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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.

Human ancestors overlooking a bleak, ice-covered landscape. Source: Dr_Microbe / Adobe Stock
1 September, 2023 - 22:52 Nathan Falde

Near-Extinction of Our Human Ancestors Revealed by Genetic Research

Approximately one million years ago, the Earth was populated by a few hundred thousand or so ancient human ancestors. But about 900,000 years ago there was a sudden and dramatic crash in this...
Flores hobbits may have arrived on leaf baskets. Here they interact with stegodons and Komodo dragon. Source: Peter Schouten
25 August, 2023 - 22:53 Avi Kumar

Flores Hobbits May Have Floated to the Island on Leaf Nests

While Frodo in Tolkien’s Middle Earth ventured very far to destroy a magic ring and Gollum was a good swimmer, real-life ‘hobbit’ ancestors may have also traversed far to get to their island! After...
Early Homin migration caused by climate change could have been the driving force between interbreeding between Denisovans and Neanderthals. Source: Gorodenkoff / Adobe Stock
17 August, 2023 - 14:55 Sahir

Climate Change Played Cupid Between Neanderthals and Denisovans

It has been 5 years since the unearthing of Denny , a 90,000-year-old fossil specimen that had a Denisovan father and a Neanderthal mother. This find served as proof that interbreeding was quite...
A frigid apocalypse 1.1 million years ago led to an archaic human extinction in Europe. Source: Lazy_Bear / Adobe Stock.
12 August, 2023 - 18:43 Nathan Falde

Massive Climate Catastrophe Froze Europe’s Earliest Humans to Death

An interdisciplinary team of archaeologists, anthropologists and earth scientists have found evidence that a severe cooling event in the North Atlantic region approximately 1.1 million years ago...
The majority of the prehistoric world remains uncharted, as shown by the blank areas of this map. This visualization is based on a Kernel Density Estimate of assemblages in ROAD. Sites with higher densities of assemblages appear more intense in color. Source: Christian Sommer (ROCEEH); made with Natural Earth/Public domain)
11 August, 2023 - 15:00 Gary Manners

Huge New Prehistoric Sites Database Transforms Understanding of Human History

In another step towards unraveling the intricate tapestry of human history, a huge database of prehistoric sites spanning a history from 3 million to 20,000 years ago has been unveiled. This...
Skull from specimen HLD 6 at Hualongdong, now identified as a new archaic human species. Source: Wu et al./Journal of Human Evolution
7 August, 2023 - 18:58 Nathan Falde

Discovery of New Archaic Human Species Announced by Chinese Scientists

A team of evolutionary scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, several Chinese universities and the National Research Center on Human Evolution in Spain has shocked the scientific world by...
The 3D Digital Facial Zoom of Zlatý kůň, the oldest remains to have been genomically sequenced. Source: Cícero Moraes/CC BY 4.0
2 August, 2023 - 14:58 Sahir

World’s Earliest Known Woman ‘Zlatý Kůň’ Has Her Face Reconstructed!

Over 70 years after her severed skull was first discovered buried deep within a cave in the Czech Republic in two different halves, scientists conducted genome sequencing to determine that it was the...
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
31 July, 2023 - 17:30 ashley cowie

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
28 July, 2023 - 23:05 Theodoros Karasavvas

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
25 July, 2023 - 18:52 Gary Manners

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
19 July, 2023 - 22:58 ashley cowie

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
19 July, 2023 - 19:01 Sahir

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
12 July, 2023 - 14:54 Sahir

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
29 June, 2023 - 23:00 ashley cowie

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
27 June, 2023 - 14:54 ashley cowie

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.
19 June, 2023 - 14:56 ancient origins

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
15 June, 2023 - 14:54 ancient origins

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
14 June, 2023 - 23:01 Gary Manners

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
14 June, 2023 - 04:00 Nathan Falde

‘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
9 June, 2023 - 14:53 ashley cowie

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
6 June, 2023 - 14:47 Gary Manners

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
24 May, 2023 - 14:54 ancient origins

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
19 May, 2023 - 22:52 ashley cowie

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
17 May, 2023 - 14:53 Sahir

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...

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