Anthropology Archives - Attention to the Unseen

Researchers identify traces of two ‘ghost’ ancestors in modern human DNA

From elsewhere — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 23:29:35 +0000

CNN reports: Clues emerging from DNA could unlock the mystery of human ancestors that are missing from the fossil record yet present in the genes of people living today. Scientists found evidence years ago that our species, Homo sapiens, had interbred with now-extinct human relatives, including Neanderthals and Denisovans. But some lineages have been difficult to identify, because — unlike Neanderthals and Denisovans, whose DNA has been recovered from prehistoric remains — they are essentially genetic “ghosts,” with no DNA...

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Humans have used fire far longer than anyone realized

From elsewhere — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 01:33:42 +0000

Science News reports: A cave in Africa seems to host the oldest known traces of humans using fire. Burnt remnants of animal bones hint that groups of Homo erectus used fires here as long as 1.8 million years ago. The site is known as Wonderwerk Cave. It’s in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The oldest previously known traces of our early relatives using fire also came from there. Those dated to about 1 million years ago. The new...

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Why it might be time to rethink the human family tree

From elsewhere — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:09:52 +0000

Ian Towle, CC BY By Ian Towle, Monash University Humanity’s family tree is long and tangled. Scientists sort our ancient relatives into three familiar groups: Homo, Australopithecus and Paranthropus. Each of these is a “genus”, the rank just above a species. (In Homo sapiens, Homo is the genus and sapiens is the species.) These names dominate how we talk about human origins. But new fossils, advances in genetic analysis, and more rigorous methods for figuring out who’s related to whom...

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Great apes were using touch to reassure and keep the peace six million years before humans evolved – new research

From elsewhere — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:37:02 +0000

Physical touch may be an important evolutionary tool to help manage social tension and keep the peace. Left: Jake Brooker/Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust; Right: Zanna Clay/Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary, CC BY-NC-ND By Jake Brooker, Utrecht University and Zanna Clay, Durham University During an eight-month-long research trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia, we studied consolation: the way bonobos and chimpanzees comfort each other after conflicts and distress. But early on, we kept noticing something that didn’t quite...

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Neanderthals in Western Europe were doing well right before they went extinct

From elsewhere — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 23:29:07 +0000

UCLA: Neanderthals thrived across Europe and the Middle East for hundreds of thousands of years. They occupied vast distances, ranging from Europe through the Altai Mountains in Central Asia. They survived large variations in climate and the arrival of modern humans until around 40,000 years ago, when they died out. The exact factors that resulted in their disappearance remain unknown, with possible explanations including climate change, resource competition and interbreeding with anatomically modern humans. A new study published in Nature...

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Human evolution was messy and gradual, not an abrupt revolution, archaeologist argues

From elsewhere — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 23:48:16 +0000

Krystal Kasal writes: It is generally accepted by archaeologists that modern humans originated in Africa and dispersed worldwide, while other hominins went extinct. Yet how and when Homo sapiens dispersed out of Africa, and whether it was an abrupt event, is still debated. Even more uncertain is how and when humans went from being “archaic” to “modern.” In a recent study, published in Quaternary Science Reviews, archaeologist Huw S. Groucutt argues that the ideas of modernity and a “Human Revolution”...

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Ancient DNA reveals how natural selection shaped West Eurasians over 10,000 years

From elsewhere — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:35:27 +0000

PsyPost reports: By analyzing the genetic material of thousands of ancient humans, researchers have mapped how natural selection influenced hundreds of physical and behavioral traits across West Eurasia over the past 10,000 years. The findings reveal that evolution continuously pushed specific genetic variations to become more or less common, affecting everything from blood type to disease risk. The study was published in Nature. Evolution is driven by multiple forces, but one of the most recognizable is directional selection. This happens...

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The tightrope of cooperation and competition

From elsewhere — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 01:03:48 +0000

Jonathan R Goodman writes: Reading classic works in evolutionary biology is unlikely to make you optimistic about human nature. From Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man (1871) onwards, there is a fundamental understanding among biologists that organisms, especially humans, evolved to maximise self-interest. We act to promote our own success or that of our family. Niceness, by contrast, is just a mirage, and morality more broadly is just an illusion. Sociobiology – the infamous movement of the second half of...

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Why one branch on the human family tree replaced all the others

From elsewhere — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 01:32:07 +0000

Nick Longrich writes: On the western slope of Mount Carmel, in Israel, lies the cave of Es-Skhul. About 140,000 years ago, during the Ice Age, nomadic hunter-gatherers made camp here. The sea to the west had receded, exposing a broad plain covered with groves of live oak, almond and olive, meadows filled with asphodel and anemone. Herds of fallow deer, rhinoceros and aurochs roamed the plains. People hunted animals with stone-tipped spears, and foraged wild mustard and olives. And when...

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Neanderthals used stone drills to treat cavities 59,000 years ago, tooth suggests

From elsewhere — Fri, 15 May 2026 00:34:29 +0000

The Guardian reports: Neanderthals used stone drills to treat cavities almost 60,000 years ago in what is the earliest known evidence of dental treatment. The single molar, which was unearthed in a cave in southern Siberia, features a deep hole that appears to have been created using a sharp, thin stone tool during the lifetime of the tooth’s owner. While the prospect of stone age root canal treatment may be excruciating to even contemplate, archaeologists say the discovery provides remarkable...

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