Anthropology News

August 18, 2016

Pre-Hispanic Mexicans Bred and Managed Rabbits

Mayans Made Major Discovery in Math, Astronomy

Early Primate Evolution Now More Puzzling

Neanderthals Didn't Get Schizophrenia: Study

Latest Headlines

updated 8:30pm EDT

High-Tech Imaging Reveals Precolonial Mexican Manuscript Hidden from View for 500 Years

Aug. 18, 2016 — Researchers have used high-tech imaging to uncover the details of a rare Mexican codex dating from before the colonization of the Americas. The newly ... read more

Large Human Brain Evolved as a Result of 'Sizing Each Other Up'

Aug. 12, 2016 — Humans have evolved a disproportionately large brain as a result of sizing each other up in large cooperative social groups, researchers ... read more

Rare Frescoes from the Roman Period Discovered at Zippori in the Galilee

Aug. 10, 2016 — A team has discovered hundreds of fragments belonging to frescoes from the Roman period, in the Zippori National Park. The fragments, which contain figurative images, floral ... read more

The Hunt for War Treasure in the Philippines Has Hidden Meanings

Aug. 10, 2016 — Many believe that enormous quantities of gold lie buried somewhere in the Philippines. According to a popular account, Japanese soldiers used the Philippines as a base to hide treasures they had ... read more

New Piltdown Hoax Analysis Points to Work of 'Lone Forger'

Aug. 10, 2016 — Latest analysis of the famous Piltdown Man forgeries points the finger of suspicion even more firmly at their discoverer, Charles ... read more

Sensational Grave Find in Cypriote Bronze Age City

Aug. 9, 2016 — An archaeological expedition has discovered one of the richest graves from the Late Bronze Age ever found on the island of Cyprus. The grave and its offering pit, located ... read more

New Insights on Great Lakes Pre-European Monuments

Aug. 9, 2016 — Merging an innovative modeling technique with old-fashioned sleuthing, researchers have shed new light on the mystery of pre-European archaeological monument sites in Michigan, even though 80 percent ... read more

Deer Evolution: Ancient DNA Reveals Novel Relationships

Aug. 9, 2016 — Researchers have sequenced mitochondrial DNA from museum specimens of rare species of deer. Analysis of partial nucleotide sequences has enabled the team to refine our picture of the evolutionary ... read more

First Bell Beaker Earthwork Enclosure Found in Spain

Aug. 9, 2016 — Archaeologists have discovered an earthwork enclosure in southern Spain dating from the Bell Beaker period of 2,600 to 2,200 BCE. The complex of concentric rings may have ... read more

Archaeology Team Makes World-First Tool Discovery

Aug. 8, 2016 — How smart were human-like species of the Stone Age? New research reveals surprisingly sophisticated adaptations by early humans living 250,000 years ago in a former oasis ... read more

Mysterious Amulet Messages Discovered in Serbia

A Legend Of A Flood Spurring Chinese Civilization May Be A Little True

Shackled Remains at Ancient Greek Site Tell Tale of Intrigue

Rare Roman Mosaic Is Uncovered in Cyprus's Larnaca

Fresh Look at Burials, Mass Graves, Tells a New Story of Cahokia

Aug. 8, 2016 — A new study challenges earlier interpretations of an important burial mound at Cahokia, a pre-Columbian city in Illinois near present-day St. Louis. The study reveals that a central feature of the ... read more

Geological Data Provide Support for Legendary Chinese Flood

Aug. 4, 2016 — Researchers have provided geological evidence for China's 'Great Flood,' a disastrous event on the Yellow River from which the Xia dynasty is thought to have been born. The flood ... read more

Whales' Ultrasonic Hearing Has Surprisingly Ancient History, Fossilized Ear Shows

Aug. 4, 2016 — All living toothed whales rely upon echoes of their own calls to navigate and hunt underwater, a skill that works best in conjunction with high-frequency hearing. Now, researchers who studied one of ... read more

Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers Experimented With Farming in Turkey Before Migrating to Europe

Aug. 4, 2016 — Clusters of hunter-gatherers spent much of the late Stone Age working out the basics of farming on the fertile lands of Turkey before taking this knowledge to Europe. In an analysis of ancient ... read more

