

The Omo Kibish formation where the fossils of the oldest Homo sapiens were discovered. Inset: Reproduction of an Omo I skull. Source: Céline Vidal 2018/ Nature (Inset: CC BY-SA 4.0)
13 January, 2022 - 17:55 Sahir

Omo Kibish Homo Sapiens Just Got Older!

The debate around human evolution and the Out-of-Africa theory has received a fresh update, this time from southwestern Ethiopia’s Omo Kibish region. A study in Nature has pointed out how the Homo...
The Top 10 Human Evolution Discoveries in 2021. Source: Ancient Origins
11 January, 2022 - 14:11 ancient-origins

The Top 10 Revelations in Human Evolution in 2021

The year 2021 was filled with all kinds of human evolution discoveries and scientific progress. From the 250,000-year-old skeletal remains of a Homo naledi child in South Africa, to the smiley face...
Was the ever-evolving technological revolution dependent on single-minded genius? Source: Kovalenko I / Adobe Stock
7 January, 2022 - 18:00 ashley cowie

Charting the Role of Prehistoric Genius in Technological Revolution

An English scientist has charted the spread of ancient survival technologies. His awe-inspiring maps reveal how individual ancient geniuses innovated in one place, and how these new ideas spread...
Bronze age man. Source: Gorodenkoff / Adobe Stock
26 December, 2021 - 22:00 ashley cowie

Ancestry Shock: Britain Got Half its Genes from France!

A new DNA analysis of 793 Bronze Age skeletons from all over Britain and mainland Europe has revealed genetic secrets about a mass human migration that occurred around 3,000 years ago. Not Just...
Representational image showing dinosaur embryo in an egg. Source: KtD / Adobe Stock
26 December, 2021 - 18:00 Sahir

Incredibly Preserved Dinosaur Embryo Found Inside 72-Million-Year-Old Egg

An exquisitely preserved dinosaur embryo was discovered inside a fossilized egg in China dating back 72 million years and is one of the most complete dinosaur embryos ever found. The amazing...
Now we know that Neanderthals, like this one who seems to kill wildlife and burn forests, altered ecosystems. More and more the differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens are disappearing or getting blurred. Source: regis allouet / Adobe Stock
17 December, 2021 - 13:59 Nathan Falde

“German” Neanderthals Altered Ecosystem 125,000 Years Ago, Study Shows

Archaeologists from Leiden University in the Netherlands have released the results of a study that proves Neanderthals altered ecosystems in significant ways. The evidence was found in a spot...
snake venom Source: Mark Kostich / Adobe Stock
11 December, 2021 - 17:55 Sahir

How Prehistoric Primates Survived Deadly Snake Venom

The story of human evolution is one peppered with the acquisition of a variety of adaptive traits that have been acquired over thousands of years. While we take many of these for granted today, each...
We have remains of Tibetan Plateau Denisovans, who lived for long periods in this landscape. But now we know that they passed their high-altitude adaptability genes on to Tibetans and other peoples that ultimately settled in the Himalayas. Source: zah108 / Adobe Stock
9 December, 2021 - 22:20 Sahir

Tibetan Plateau Denisovans Gave Modern Tibetans Altitude Superpowers

Little is known about our extinct archaic hominin cousins, the Denisovans, who populated Asia during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic, due to limited DNA fragments and evidence. This makes...
Blaine Maley, from the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, works alongside Prabhat, Fannin, and Montgomery Fellow Charles Musiba at site A in Laetoli where the archaic footprints were found. Source: Shirley Rubin / Trustees of Dartmouth College
2 December, 2021 - 21:57 Nathan Falde

Ancient ‘Bear’ Footprints in Laetoli Tanzania Belonged to Human Ancestor

While exploring the Laetoli fossil site in the foothills of northern Tanzania in 1978, a team of anthropologists led by the renowned Mary Leakey discovered the oldest footprints of a human ancestor...
Denisovan fossils look a bit unremarkable, but these bone fragments, mostly from animals, were perfect for Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectroscopy and DNA analysis, which were used in the recent study. Source: Samantha Brown / Nature Ecology & Evolution
1 December, 2021 - 21:57 Nathan Falde

New Denisovan Fossils From Siberian Cave Are The Oldest Ever Found

Researchers from the Max Planck Society and the Universities of Vienna and Tübingen have found new fossilized human-like remains mixed in an assortment of bone samples taken from Siberia’s famed...
A Neanderthal boy looking at his reflection not knowing that Neanderthal development was faster than that of modern humans. Some kids have it easier! Source: EmotionPhoto / Adobe Stock
26 November, 2021 - 21:57 Nathan Falde

Neanderthal Child Development Was Faster than Humans, Study Reveals

Neanderthal development was faster than the maturation process in modern humans according to the latest study. This means Neanderthal children were able to reach physical maturity at earlier ages,...
Life reconstruction of Australopithecus sediba commissioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. Sculpture by Elisabeth Daynes. Source: S. Entressangle / Wits University
24 November, 2021 - 21:57 ashley cowie

