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This 5,500-year-old Kish tablet is the oldest written document

Beer, goats, and grains: here's what the oldest document reveals.

This Babylonian Student's 4,000-Year-Old Math Blunder Is Still Relatable Today

More than memorializing a math mistake, stone tablets show just how advanced the Babylonians were in their time.

Modern Humans and Neanderthals Had Kids for 7,000 Years and the Legacy Lives in Our Genes

Most of us have Neanderthal ancestors, and now scientists how revealed important details about how their DNA shape us today.

Meet Homo juluensis: a potential new human species

Scientists have identified evidence of a new ancient human species, Homo juluensis, from fossils in East Asia.

New Study Reveals Hunter-Gatherers Are the Ultimate Athletes Regardless of Gender

Ancient hunter-gatherers shattered gender stereotypes with shared mastery of running, climbing, swimming, and diving.

Neanderthals and early humans started burying their dead at the same time — and it may be more about competition than honoring the dead

Researchers propose a stunning new theory for why Neanderthals and humans started to bury their dead at the same time.

A Wild Theory Suggests Kissing Started as Ape Grooming — and the Science Is Fascinating

Could kissing be a relic from our ancestors' grooming practices? A new study explores the origins.

Scientists find a new Neanderthal population that stayed completely isolated for 50,000 years

Something like this would seem unimaginable for our Homo sapiens species.

The Decline of the U.S. Empire: What Will Happen Next?

The evidence suggests that empires often react to periods of their own decline by over-extending their coping mechanisms. Military actions, infrastructure problems, and social welfare demands may then combine or clash, accumulating costs and backlash effects that the declining empire cannot manage. Policies aimed to strengthen empire—and that once did—now undermine it. Contemporary social changes […]

You've heard of Doomscrolling, but have you ever tried Hopescrolling?

Algorithms have been manipulating you for a while. It's time to manipulate them back to find positivity and happiness.

Rare archaeological site shows Neanderthals were crafty and adaptable

They were not the rudimentary cavemen they're sometimes portrayed as.

Smallest Human Limb Bone Ever Sheds New Light on Homo floresiensis, The 'Hobbits'

Early Homo floresiensis was even smaller than previously thought and may have evolved from isolated Homo erectus populations.

Is this quirky little rock the oldest known animal carving?

It doesn't look like much to the untrained eye, but experts say it could be a 130,000-year-old sculpture.

Researchers find traces of 12,000-year-old Aboriginal ritual carried out for millennia

The same ritual was also described until the 19th century.

Archaeologists unearth 500-year-old skeletons of Inca toddlers with smallpox

These children are South America's earliest known victims of a deadly bone infection caused by the smallpox virus.

Discovery of six-year-old Neanderthal child with Down syndrome rewrites history of human compassion

It's the oldest known case of Down syndrome.

From Stone Tools To Smartphones: The Genesis Of Cumulative Culture In Human History

It's a key finding for the birth of human civilization.

Neanderthal interbreeding might have made humans more prone to autism

Neanderthal genes from ancient interbreeding may increase our susceptibility to autism.

'Lucy', our iconic 3.2-million-year-old ancestor, may have been hairless. What this means for the evolution of nudity and shame

The way Lucy has been depicted in newspapers, textbooks and museums shows how today’s cultural norms influence perceptions of the past.

Ancient Syrians' nutrition looked a lot like the modern Mediterranean diet

This "new" diet has been around for thousands of years.

Why is human childhood so unusually long? The answer may lie in baby teeth

The timing of our teeth's eruption reveals how humans evolved long childhoods to support brain development and complex social skills.

Did humanity really arise in one single place? What the latest science says about our origin story

New evidence is prompting researchers to rethink Homo sapiens’ origin story—and what it means to be human.

How did prehistoric humans discover fire making?

Early humans mastered fire-making, transitioning from using natural fires to intentionally creating and controlling flames.

Could the European Union last for 1,000 years? It's not as crazy as it sounds

Mirroring the Holy Roman Empire, the EU unites Europe's diverse nations into a powerful, peaceful alliance while maintaining each country's distinct identity.

