Lessons From Lucy
Fifty years ago, the remains of an Australopithecus afarensis ancestor, named “Lucy” by archaeologists, rewrote the story of human evolution. This article was originally published at The Conversatio…
Tag: Evolution
Unraveling a “Ghost” Neanderthal Lineage
Remains in France found by archaeologists and geneticists suggest at least two lineages—not just one—of late Neanderthals in Europe. This article was originally published at The Conversation and…
How Allocating Work Aided Our Evolutionary Success
Societies divide labor by gender and age. A biological anthropologist considers when and why this behavior arose. ✽ In his 1776 book The Wealth of Nations, economist Adam…
Learning From Handy Primates
A researcher who studies animal behavior looks at tool use in nonhuman primates to better illuminate tool use in humans. Many of our primate relatives use tools. How…
Untangling the World’s First-Known String
Neanderthals made the oldest string ever found, providing new insights into the technology and culture of our hominin cousins. At the Abri du Maras site in southern France,…
In Search of the First Cyborg
A Paleolithic archaeologist sets out on a journey in search of the first cyborg, making discoveries that end up very close to home. These days, a mention of…
Cultures of Technology
In the seventh season of the SAPIENS podcast, listeners will hear a range of stories about how technology—in a variety of configurations—shapes humanity. Since the dawn of our…
Celebrity Status Almost Ruined Ancient DNA Research
An evolutionary anthropologist draws lessons from paleogenetic’s journey from Jurassic Park fiction to Nobel Prize reality. ✽ The morning of my 26th birthday, I woke up to incredible…
A Theory of Everyone: Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going – review
In A Theory of Everyone: Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going, Michael Muthukrishna contends that the core issue affecting Western societies is increasing energy…
What Is “Natural” for Human Sexual Relationships?
A biological and anthropological researcher explains how humans’ diverse ways of mating might have evolved. ✽ Marrying more than one person constitutes a crime across most of the…
Dismantling the “Man the Hunter” Myth
Two biological anthropologists analyze archaeological and physiological evidence to debunk enduring assumptions about the gendered division of labor in ancient times. This article was originally publ…
Spend a Day Tracking Chimpanzees
A series of short videos captures a rare view into the lives of wild chimps through the eyes of a researcher. ✽ Some see chimpanzees as invariably belligerent…
Extinguishing the Idea That Hobbits Had Fire
Research has overturned earlier claims that a diminutive human relative, Homo floresiensis, lit fires—but big stories die hard. SMOKING HOT HOBBITS When you think “the hobbit,” a certain…
A New Take on an Old Fossil Hints at Ancient Migrations
Two anthropologists explain how an enigmatic human fossil jawbone—and its 3D-printed reconstruction—may evidence an early Homo sapiens presence in Europe and shed new light on evolutionary diversity a…
How Power Pervades Portrayals of Human Evolution
An evolutionary scholar examines racist and sexist depictions of human evolution that continue to permeate science, education, and popular culture. This article was originally published at The Conver…
Twitter’s Blue Tick Is a Fake Signal
Evolutionary theory can help us better understand the recent debacle about social media platforms’ popular symbol as a signaling problem. This article was originally published at The Conversati…
On Flores Island, Do Ape-Men Still Exist?
Islanders have long claimed ape-like humans, remarkably similar to the fossil species Homo floresiensis, survive in secluded forests of Indonesia. An anthropologist investigates why. Excerpted from Be…
My Search for the Origins of Clothing
An archaeologist uses climate data and tailoring tools to trace the invention and evolution of apparel in the world’s colder climates. seeking paleolithic clothing origins Not long ago,…
Paleoanthropology: The Ancestor Worshipping Death Cult
Firstly, this is satire. I love all of my paleoanthropologist friends. Paleoanthropology is a scientific discipline dedicated to illuminating our evolutionary history. However, it is also a low-k…
What Molars and Math Reveal About the Human Brain
A paleoanthropologist explains what fossilized teeth—analyzed through a recently developed mathematical equation—can tell us about how brains have developed in utero over millions of years of human ev…
Club-Wielding Ancestors: Myth or Reality?
Inspired by pop culture depictions of cavepeople, an archaeologist searches for elusive evidence of ancient wooden clubs. ✽ Growing up in the 1990s, I first encountered the ancient…
How Ancient Humans Came to Cope With the Cold
Two anthropologists explain how humans managed to not just survive but dominate northern climates despite evolutionary origins in—and hence, biological predispositions to—warmer environments. This ar…
Did Humanity Really Arise in One Place?
New evidence is prompting researchers to rethink Homo sapiens’ origin story—and what it means to be human. ✽ As a university student in the early 2010s, I recall…
What If Neanderthals Had Outlived Homo Sapiens?
An anthropologist considers how different the world might be if Neanderthals—and hence, their ways of navigating relationships with the environment and one another—had survived the gauntlet of evoluti…