New Light Shed on How Vertebrates See: Details in Eyes of 300-Million-Year-Old Lamprey and Hagfish Fossils

Aug. 2, 2016 — New research has overturned a long-standing theory on how vertebrates evolved their eyes by identifying remarkable details of the retina in the eyes of 300 million year-old lamprey and hagfish ... read more

'Red Gene' in Birds, Turtles Suggests Dinosaurs Had Bird-Like Color Vision

Aug. 2, 2016 — A gene for red colour vision that originated in the reptile lineage around 250 million years ago has resulted in the bright red bird feathers and 'painted' turtles we see today, and may be ... read more

Population Boom Preceded Early Farming

Aug. 2, 2016 — Anthropologists have counted the number of carbon-dated artifacts at archaeological sites and concluded that a population boom and scarce food explain why people in eastern North America domesticated ... read more

Cancer on a Paleo-Diet? Ask Someone Who Lived 1.7 Million Years Ago

July 28, 2016 — The most ancient evidence for cancer and bony tumors yet described in the human fossil record has been published by ... read more

New Zealand Wren DNA Analysis Reshapes Geological Theory

July 27, 2016 — A DNA analysis of living and extinct species of mysterious New Zealand wrens may change theories around the country's geological and evolutionary ... read more

Postcards Provide Link to Edwardian Social Media

July 26, 2016 — A new public searchable database provides access to a unique and inspirational treasure trove of amazing stories and pictures through what researchers term the 'social media' of the ... read more

Archaeologists Find Elusive 16th-Century Spanish Fort on Parris Island

July 26, 2016 — The lost Spanish fort San Marcos, founded in 1577 at the town of Santa Elena by Pedro Menedez Marquez, has been found on present-day Parris Island in South Carolina by a pair of ... read more

DNA Analyses Reveal Genetic Identities of World's First Farmers

July 25, 2016 — Conducting the first large-scale, genome-wide analyses of ancient human remains from the Near East, an international team of scientists has illuminated the genetic identities and population dynamics ... read more

Historic Find: A Statue of an Egyptian Official at Tel-Hazor in Israel

July 25, 2016 — In a historic find, a large fragment of an Egyptian statue measuring 45 X 40 centimeters, made of lime-stone, was discovered in the course of the current season of excavations at Tel-Hazor, north of ... read more

Blood of King Albert I Identified After 80 Years

July 22, 2016 — The death of King Albert I of Belgium in 1934 -- officially a climbing accident -- still fuels speculation. Forensic geneticists have now compared DNA from blood found on the scene in 1934 to that of ... read more

Ancient Feces Provides Earliest Evidence of Infectious Disease Being Carried on Silk Road

July 21, 2016 — Intestinal parasites as well as goods were carried by travelers on the iconic route, say researchers examining an ancient ... read more

Biologists Home in on Paleo Gut for Clues to Our Evolutionary History

July 21, 2016 — A new study of the gut microbiomes of humans, chimps, bonobos and gorillas shows that at least two major groups of bacteria have cospeciated with these hosts, with a lineage going back at least 15 ... read more

What Hunter-Gatherers Can Tell Us About Fundamental Human Social Networks

July 21, 2016 — Long before the advent of social media, human social networks were built around sharing a much more essential commodity: food. Now, researchers reporting on the food sharing networks of two ... read more

Neanderthals in Germany: First Population Peak, Then Sudden Extinction

July 21, 2016 — Neanderthals once populated the entire European continent. Around 45,000 years ago, Homo neanderthalensis was the predominant human species in Europe. Archaeological findings show that there were ... read more

Bronze Age Barrow and Anglo-Saxon Cemetery

July 21, 2016 — A new project has investigated how different generations have re-used ancient sacred places. Archaeologists from the University of Leicester have recently excavated a Bronze Age barrow and ... read more

After the Age of Dinosaurs Came the Age of Ant Farmers

July 20, 2016 — Soon after the demise of the dinosaurs, ants learned how to farm. The story of the mutualism between leafcutter ants and their fungal crop culminates in industrial-scale farming that surpasses even ... read more

Monday, August 8, 2016