Early Humans News

September 9, 2016

Smarter Brains Are Blood-Thirsty Brains

3.18 Million Years Ago, Lucy Fell from a Tree

Early Primate Evolution Now More Puzzling

Neanderthals Didn't Get Schizophrenia: Study

Latest Headlines

updated 1:01am EDT

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

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

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

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 ... 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 ... read more

Where There's Smoke -- And a Mutation -- There May Be an Evolutionary Edge for Humans

Aug. 2, 2016 — A genetic mutation may have helped modern humans adapt to smoke exposure from fires and perhaps sparked an evolutionary ... 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 ... 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 ... 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 ... 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 ... read more

Shackled Remains at Ancient Greek Site Tell Tale of Intrigue

Aboriginal Australians Had an Axe to Grind

Israel Divers Find Ancient Marine Cargo in Mediterranean

Remnants of Ancient Rome Found Off Coast of Israel

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

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

Prehistoric Genomes from the World's First Farmers in the Zagros Mountains Reveal Different Neolithic Ancestry for Europeans and South Asians

July 14, 2016 — Populations in the ancient Fertile Crescent are the ancestors of modern day South Asians but not of Europeans, new research shows. The earliest farmers from the Zagros mountains in Iran, i.e., the ... read more