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Early Humans News

December 12, 2018

Early Hominin Presence in North Africa

Stone Tools Linked to Ancient Human Ancestors

Oxygen 3.5 Billion Years Ago

Prehistoric Cave Art: Complex Astronomy?

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Latest Headlines

updated 6:26am EST

New Archaeological Site Revises Human Habitation Timeline on Tibetan Plateau

Nov. 29, 2018 — Human ancestors first set foot on the interior of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau around 30,000-40,000 years ago, according to ... read more

First Ancient DNA from Mainland Finland Reveals Origins of Siberian Ancestry in Region

Nov. 27, 2018 — A new study shows that the genetic makeup of northern Europe traces back to migrations from Siberia that began at least 3,500 years ago and that, as ... read more

Human Ancestors Not to Blame for Ancient Mammal Extinctions in Africa

Nov. 23, 2018 — New research disputes a long-held view that our earliest tool-bearing ancestors contributed to the demise of large mammals in Africa over the last several million years. ... read more

Evolution: South Africa's Hominin Record Is a Fair-Weather Friend

Nov. 21, 2018 — The fossil record of early hominins in South Africa is biased towards periods of drier climate, suggests a study of cave deposits. This finding suggests there are gaps in the ... read more

The 'Swiss Army Knife of Prehistoric Tools' Found in Asia, Suggests Homegrown Technology

Nov. 19, 2018 — A study by an international team of researchers have determines that carved stone tools, also known as Levallois cores, were ... read more

Jumping Genes Shed Light on How Advanced Life May Have Emerged

Nov. 19, 2018 — A previously unappreciated interaction in the genome turns out to have possibly been one of the driving forces in the emergence of advanced life. This discovery began with a ... read more

Late Miocene Ape Maxilla (Upper Jaw) Discovered in Western India

Nov. 14, 2018 — An ape maxilla (upper jaw) from the Late Miocene found in the Kutch basin, in western India, significantly extends the southern range of ancient apes in the Indian Peninsula, ... read more

Primates of the Caribbean: Ancient DNA Reveals History of Mystery Monkey

Nov. 12, 2018 — Analysis of ancient DNA of a mysterious extinct monkey named Xenothrix -- which displays bizarre body characteristics very different to any living monkey -- has revealed that ... read more

Experts Find That Stone Tools Connected Communities

Nov. 9, 2018 — Stone tools that were discovered and examined by a group of international experts showed for the first time that various communities that lived during the Middle Stone Age ... read more

DNA of World's Oldest Natural Mummy Unlocks Secrets of Ice Age Tribes in the Americas

Nov. 8, 2018 — A wide ranging international study that genetically analysed the DNA of a series of famous and controversial ancient remains ... read more

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More Early Humans News

December 12, 2018

Summaries
Headlines

Ancient DNA Evidence Reveals Two Unknown Migrations from North to South America

Nov. 8, 2018 — A team has used genome-wide ancient DNA data to revise Central and South American history. Their analysis of DNA from 49 individuals spanning about 10,000 years in Belize, Brazil, the Central Andes, ... read more

Oldest Evidence of Dairying on the East Asian Steppe

Nov. 5, 2018 — Although dairy pastoralism once made Mongolian steppe herders successful enough to conquer most of Asia and Europe, the origins of this way of life on the East Asian steppe are still unclear. Now an ... read more

Origin of the Periodicity of the Genome Explained

Nov. 2, 2018 — Scientists have researched what might have favored the periodicity of certain base pairs in the genomes of eukaryotic ... read more

How Cancer-Causing Papillomaviruses Evolved

Nov. 2, 2018 — Cancer-causing human papillomaviruses (HPVs) diverged from their most recent common ancestors approximately half a million years ago, roughly coinciding with the timing of the split between archaic ... read more

Earliest Recorded Lead Exposure in 250,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Teeth

Oct. 31, 2018 — Using evidence found in teeth from two Neanderthals from southeastern France, researchers report the earliest evidence of lead exposure in an extinct human-like species from 250,000 years ... read more

