Who are the Japanese? Huge DNA discovery rewrites history

Scientists analyzing the genomes of thousands of people across Japan discovered evidence for a previously overlooked third ancestral group, challenging the long-accepted “dual origins” theory. The new...

sciencedaily.com

Homo erectus genetic material sequenced for the first time, and it shows 'deep genetic links' with modern humans

A new study of six Homo erectus individuals from China reveals one amino acid variant that distinguished this archaic human from all other human lineages and one that it passed on to modern humans via...

livescience.com

Homo habilis is the earliest named human. But is it even human?

Between 2 million and 3 million years ago, humans appeared in Africa — but identifying them in the fossil record is turning out to be surprisingly difficult.

livescience.com

A high-coverage Neandertal genome from the Altai Mountains reveals population structure among Neandertals | PNAS

We present a genome sequenced to ~37-fold genomic coverage from an approximately 110,000-y-old male Neandertal from Denisova Cave in the Altai Moun...

pnas.org

Masripithecus: A new Miocene ape from Egypt sheds light on the origins of modern apes

In a study published in Science, an international research team from the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center (Egypt) and the University of Southern California (U.S.) describe Masripithe...

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Bonobos are just as aggressive as chimps, but there's a key difference — the female bonobos

A new study of chimpanzee and bonobo groups at zoos reveals similar levels of aggression. However, scientists found stark sex-based differences between the species.

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Howler monkey ancestors began eating leaves 13 million years ago, changing course of primate history in South America

Thirteen million years ago, a group of medium-sized monkeys known for guarding their territory among the treetops with fearsome "howls" started doing something new. These monkeys, among the oldest kno...

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The lost languages of ancient humans: Listen to stone-age chat

The fossilised bones of our ancestors remain silent. So, how can we possibly imagine what our earliest languages sounded like?

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Vast scale of overseas human remains held in UK museums decried by MPs and experts

Exclusive: Guardian study finds UK museums hold more than 260,000 items of remains, often in sacrilegious ways

theguardian.com

The Oldest Human Ancestor May Have Just Been Found Somewhere Very Unexpected

Our story may not begin in Africa after all.

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A 2,850-year-old mass grave in Serbia reveals a shift in prehistoric violence

Our study has finally uncovered the circumstances surrounding the death of 77 people, mostly women and girls.

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Teeth smaller than a fingertip reveal the first primate ancestor

Tiny, tooth-sized fossils have just reshaped the story of our deepest ancestry. Paleontologists have discovered the southernmost remains ever found of Purgatorius—the earliest-known relative of all pr...

sciencedaily.com

Arrowhead points found in Central Asia could prove the presence of ‘Homo sapiens’ 80,000 years ago

Tiny triangular-shaped flints from arrowheads found in Uzbekistan shed light on how the first settlement of ‘Homo sapiens’ – our modern human ancestors – came to Europe.

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First 3D reconstruction of the face of 'Little Foot' completed

Identified as the most complete Australopithecus fossil discovered to date, "Little Foot" was buried in sediments whose movement and weight caused fractures and deformations, making analysis of its sk...

phys.org

Ancient mosquitoes developed a taste for early hominins, research reveals

The preference of some mosquitoes in the Anopheles leucosphyrus (Leucosphyrus) group—including those that transmit malaria—for feeding on humans may have evolved in response to the arrival of early ho...

phys.org

Humans and Neanderthals interbred — but it was mostly male Neanderthals and female humans who coupled up, study finds

A preference for pairings between male Neanderthals and female Homo sapiens may answer the question of why there are "Neanderthal deserts" in human chromosomes.

livescience.com

Meet The 1.5-Million-Year-Old ‘Ghost’ In Your Genes. Hint: We’ve Haven’t Found Its Fossils Yet

New genomic research suggests our species descended from a deep fusion between two ancient lineages — one of them a mysterious “ghost.”

forbes.com

Unravelling the Palaeolithic

Welcome to the website for the Unravelling the Palaeolithic conference 2026! Unravelling the Palaeolithic is an ECR and student-led conference with a history of showcasing excellence in research in P...

sites.google.com

Palaeoanthropological evidence from China is changing the picture of hominin evolutionary history - Nature Ecology & Evolution

The authors review recent archaeological and palaeoanthropological discoveries from China and discuss how they change our understanding of human evolution.

nature.com

A regional-scale mobility model for the early hominin occupation of the Lower Omo Valley (Ethiopia) - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - A regional-scale mobility model for the early hominin occupation of the Lower Omo Valley (Ethiopia)

nature.com

Ancient artifacts hint at earliest protowriting

Geometric shapes on 40,000-year-old bone and ivory suggest early European Homo sapiens long possessed cognitive tools for language

science.org

Deep-time preservation of amino acids in mammalian fossil tooth enamel - Communications Biology

Tooth enamel preserves endogenous amino acids for over 40 million years, representing a robust and underexplored archive for deep-time biomolecular research and enabling future paleoproteomic and isot...

nature.com

Ancient DNA Reveals Europe’s Last Hunter-Gatherers Survived Thousands of Years Longer Than Expected

Ancient DNA shows that hunter-gatherers in northwestern Europe endured for millennia, with women driving a gradual cultural shift toward farming.

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The axis (C2) from El Sidrón and its implications for Neanderthal upper cervical spine form

sciencedirect.com

2,000-year-old skulls reveal people in ancient Vietnam permanently blackened their teeth — a stylish practice that persists today

In a study of 2,000-year-old skulls from Vietnam, archaeologists discovered that iron was the primary component that dyed teeth black.

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'Smiling' fossil discovered in Northumberland

The unusual looking fossil is estimated to be a few hundred million years old dating to the Carboniferous period.

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DNA analysis provides insight into Mongol Empire’s genetics and integration with local cultures

Are one in 200 men really related to Genghis Khan? Maybe not, according to a new study from researchers at UW–Madison.

news.wisc.edu

What are ghost lineages, remnants of the past that still exist in our DNA today?

Ghost lineages reveal themselves through ancient genes that still exist in living beings today.

livescience.com

'Absolute surprise': Homo erectus skulls found in China are almost 1.8 million years old — the oldest evidence of the ancient human relatives in East Asia

A new date for Homo erectus skulls found in central China provides new insight into how and when ancient human relatives reached eastern Asia.

livescience.com

Dog walkers discover 2,000-year-old human footprints on beach

Archaeologists say the human and animal prints were made at the height of the Roman Empire

independent.co.uk