An oldie but goody for #fossilfriday, KMN-ER 406. This skull of Paranthropus boisei is one of my all-time favorites! It's one solid mass: dense and heavy. Now curated beautifully by Tom Mukhuyu at National Museums of Kenya.

🪨🛘⚒️

It’s been a long road but I’m finally Dr!

🚨 Publication alert🚨 Early humans in South Africa were quarrying stone as long as 220,000 years ago at the site of Jojosi @natcomms.nature.com - specialized, long-term use of a source of a raw material source in Stone Age Africa: Read the paper #openaccess here www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Specialised and persistent raw material procurement by humans in the Middle Pleistocene - Nature Communications

The authors here demonstrate that hominins were consistently and specifically procuring a single kind of raw material to make stone tools at the South African site of Jojosi between 220 and 110 thousa...

nature.com

Gran Dolina site at Atapuerca reveals almost exclusive use of local chert 400,000 years ago phys.org/news/2026-03...

Gran Dolina site at Atapuerca reveals almost exclusive use of local chert 400,000 years ago

A paper published in the journal Quaternary International reveals a distinctive technological behavior at level TD10.2-BB of Gran Dolina (Atapuerca, Burgos), characterized by the almost exclusive use ...

phys.org

🎄 New paper! 🎁 Since the 20s it's been said that "the Hadza don't use traps". Except sporadic snaring, none have been reported. So I was excited to find baited cage traps in use. More exciting, this was cross-cultural transmission — seldom seen in action! 1/​5 tinyurl.com/cagetrap

(PDF) First recorded use of cage traps by the Tanzanian Hadza: A case of cross-cultural transmission

PDF | While hunting is a critical subsistence strategy for the Tanzanian Hadza, reports of trapping have traditionally been minimal. Snare trapping of... | Find, read and cite all the research you nee...

tinyurl.com

👀 Postdoctoral position in radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling at the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies @auarcher.bsky.social international.au.dk/about/profil...

Postdoctoral position in radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling at the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies - Vacancy at Aarhus University

Vacancy at School of Culture and Society - Department of Heritage Studies, Aarhus University

international.au.dk

Neolithic flint dagger blades from various sites around Lake Constance. The wooden handles have not survived. The flint material was sourced from the Southern Alpine region, highlighting early trade networks and cultural connections between the Alpine Foreland and ...🧵1/2 📷 @almbawue.bsky.social

Demo piece from my knapping lab in intro to human evolution today 🏺🏺

Did Neandertals choose their prey when practicing cannibalism?🍖 Check out our new study, just published in Scientific Reports - @natureportfolio.nature.com! We provide the strongest evidence to date for a highly selective cannibalism at the end of Neandertal lineage, 41-45.000 years ago. 1/7

Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Highly selective cannibalism in the Late Pleistocene of Northern Europe reveals Neandertals were targeted prey

doi.org

Been a while! 🏺

Excited that our paper is finally out! We test the suitability of LA-ICP-MS for sourcing South African silcrete and show that it has comparable results to solution ICP-MS. Importantly, heat treatment did not impact source separation. 50 days free link: shorturl.at/bDMs5 🏺🏺

Is archaeology a science? 🧪 Here's my new paper that has a go at answering this question by analysing 10,000 journal articles: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lHjN_6yUM...

🏺🦣

Julien Riel-Salvatore@julienrs.bsky.social · last yr.

Shot of the inside of Arma delle Manie. Visible in the back are dry stone wall structures and presses for olive oil and wine production, showing the cave's use historically as well. Below all this, however, lie sweet, sweet Neolithic and especially Paleolithic deposits (38-130,000 yrs BP).

Hello, Our paper on enamel proteins from Paranthropus robustus has finally been peer reviewed, please have a read here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Paranthropus robustus has been puzzling scientists since its discovery in 1938 in South Africa, where a high number of fossils have been found.

Enamel proteins reveal biological sex and genetic variability in southern African Paranthropus

Paranthropus robustus is a morphologically well-documented Early Pleistocene hominin species from southern Africa with no genetic evidence reported so far. In this work, we describe the mass spectrome...

doi.org

Heat-treated silcrete Still Bay point (sand bath method) 🏺🏺 Gave me a little trouble with some internal flaws but happy with it overall

Single platform cores on heat-treated silcrete (ember method) 🏺🏺

Had a lot of fun writing this piece for The Conversation. Much different than writing an academic article. The editors were amazing to work with and super helpful! 🏺🏺 theconversation.com/was-it-a-sto...

Was it a stone tool or just a rock? An archaeologist explains how scientists can tell the difference

With a little guidance and a lot of practice, even you can make stone tools the way our oldest ancestors did – and learn to recognize the signs of a deliberately made tool.

theconversation.com

My students did great refitting this core I knapped yesterday! 🏺🏺

Practiced some Levallois while volunteering for ASU’s open door event 🏺 #flintknapping

Obsidian preform with an incipient cone in the middle of it. 🏺🏺

Heat-treated silcrete 🏺🏺

Final demo handaxes before I swap shifts with Nic! 🏺🏺 If you’re in the area, Nic will be here until 5!

First demo piece finished 😃

Thanks again to @kabweordie.bsky.social for helping with this flint knapping video demonstration for my online students. I had way too much fun editing this video and adding the intro. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anho...

ASU ASB335 Flint Knapping Demonstration

YouTube video by Matthew Peeples

youtube.com

I made this Fort Ancient point out of a piece of Ste. Genevieve chert. Arrowpoints like this were made in Kentucky from 1000-1750 CE. This particular variation would have been made by Fort Ancient people during the later part of that date range. #flintknapping #archaeology

Knapping demo for the opening of a new exhibit at the AZMNH in Mesa called THRIVE: The First People Yesterday, Today, and Forever. Come by! Nic or myself will be here until 5 pm. 🏺🏺

Resignation of the Journal of Human Evolution Editorial Board: We are saddened to announce the resignations of The Joint Editors-in-Chief, all Emeritus Editors retired or active in the field, and all but one Associate Editor. Press release below.

Please see the PaleoAnthropology journal www.paleoanthropology.org. It is a community owned, peer reviewed open access online journal, which covers all the topics that JHE did. No publication fees, no subscription. The way forward.