Neanderthal Ribcage Reconstructed, Offering New Clues to Ancient Human Anatomy

Oct. 30, 2018 — Scientists have completed the first 3D virtual reconstruction of the ribcage of the most complete Neanderthal skeleton unearthed to date. Using CT scans of fossils from an approximately ... read more

Synthetic Microorganisms Allow Scientists to Study Ancient Evolutionary Mysteries

Oct. 29, 2018 — Scientists have created microorganisms that may recapitulate key features of organisms thought to have lived billions of years ... read more

Earliest Hominin Migrations Into the Arabian Peninsula Required No Novel Adaptations

Oct. 29, 2018 — A new study suggests that early hominin dispersals beyond Africa did not involve adaptations to environmental extremes, such as to arid and harsh deserts. The discovery of stone tools and cut-marks ... read more

Newly Described Fossils Could Help Reveal Why Some Dinos Got So Big

Oct. 10, 2018 — A new, in-depth anatomical description of the best preserved specimens of a car-sized sauropod relative from North America could help paleontologists with unraveling the mystery of why some dinosaurs ... read more

Drier, Less Predictable Environment May Have Spurred Human Evolution

Oct. 8, 2018 — Evidence of a variable but progressively drying climate coincides with a major shift in stone-tool-making abilities and the appearance of modern Homo sapiens. Sediment cores obtained by the Hominin ... read more

Getting a Grip on the Slow but Unique Evolution of Sharks

Oct. 8, 2018 — Scientists have decoded the whole genomes of two shark species for the first time and improved the whale shark genome sequences released previously. By analyzing the genomes and comparing them with ... read more

Viruses Influenced Gene Sharing Between Neanderthals and Humans

Oct. 4, 2018 — Human evolution used to be depicted as a straight line, gradually progressing from an ape-like ancestor to modern Homo sapiens. But thanks to next-generation sequencing, findings in recent years have ... read more

Teeth of Homo Antecessor Shed Light on Trends in Pleistocene Hominin Dental Evolution

Oct. 3, 2018 — Some of the dental features characteristic of Neanderthals were already present in Early Pleistocene Homo antecessor, according to a new ... read more

Neanderthal-Like Features in 450,000-Year-Old Fossil Teeth from the Italian Peninsula

Oct. 3, 2018 — Fossil teeth from Italy, among the oldest human remains on the Italian Peninsula, show that Neanderthal dental features had evolved by around 450,000 years ago, according to a new ... read more

Ancient Past of a Body Plan Code Probed

Sep. 27, 2018 — Researchers have opened a window on another piece of evolutionary biology. They have found that Hox genes, which are key regulators of the way the bodies of bilaterally symmetrical animals form, also ... read more

What Makes a Mammal a Mammal? Our Spine, Say Scientists

Sep. 20, 2018 — Mammals are unique in many ways. We're warm-blooded and agile in comparison with our reptilian ... read more

Discovery of the Earliest Drawing

Sep. 12, 2018 — The oldest known abstract drawing has been found in South Africa's Blombos Cave -- on the face of a flake of siliceous rock retrieved from archaeological strata dated to 73,000 years before the ... read more

Cold Climates Contributed to the Extinction of the Neanderthals

Aug. 29, 2018 — Climate change may have played a more important role in the extinction of Neanderthals than previously believed, according to a new ... read more

Neanderthal Mother, Denisovan Father! Hybrid Fossil

Aug. 22, 2018 — Up until 40,000 years ago, at least two groups of hominins inhabited Eurasia -- Neanderthals in the west and Denisovans in the east. Now, researchers have sequenced the genome of an ancient hominin ... read more

DNA Analysis of 6,500-Year-Old Human Remains With Blue Eye Mutation

Aug. 20, 2018 — Scientists have discovered that waves of migration from Anatolia and the Zagros mountains to the Levant helped develop the Chalcolithic culture that existed in Israel's Upper Galilee region some ... read more

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Ancient DNA evidence reveals two unknown migrations from North to South America

Monday, November 5, 2018

Oldest evidence of dairying on the East Asian Steppe

Friday, November 2, 2018

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Earliest recorded lead exposure in 250,000-year-old Neanderthal teeth

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Neanderthal ribcage reconstructed, offering new clues to ancient human anatomy

