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Early Humans News

January 20, 2017

A Neanderthal Rock Hound?

Viruses in Genome Important for Our Brain

Byzantine Skeleton: Staph Infection 800 Years Ago

Evolution of Human Brain and Tooth Size

Latest Headlines

updated 3:31am EST

Retroviruses 'Almost Half a Billion Years Old'

Jan. 10, 2017 — Retroviruses -- the family of viruses that includes HIV -- are almost half a billion years old, according to new research. That's several hundred million years older than previously thought and ... read more

Arctic Inuit, Native American Cold Adaptations May Originate from Extinct Hominids

Dec. 20, 2016 — In the Arctic, the Inuits have adapted to severe cold and a predominantly seafood diet. Now, a team of scientists has ... read more

Raw Foodies: Europe's Earliest Humans Did Not Use Fire

Dec. 14, 2016 — Europe's earliest humans did not use fire for cooking, but had a balanced diet of meat and plants -- all eaten raw, new research reveals for the ... read more

Fast Evolution Affects Everyone, Everywhere

Dec. 6, 2016 — Rapid evolution of other species happens all around us all the time -- and many of the most extreme examples are associated with ... read more

17th Century Strain of Smallpox Retrieved from Partial Mummified Remains of Lithuanian Child

Dec. 8, 2016 — New genetic research suggests that smallpox, a pathogen that caused millions of deaths worldwide, may not be an ancient ... read more

Overwhelming Evidence of Malaria's Existence 2,000 Years Ago

Dec. 6, 2016 — An analysis of 2,000-year-old human remains from several regions across the Italian peninsula has confirmed the presence of malaria during the Roman Empire, addressing a longstanding debate about its ... read more

Secrets of the Paleo Diet: Archeological Discovery Reveals Plant-Based Menu of Prehistoric Humans

Dec. 5, 2016 — A collection of 780,000-year-old edible plants found in Israel reveals the plant-based diet of the prehistoric human and is ... read more

Fires Set by Ice Age Hunters Destroyed Forests Throughout Europe

Dec. 1, 2016 — Large-scale forest fires started by prehistoric hunter-gatherers are probably the reason why Europe is not more densely forested, ... read more

Human Ancestor 'Lucy' Was a Tree Climber, New Evidence Suggests

Nov. 30, 2016 — Since the discovery of the fossil dubbed Lucy 42 years ago this month, paleontologists have debated whether the 3 million-year-old human ancestor spent all of her time ... read more

Tooth Wear Patterns Suggest Paranthropus Early Hominins Had Softer Diets Than Expected

Nov. 16, 2016 — Analysis of wear patterns on fossil teeth from East African hominins suggests the diets of Paranthropus aethiopicus and ... read more

More Early Humans News

January 20, 2017

Summaries
Headlines

What Teeth Reveal About the Lives of Modern Humans

Jan. 9, 2017 — When anthropologists of the future find our fossilized teeth, what will they be able to conclude about our lives? One researcher has an ... read more

Words and Bones Tell a Similar Story About Deep History

Nov. 16, 2016 — Common descent of human populations is reflected both in their cranial features and their linguistic affiliations over vast geographic distances, new evidence suggests. The formation of different ... read more

Slow Motion Waves of Jumping Genes in the Human Genome

Nov. 14, 2016 — Scientists have made detailed predictions about an intriguing mechanism of genomic evolution. The findings are an important step toward understanding the complex ways that genomes change over the ... read more

Neanderthal Inheritance Helped Humans Adapt to Life Outside of Africa

Nov. 10, 2016 — As the ancestors of modern humans made their way out of Africa to other parts of the world many thousands of years ago, they met up and in some cases had children with other forms of humans, ... read more

Evolution Purged Many Neanderthal Genes from Human Genome

Nov. 8, 2016 — Larger populations allowed humans to shed weakly deleterious gene variants that were widespread in Neanderthals, new research ... read more

Middle Stone Age Ochre Processing Tools Reveal Cultural and Behavioural Complexity

Nov. 2, 2016 — Middle Stone Age humans in East Africa may have employed varied techniques to process ochre for functional and symbolic uses, according to a ... read more

Genome Sequencing Reveals Ancient Interbreeding Between Chimpanzees and Bonobos

Oct. 27, 2016 — For the first time, scientists have revealed ancient gene mixing between chimpanzees and bonobos, humankind's closest relatives, showing parallels with Neanderthal mixing in human ancestry. The ... read more

