The Neanderthal Arm—Hints About Handedness
The human body is often visualized as a symmetrical form: Picture the geometric precision of Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic drawing of a man’s proportions encased by a circle…
The human body is often visualized as a symmetrical form: Picture the geometric precision of Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic drawing of a man’s proportions encased by a circle…
The human body is often visualized as a symmetrical form: Picture the geometric precision of Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic drawing of a man’s proportions encased by a circle…
[no-caption] Nigel Renny/Flickr “It’s not your fault you watch football all day—man has always been captivated by watching stuff,” states a Coke Zero commercial that aired during the…
Tooth pendants (one pictured here), along with other artifacts discovered at Denisova Cave, mark the earliest evidence of human ornamentation—between 43,000 and 49,000 years ago—in northern Eurasia. …
[no-caption] F. d’Errico/L. Doyon The Inya River in southwestern Siberia winds through a landscape of striking seasonal changes. In the summer, crystal clear waters lap below alpine forests.…
In 2009, supermodel Kate Moss caused a stir when she categorically stated that “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” As jaw-dropping as the sentiment might have seemed…
Every human has it. But nearly every human society sees it differently. Fat. What purpose does it serve? In this video, a collaboration between SAPIENS and Aeon, anthropological…
Ten years ago, toiling in scorching heat on the parched Fongoli savanna in southeast Senegal, anthropologist Julie Lesnik faced an unpalatable task. She had to taste a termite.…
Archaeologists are uncovering footprints on beaches from Canada to South Africa. The oldest human footprints, one of which is shown here, were found in Tanzania and date back…
[no-caption] Sara López Gilabert/SAPIENS Suzana Herculano-Houzel spent most of 2003 perfecting a macabre recipe—a formula for brain soup. Sometimes she froze the jiggly tissue in liquid n…
The world’s oldest bread crumbs found to date were excavated from the stone-lined fireplace in the center of this photo. Alexis Pantos It’s mid-August in 2013, and we…
Co-author Paul Pettitt inspects ancient paintings on a wall in Spain’s El Castillo Cave. Becky Harrison/Gobierno de Cantabria This article was originally published at The Conversation and…
[no-caption] Sarah Gilman In the oaken hills of central Texas between Austin and Waco, a spring rises along a tangled fence line, watercress waving downstream. Water comes up…
Ivory beads and ochre—affixed to the pelvic bones of a child—likely decorated the burial clothing of this 10-year-old interred at Sunghir some 34,000 years ago. E. Trinkaus/Trinkaus and…
Figures of horses in the Atxurra cave system in Spain astounded archaeologist Diego Garate, who shines his headlamp on this previously unknown panel of artwork. Diego Garate On…
“Fossil scout” Pedro Boshoff inside the Rising Star cave system in South Africa, where Homo naledi fossils were found. Wits University This year’s anthropological findings brought us fasc…
When I ask her “So how big are the rats?,” E. Grace Veatch, a graduate student in zooarchaeology at Emory University, smiles and immediately holds her hands apart…
Many people find urban centers to be both enchanting and repulsive—but for better or worse, cities have left their mark on us. Jeff Turner/Flickr The amount of time…
Remember the iconic Folsom point? The one that I said, in my last post, changed the future of archaeology? To recap: On August 29, 1927, paleontologists from the…
The Folsom spear point, which was excavated in 1927 near the small town of Folsom, New Mexico, is one of the most famous artifacts in North American archaeology,…
Although researchers don’t agree on when humans first gained control over the use of fire, they do not dispute the fact that fire played an important role in…
At the site of an old Moroccan mine, paleoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin points to one of the oldest Homo sapiens skulls yet found. Philipp Gunz/MPI EVA Leipzig The oldest…
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) makes it possible to image people’s brains while they are moving their arms, which allows researchers to study the brain activity of toolmakers. …
The story of human origins is much more varied and complex than we often recognize. Biswarup Ganguly/Wikimedia Commons This article was originally published at The Conversation and has be…