Spinal Missing Link Is Discovered Unifying Apes, Neanderthals and Us

A team of scientists has analyzed a set of two-million-year-old so-called ‘missing link’ fossils. Unlike anything presented before, their new study shows how the ancient human relative,...
13 November, 2021 - 13:57 Sahir

Early Hominins Competed with Saber-Toothed Cats 2 Million Years Ago

Homo erectus , literally upright man, is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, first occurring 2 million years ago, and is widely identified as the first recognizable members of...
The skull of the Homo naledi child named Leti found in the lowest levels of South Africa’s Rising Star cave system. Source: University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
5 November, 2021 - 21:58 Nathan Falde

Skeleton of an Archaic Homo naledi Child Found in Rising Star Cave

A team of South African and American archaeologists exploring the Rising Star cave system in central South Africa discovered something that seems quite anomalous. In the deepest, darkest recesses of...
Artist rendering of the so-called “new human ancestor”, Homo bodoensis. Source: Ettore Mazza / University of Winnipeg
30 October, 2021 - 19:00 ashley cowie

Homo bodoensis: Has A New Human Ancestor Just Been Discovered?

A team of scientists claim that they have identified a new “ancient human ancestor” in Africa, which is causing quite a stir. The so-called Homo bodoensis lived in Africa during the Middle...
The human brain has three parts and for millions of years it grew in size but 3,000 years ago it began to get smaller! Source: alionaprof / Adobe Stock
26 October, 2021 - 01:58 Sahir

Three Thousand Years Ago Human Brain Size Decreased, Says Study

Through the process of greater efficiency, the human brain size began to shrink about 3,000 years ago and this is a huge new revelation in human evolution. The latest research study conclusions...
The rock slab at Trachilos, Crete, where the 6-million-year-old hominin Crete footprints were first discovered in 2002. Source: Olaf Tausch / CC BY 3.0
18 October, 2021 - 22:45 Sahir

Cretan Footprints Challenge Darwin’s Out of Africa Theory, Says Study

The evolution of human bipedalism is supposed to be 4 million years old, beginning with primates, which caused the separation of the first hominids from the rest of the four-legged apes. Walking on...
Portrait of Native American man. The study of Native American origins has long obsessed archaeologists and anthropologists. Source: Chinnachote / Adobe Stock
14 October, 2021 - 00:35 Cecilia Bogaard

Study of Ancient Teeth Reveals Native American Origins Lie in Siberia

A team of researchers has launched another attempt answering questions about Native American origins, in other words when and how the Americas were first populated. By analyzing DNA samples and a...
An ancient woman from Romania shows an edgeto-edge bite (left). A Bronze Age man from Austria had a slight overbite (right). Source: D. E. Blasi et. al. / Science
12 October, 2021 - 14:58 ashley cowie

“V” and “F” Sounds Were Birthed in the Neolithic Overbite Revolution

At the dawn of the Neolithic revolution , which occurred around 10,000 years ago, humans began eating less raw wild foods and more processed meals. A study published in Science shows how this...
A modern-day giant hippo (Hippopotamus amphibious) in water. Source: jwjarrett / Adobe Stock
12 October, 2021 - 01:19 Sahir

Discovery of Tooth Reveals When Giant Hippos Roamed Britain

Hippopotamus antiquus , or the European hippopotamus, is a now extinct species of giant hippo that once roamed Europe much before the last glacial period. In the much explored Westbury Cave, in...
An overview of the trench in the rock-shelter area at Leang Bulu Bettue, Sulawesi, from where the human remains have been excavated. Source: Brumm et al., 2021, PLoS ONE /CC-BY 4.0
1 October, 2021 - 14:41 Nathan Falde

Earliest Human Remains Unearthed On Sulawesi, Indonesia

Archaeologists searching for skeletal remains of ancient Homo sapiens on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have achieved their goal. In Leang Bulu Bettue cave in southwestern Sulawesi, they unearthed...
Spatulate tools found at the Contrabandiers Cave site in Morocco. Source: Cell Press.
17 September, 2021 - 18:43 Nathan Falde

Moroccan Cave Find Shows Ancient Humans Made Clothes 120,000 Years Ago

Researchers have announced the discovery of bone tools in a cave in Morocco that appear to have been used to carefully remove skins and fur from the bodies of dead animals. The skins recovered this...
This is what the human papillomavirus looks like in the body. The latest research has indicated that modern humans got HPV from interbreeding with Neanderthals in Eurasia. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection globally. Source: Naeblys / Adobe Stock
14 September, 2021 - 02:00 Nathan Falde

Neanderthals Passed Human Papillomavirus to Homo Sapiens in Eurasia

It is well-known that modern humans interbred with Neanderthals during the time they co-existed in Europe and Asia. A 2018 study revealed an interesting and intriguing detail about that interbreeding...
The reconstructed face of Krijn thr Neanderthal from Doggerland.
9 September, 2021 - 14:46 Nathan Falde

Is this the Face of Krijn, the First Neanderthal of The Netherlands?

The first-ever Neanderthal found in The Netherlands, who scientists call Krijn, has now been brought more fully to life . A pair of “paleo-artists” who specialize in making life-like reconstructions...

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