Earliest Evidence in Fossil Record for Right-Handedness

Oct. 20, 2016 — Perhaps the bias against left-handers dates back much further than we thought. By examining striations on teeth of a Homo habilis fossil, researchers have found the earliest evidence for ... read more

Ancient Human History More Complex Than Previously Thought, Researchers Say

Oct. 20, 2016 — Relationships between the ancestors of modern humans and other archaic populations such as Neanderthals and Denisovans were likely more complex than previously thought, involving interbreeding within ... read more

Monkeys Are Seen Making Stone Flakes So Humans Are 'Not Unique' After All

Oct. 19, 2016 — Researchers have observed wild-bearded capuchin monkeys in Brazil deliberately break stones, unintentionally creating flakes that share many of the characteristics of those produced by early Stone ... read more

Ancient Hominid 'Hanky Panky' Also Influenced Spread of STIs

Oct. 17, 2016 — With recent studies proving that almost everyone has a little bit of Neanderthal DNA in them ---- up to 5 percent of the human genome --- it's become clear our ancestors not only had some ... read more

A Short Jump from Single-Celled Ancestors to Animals

Oct. 13, 2016 — The first animals evolved from their single-celled ancestors around 800 million years ago, but new evidence suggests that this leap to multi-celled organisms in the tree of life may not have been ... read more

Analysis of DNA from Early Settlers of the Pacific Overturns Leading Genetic Model

Oct. 3, 2016 — A scientific team analyzed DNA from people who lived in Tonga and Vanuatu between 2,500 and 3,100 years ago, and were among the first people to live in these islands. The results overturn the leading ... read more

New Evidence Shifts the Timeline Back for Human Arrival in the Americas

Sep. 29, 2016 — Humans occupied South America earlier than previously thought, according to the recent discovery of ancient artifacts found at an archeological site in ... read more

Ear Ossicles of Modern Humans and Neanderthals: Different Shape, Similar Function

Sep. 27, 2016 — Scientists have scanned the skulls of Neanderthals and found the small middle ear ossicles, which are important for hearing, still preserved within the cavities of the ear. To their surprise, the ... read more

Are Modern Humans Simply Bad at Smoking?

Sep. 23, 2016 — Scientist looked for the genetic footprint of fire use in our genes, but found that our prehistoric cousins - the Neanderthals - and even the great apes seem better at dealing with the toxins in ... read more

All Non-Africans Alive Today Likely Descend from People Within a Single Migration out of Africa

Sep. 21, 2016 — A study of hundreds of new genomes from across the globe has yielded insights into modern genetic diversity and ancient population dynamics, including compelling evidence that essentially all ... read more

Genetic ‘trace’ in Papuan Genomes Suggests Two Expansions out of Africa

Sep. 21, 2016 — A new study of human genomic diversity suggests there may have in fact been two successful dispersals out of Africa, and that a “trace” of the earlier of these two expansion events has lingered ... read more

Body Ornamentation Among Neanderthals: Dig in France Confirmed as Neaderthal Remains

Sep. 20, 2016 — Researchers have helped to solve an archaeological dispute -- confirming that Neanderthals were responsible for producing tools and artifacts previously argued by some to be exclusively in the realm ... read more

Ancient Skeleton Discovered on Antikythera Shipwreck

Sep. 19, 2016 — An international research team discovered a human skeleton during its ongoing excavation of the famous Antikythera Shipwreck (circa 65 B.C.). The shipwreck, which holds the remains of a Greek trading ... read more

Monday, January 9, 2017

What teeth reveal about the lives of modern humans

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Words and bones tell a similar story about deep history

Monday, November 14, 2016

Slow motion waves of jumping genes in the human genome

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Neanderthal inheritance helped humans adapt to life outside of Africa

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Evolution purged many Neanderthal genes from human genome

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Middle Stone Age ochre processing tools reveal cultural and behavioural complexity

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Genome sequencing reveals ancient interbreeding between chimpanzees and bonobos

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Monkeys are seen making stone flakes so humans are 'not unique' after all

Monday, October 17, 2016

Ancient hominid 'hanky panky' also influenced spread of STIs

Thursday, October 13, 2016

A short jump from single-celled ancestors to animals

Monday, October 3, 2016

Analysis of DNA from early settlers of the pacific overturns leading genetic model

Thursday, September 29, 2016

New evidence shifts the timeline back for human arrival in the Americas

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Ear ossicles of modern humans and Neanderthals: Different shape, similar function

Friday, September 23, 2016

Are modern humans simply bad at smoking?

