An ancient African genome has been sequenced for the first time ever with the discovery of a 4,500-year-old skeleton in a cave in Ethiopia. DNA recovered from the bones suggest that a vast migration...
New research is challenging what we thought we knew about our prehistoric cousins, the now extinct Neanderthals. DNA from fossils from a cave in Spain show that Neanderthals are almost twice as old...
The Basque people have been an enigma to anthropologists for years. With a unique language, traditions, and customs, Basque origins have long been a mystery. Researchers now believe they have finally...
Eight thousand years ago, the first farmer groups from the Middle East crossed the area currently known as Turkey and entered into Europe before branching out to follow two different routes: one...
Adding to the number of unsolved mysteries regarding the ancient origins of humanity and the biology of our species, scientists have discovered that we have less DNA now than our ancient ancestors...
Scientists have been searching for answers on the puzzles of history by sifting through the genetic code of certain Icelanders. They have been looking to see if a Native American woman from the New...
A new study presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco refutes a previous theory that Neanderthals became extinct due to a massive volcanic eruption about 40,...
A genetic analysis of a 37,000-year-old human bone from Russia has revealed a surprising genetic connection between ancient and modern Europeans. The DNA revealed close ancestry with the 24,000-year-...
A new study published in the journal Nature has revealed the DNA results from a 45,000-year-old leg bone from Siberia, producing the oldest genome sequence ever carried out for Homo sapiens – nearly...
It has long been thought that modern Europeans descended from both indigenous hunters and Middle Eastern farmers. However, a new study published in the journal Nature , shows that a third population...
In recent months, numerous DNA studies of ancient humans have all converged on one conclusion – Neanderthals and Homo sapiens interbred. While for many this may seem unsurprising or even obvious, we...
We hear a lot about the ‘Out of Africa’ theory that humans originated in Africa and then migrated to other countries around the world. But a fascinating new study published in the Proceedings of the...
The last few months has seen the release of several ground-breaking research studies which are beginning to demystify our ancient origins. This included the first ever complete sequencing of a...
Last year, ground-breaking research revealed conclusive evidence that Neanderthals bred with modern humans (Homo sapiens), a fact disputed for many years. The first ever complete mapping of a...
A recent analysis on DNA taken from the wisdom tooth of a 7,000-year-old human found in Spain in 2006 has overturned the popular image of light-skinned European hunter-gatherers. The study revealed...
Last month we reported on the incredible accomplishment of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, who mapped the Neanderthal genome to the same level of detail that...
The results of an extensive analysis of a 50,000-year-old toe bone belonging to a Neanderthal woman, which was unearthed in a cave in 2010, have been long awaited. Now, after much anticipation, the...
A new study conducted by well-known geneticist, Dr Eugene McCarthy, has controversially suggested that traits distinguishing chimpanzees from humans consistently connect with pigs and that Homo...
A new study published in the journal Nature has reported on the oldest ever full genome which comes from a 700,000 year-old horse leg bone leading to the question of how far back we can go in...