Monday, October 29, 2018

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Newly described fossils could help reveal why some dinos got so big

Monday, October 8, 2018

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Viruses influenced gene sharing between Neanderthals and humans

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Ancient past of a body plan code probed

Thursday, September 20, 2018

What makes a mammal a mammal? Our spine, say scientists

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Discovery of the earliest drawing

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Cold climates contributed to the extinction of the Neanderthals

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Neanderthal mother, Denisovan father! Hybrid fossil

Monday, August 20, 2018

Monday, August 13, 2018

Scarlet macaw DNA points to ancient breeding operation in Southwest

Friday, August 10, 2018

Laziness helped lead to extinction of Homo erectus

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Prehistoric peopling in southeast Asia: Genomics of Jomon and other ancient skeletons

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Modern Flores Island pygmies show no genetic link to extinct 'hobbits'

Monday, July 30, 2018

Homo sapiens developed a new ecological niche that separated it from other hominins

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Evidence of Salmonella Paratyphi C found for the first time in medieval northern Europe

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Friday, July 6, 2018

Ancient DNA testing solves 100-year-old controversy in Southeast Asian prehistory

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Our human ancestors walked on two feet but their children still had a backup plan

Monday, July 2, 2018

Neanderthals practiced close-range hunting 120,000 years ago

Thursday, June 28, 2018

The evolution of testes

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Tropical 'banana eater' birds lived in North America 52 million years ago

Monday, June 25, 2018

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Fossils show ancient primates had grooming claws as well as nails

Monday, June 18, 2018

22,000-year-old panda from cave in Southern China belongs to distinct, long-lost lineage

Sunday, June 17, 2018

New technique provides accurate dating of ancient skeletons

Friday, June 8, 2018

Oldest bubonic plague genome decoded

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

World’s oldest lizard fossil discovered

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Prehistoric teeth dating back two million years reveal details on Africa's paleoclimate

Thursday, May 24, 2018

How humans and apes are different, and why it matters

Monday, May 21, 2018

Genome structure of dinosaurs discovered by bird-turtle comparisons

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Scientists analyze first ancient human DNA from Southeast Asia

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Worm-eating mice reveal how evolution works on islands

Monday, May 14, 2018

Where hominid brains are concerned, size doesn't matter

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

78,000-year cave record from East Africa shows early cultural innovations

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Can chimpanzee vocalizations reveal the origins of human language?

Monday, April 30, 2018

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Respect Indigenous ancestors: Scholars urge community engagement before research

Monday, April 23, 2018

Human-like walking mechanics evolved before the genus Homo

Friday, April 20, 2018

Genomics study in Africa: Demographic history and deleterious mutations

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Monday, April 16, 2018

Surviving climate change, then and now

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Sweet potato history casts doubt on early contact between Polynesia and the Americas

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Monday, April 9, 2018

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Large carnivores were scarce but very diverse in Europe more than one million years ago

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

First land plants were parasitized by microbes

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

13,000-year-old human footprints found off Canada's Pacific coast

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Secrets of famous Neanderthal skeleton La Ferrassie 1 revealed

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Genomes of five late Neandertals provide insights into Neandertal population history

Monday, March 19, 2018

Discovery of sophisticated 115,000-year-old bone tools in China

Friday, March 16, 2018

New understanding of Kenyan paleoenvironments opens window on human evolution in the area

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Neanderthals were artistic like modern humans

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Brain size of human ancestors evolved gradually over 3 million years

Monday, February 19, 2018

Traces of indigenous 'Taíno' in present-day Caribbean populations

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Did humans domesticate themselves?

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

New insights into human evolution

Friday, February 9, 2018

Neanderthals' lack of drawing ability may relate to hunting techniques

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Friday, February 2, 2018

Solving the puzzle of multicellularity

Thursday, February 1, 2018

First study of the only original fossils conserved of 'Peking Man'

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Modern humans vs. giant animals: Mega-herbivores were displaced by humans who partly took their place

Friday, January 26, 2018

How microbes emerged from hot springs to conquer early Earth: DNA exchange

Thursday, January 25, 2018

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