Limestone spheroids, enigmatic lithic artifacts from the ancient past, have perplexed archaeologists for years. While they span from the Oldowan to the Middle Paleolithic, the purpose behind their creation remains a subject ...
Archaeology
Sep 5, 2023
4
205
A new study combining climate data with fossil records of large mammals that lived across Africa during the last 4 million years casts doubt on a long-standing hypothesis that repeated shifts in climate acted as major drivers ...
Evolution
Apr 11, 2022
1
72
In the 150 years since Charles Darwin speculated that humans originated in Africa, the number of species in the human family tree has exploded, but so has the level of dispute concerning early human evolution. Fossil apes ...
Evolution
May 6, 2021
58
4706
Evolutionary expert Charles Darwin and others recognized a close evolutionary relationship between humans, chimps and gorillas based on their shared anatomies, raising some big questions: how are humans related to other primates, ...
Archaeology
Feb 25, 2021
29
2825
Australopithecus anamensis is the earliest-known species of Australopithecus, and widely accepted as the progenitor of Lucy's species, Australopithecus afarensis. Until now, A. anamensis was known mainly from jaws and teeth. ...
Archaeology
Aug 28, 2019
4
2811
Neanderthals and modern humans diverged at least 800,000 years ago, substantially earlier than indicated by most DNA-based estimates, according to new research by a UCL academic.
Archaeology
May 15, 2019
18
1268
So far, Denisovans were only known from a small collection of fossil fragments from Denisova Cave in Siberia. A research team now describes a 160,000-year-old hominin mandible from Xiahe in China. Using ancient protein analysis, ...
Archaeology
May 1, 2019
1
1014
Oxford University scientists have played a key role in new research identifying the earliest evidence of some of the first known humans—Denisovans and Neanderthals, in Southern Siberia.
Archaeology
Jan 30, 2019
5
300
A team of researchers with members affiliated with several institutions in Germany has found evidence that suggests two species of hominins from the Early Pleistocene ate a generalized diet. In their paper published in Proceedings ...
A progressively drying climate punctuated by variable wetter episodes may have precipitated the transition from our hominin ancestors to anatomically modern humans, according to research published on Oct. 8 in the online ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 8, 2018
6
79
