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Power versus finesse: Neanderthals had powerful thumbs, while humans had finer control

Neanderthal thumbs were better adapted to holding tools with handles, a new study found.

X-rays reveal hidden amulet inside Egyptian child mummy

The 1,900-year-old mummy may have been royalty.

Busting the myth of the male provider: ancient women also hunted big game, study shows

Big game hunting may have been gender neutral.

Neanderthal milk teeth show their babies were raised and weaned similar to us

Tree ring-like growth lines in baby Neanderthal teeth suggest they were first weaned at around 6 months of age.

Modern graffiti leads scientists to 27,000-year-old cave art in Spain

The Gravettian art culture famous for stone age Venus statues was more widespread than previously thought.

30 million years ago, a group of monkeys sailed from Africa to South America

It's one of the craziest explorer stories you'll ever read.

Ancient footprints prove that humans were in Arabia 120,000 years ago

These early hunter-gatherers also walked alongside ancient elephants and camels.

Bronze Age people sometimes curated human remains as heirlooms

In one case, a man was buried alongside a thigh bone that was carved into a flute.

Hallett Cove's fossil secrets are now accessible through virtual reality

A nice way to see the world when travel isn't an option.

200,000 years ago, humans were making beds for themselves

If there's one thing humans have always liked, it's comfort.

Native American 8,000-year-old stone tool technology discovered in Arabia

The Neolithic people in the Arabian peninsula independently arrived at the same technology.

Scientists find 1.4 million-year-old hand axe made out of hippo femur

It's only the second hand axe made out of bone that scientists have ever come across.

Humans, not Neanderthals created oldest modern artifacts in Europe

These were the hi-tech gadgets of the Upper Paleolithic

Researchers obtain oldest-ever human DNA from ancient tooth

It's helping us piece together the human family tree.

European Neanderthals feasted on fresh seafood, boosting their brain

It's not just Homo sapiens -- Neanderthals also had a deep relationship with the sea.

In Ancient Greece, plagued cities would be purged, and the vulnerable would suffer. Are we any better?

It's a new challenge, and an old dilemma that we must face: are we willing and capable of protecting society's most vulnerable?

African hunter-gatherers prefer squatting to sitting -- and this may explain why they're healthier

Hazda tribespeople spend just as much time in sedentary behavior like people from the US. They prefer not to sit though, and this has positive effects for their health.

Hunter-gatherer "social media" accelerated our evolution

Long before you were using Facebook and Snapchat, our ancestors had developed a different kind of social network.

Scientists find the earliest evidence of ancient human interbreeding

About 700,000 years ago, the common ancestors of Denisovans and Neanderthals interbred with an archaic human population.

'Flower burial' cave offers new insight into Neanderthal death rites

A famous Palaeolithic site in Iraq has more secrets to shed about Neanderthal daily life -- as well as their after life.

'Ghost DNA' belonging to ancient extinct humans is still alive in the genomes of West Africans

A new lineage of humans has been identified in the DNA of certain African populations. But no one knows what they looked like or what happened to them.

Trade was thriving in Neolithic Italy, isotope study shows

Ancient Italians were importing copper from Tuscany, a new study shows.

A new "ghost lineage" of humans found in Africa

DNA analysis shows a 'profoundly different' landscape than we thought.

Sign languages evolve just like spoken languages

Spanish sign languages seem to be among the oldest in Europe.

Neanderthal teeth could chomp on hard plants like nuts and seeds

A new study found that early human ancestors had teeth that could penetrate the hard shells of nuts and seeds without suffering damage.

Our ancestors may have always walked on two legs, 10-million-year-old ape suggests

The dog-sized ape had a more flexible lower back that allowed it to walk more like humans do.

First human ancestor to walk on two legs made its final stand in Java

A new investigation suggests that Homo erectus survived on Indonedian island long enough to overlap with our own species, Homo sapiens.

Language forms spontaneously, and fast

People love to communicate -- there are over 7,000 languages in use today.

Ostrich eggshell beads reveal cultural evolution in Africa

Researchers show how cultural changes in Africa over the past 10,000 years can be tracked using the size of eggshell beads.

Mongolia's ancestral lifestyle and archaeological artefacts threatened by climate change

Mongolia is the most sparsely populated country in the world. Its terrain alternates between mountains and rolling plateaus, with tundra and green plains in between. Many Mongolians also maintain a pastoral lifestyle, for which the mountainous zones provide crucial support. For the reindeer-herding Tsaatan people, “eternal ice” (the so-called munkh mus) offers much-needed support to […]

Radar reveals ancient 'ghost' human footprints -- in mammoth footprints

Researchers have used ground-penetrating radar to find overlapping tracks from 12,000 years ago.

Vivid gladiator fresco discovered at Pompeii

The fresco is in fantastic shape.

Humans figured out how to start fires way sooner than expected

Ancient humans knew how to handle and make fire earlier than assumed.

People used marijuana in rituals 2,500 years ago

High up in the mountains of China.

Here's what the Denisovans might have looked like

It's the first glimpse of the Denisovan look.

Scientists find 3.8-million-year-old skull that could reshape human evolution

A lucky find now provides a face for Lucy's ancestor.

Nordic Bronze Age helped define migration patterns in Denmark

Starting around 1600 BC, southern Scandinavia became closely linked to long-distance metal trade elsewhere in Europe.

Case closed: scientists solve 33,000-year-old murder case

Cold case: solved.

Oldest human skull out of Africa forces us to rethink migration timeline

Was this an isolated individual, or part of an earlier wave of human migration?

Neanderthals used resin as glue to craft complex stone tools

Sticky!

Ancient Neanderthal genomes reveal surprising twist in their settling of Europe

DNA analysis reveals fresh details about how Neanderthals moved across Europe and Asia.

Ancient Celts had good taste in their drink, new study shows

The wine wasn't restricted to the higher echelons of Celtic society -- the craftsmen also enjoyed a glass from time to time.

Gender inequality emerged during the Neolithic, new study finds

The trend became much clearer after the Neolithic, but the signs were there.

Cities from 9,000 years ago had pretty much the same problems as those of today, study finds

"Many of the challenges we have today are the same ones they had in Çatalhöyük — only magnified," say the paper's authors.

Prehistoric stone tools were invented multiple times before becoming a staple

It was a crucial and defining moment in human evolution.

In the stone-age people recycled flint on purpose to produce precision blades

Second-hand flint, ironically, was more of a precision implement that fresh flint.

Humans and Neanderthals diverged at least 800,000 years ago, new teeth study shows

This just goes to show how complex our evolutionary history really is.

First Denisovan fossil found outside of Siberia -- our ancient "cousins" spread far and wide

Talk about a stunning find!

This legendary massacre may have been started by a children's game

Talk about eye for an eye...

World's second-largest language family originated in northern China during the Neolithic

This multidisciplinary study could settle a long-lasting debate.