What did Neanderthal language sound like? They probably didn't use metaphors

The Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) fascinate researchers and the general public alike. They remain central to debates about the nature of the genus Homo (the broad biological classification that humans and their relatives fall into). Neanderthals are also vital for understanding the uniqueness or otherwise of our species, Homo sapiens. We shared an ancestor with the […]

3,200-year-old Mesopotamian tablets of Assyrian warriors haunted by ghosts document the earliest known cases of PTSD

The specters of war have haunted soldiers since humans first waged war on one another.

This ancient Pacific culture had a completely different way of building cities -- until Europeans came along

These cities had a lot of gardens and green spaces in between homes and other buildings

How Play Drives Human Evolution and Why Fun Matters More Than You Think

Humans, like many animals, spend a lot of time playing, an activity that may develop essential skills and foster cooperation, supporting our complex social structures.

Oldest known human viruses found in 50,000-year-old Neanderthal remains

Discovery of ancient viruses in Neanderthal remains may reshape our understanding of their extinction.

Did humans evolve to run long distances?

Running is one thing humans are really good at. Could that be owed to hunting?

This legendary aboriginal land not only existed — it's an archaeological time capsule

The island was once connected to the Australian mainland.

Our unique lineage: Human evolution has run in complete reverse from other vertebrates

New study challenges traditional views on human evolution with "bizarre" findings.

Aboriginal people made pottery and sailed to distant offshore islands thousands of years before Europeans  colonizers

Very little research has been conducted in the area.

Human ancestors started mass migration out of Africa after nearly going extinct about one million years ago

Climate change propelled the migration of our ancestors out of Africa and into Eurasia.

People living in Antarctica are developing a new accent

Study shows subtle changes in speech accents among Antarctica's few temporary inhabitants.

Did fermented foods fuel our ancestors' brain growth?

A new study suggests fermentation -- not fire -- as the catalyst of our more potent brains.

How did humans learn to walk on two legs? The answer, surprisingly, may be in our ears

The 3D scans of ancient ape bones reveal new insights into the evolution of bipedalism.

Whithorn's time travelers: Facial reconstructions show what medieval Scots looked like

Their faces were lost to the world. Now, science has brought them back.

Five surprising things that our ancestors did thousands of years ago

From making baseball-sized spheres to colonizing rainforests with tool miniaturization, our ancestors did a lot.

Our ancestors interbred with Denisovans and left us with extra mental health problems

Our ancestors left us an interesting legacy.

Ancient human relatives may have been cannibals 1.45 million years ago

A butchered hominin fossil suggests our ancestors had a dark past.

Ancient Europeans ate seaweed thousands of years before it became a trendy 'superfood'

Seaweed was popular in Europe long before it became a hit in Asia.

Mystery solved? Ancient 'ghost footprints' confirmed as the earliest human presence in Americas

New findings in New Mexico offer the oldest direct evidence of humans in the Americas.

Early humans intentionally made baseball-sized spheres — and we're not sure why

Their purpose still remains a mystery

Did our human ancestors almost go extinct 900,000 years ago?

Early humans endured a severe population bottleneck that shaped our species, according to new genomic findings.

Ötzi the Iceman had dark skin and was probably bald, DNA analysis finds

Beyond his physical characteristics, this refined genome sequencing reveals important insight into prehistoric human migrations in Europe.

Researchers tried out AI preachers -- and it didn't go so well

AI may look all set to replace human artists, engineers, writers, and coders, but preachers are probably safe.

Why curly hair evolved: an unexpected hero for the brains of early humans

It protected them from the sun’s harmful rays.

A 5000 year-old male leader in Copper Age Spain turns out to be a woman. She was the most powerful leader in the region

Skeleton discovered in a tomb had been wrongly identified as a man.

The myth of man the hunter: women in foraging societies also hunt. They like to do it their own way

New evidence challenges traditional gender roles in hunter-gatherer societies.

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