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Body ornamentation among Neanderthals: Dig in France confirmed as Neaderthal remains

Monday, September 19, 2016

Ancient skeleton discovered on Antikythera Shipwreck

Friday, September 16, 2016

How rattlesnakes got, and lost, their venom

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Smarter brains are blood-thirsty brains

Monday, August 29, 2016

Cracking the coldest case: How Lucy, the most famous human ancestor, died

Monday, August 15, 2016

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

New Piltdown hoax analysis points to work of 'lone forger'

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Deer evolution: Ancient DNA reveals novel relationships

Monday, August 8, 2016

Archaeology team makes world-first tool discovery

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Whales' ultrasonic hearing has surprisingly ancient history, fossilized ear shows

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Cancer on a Paleo-diet? Ask someone who lived 1.7 million years ago

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

New Zealand wren DNA analysis reshapes geological theory

Monday, July 25, 2016

DNA analyses reveal genetic identities of world's first farmers

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

After the age of dinosaurs came the age of ant farmers

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Prehistoric genomes from the world's first farmers in the Zagros mountains reveal different Neolithic ancestry for Europeans and South Asians

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Technological and cultural innovations amongst early humans not sparked by climate change

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Homo erectus walked as we do

Monday, July 11, 2016

Changes in primate teeth linked to rise of monkeys

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Cannibalism among late Neanderthals in northern Europe

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Our ancestors evolved faster after dinosaur extinction

Monday, June 27, 2016

Ancient 'Deep Skull' from Borneo full of surprises

Monday, June 20, 2016

Researchers find Highland East Asian origin for prehistoric Himalayan populations

Friday, June 17, 2016

Ancient DNA shows perfect storm felled Ice Age giants

Monday, June 13, 2016

Ancient DNA analysis explains spread of domestic goats from fertile crescent into caucasus

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Bacteria perfected protein complexes more than 3.5 billion years ago

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

New research counters claim that the 'Hobbit' had Down syndrome

Monday, June 6, 2016

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Neanderthals used fire in caves: French cave sheds new light on the Neanderthals

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Back to the future: Space-age exploration for pre-historic bones

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Migration back to Africa took place during the Palaeolithic

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Ancient DNA study finds Phoenician from Carthage had European ancestry

Monday, May 23, 2016

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Nature vs. Nuture? Both are important, anthropologist argues

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Monday, May 2, 2016

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Teeth vs. tools: Neandertals and Homo sapiens had different dietary strategies

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Investigating world’s oldest human footprints with software designed to decode crime scenes

Monday, April 25, 2016

Modern DNA reveals ancient male population explosions linked to migration and technology

Friday, April 22, 2016

Novel collagen fingerprinting identifies a Neanderthal bone among 2,000 fragments

Monday, April 18, 2016

Bigger brains led to bigger bodies in our ancestors

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Vladimir is thrilled by the Sungarian man: Archaeologists studied tools made by Homo sapiens who had lived near Vladimir

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

The pyrophilic primate

Monday, April 11, 2016

Neanderthals may have been infected by diseases carried out of Africa by humans

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Friday, April 1, 2016

Ancient DNA shows European wipe-out of early Americans

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Indonesian 'Hobbits' may have died out sooner than thought

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Monday, March 28, 2016

A world map of Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry in modern humans

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

More ancient viruses lurk in our DNA than we thought

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Ancient Denisovan DNA excavated in modern Pacific Islanders

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

How people prepared food in prehistoric times

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

400,000-year-old fossils from Spain provide earliest genetic evidence of Neanderthals

Monday, March 14, 2016

Neanderthals diet: 80% meat, 20% vegetables

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Early human habitat, recreated for first time, shows life was no picnic

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

The benefits of food processing: Processing food before eating likely played key role in human evolution

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Without ancestral gene life on Earth might not have evolved beyond slime

Thursday, February 25, 2016

3-D technology used to safely reveal the diet of 'Chaucer's children'