homehome Home chatchat Notifications


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.

Archaeologists find first prehistoric figurative cave art in the Balkans

It's the first find of its kind in the area.

Early humans adapted to hunt monkeys and squirrels

The humans had to become very efficient in order to survive.

New research suggests humanity's ancestors began walking upright earlier than believed

Walk like an Egyptian?

Bronze-age Iberians included domesticated foxes and dogs in their burial practices

They say modern life is the best but I won't be convinced till I have a pet fox myself.

Native American societies had their own brand of 'social media'

Do you think they drunkenly made embarrassing pots and regretted it the next day?

Neanderthal footprints discovered in Gibraltar

If the footprint is confirmed to be Neanderthal, it would only be the second one in the world, the other being Vartop Cave in Romania.

Scientists find a way to sex cremated remains

It sounds weird, but it's surprisingly useful.

Archaeologists uncover timeline of Denisova Cave occupation

The Denisovans were our cousins. We're only now starting to understand them.

Could these fossils be the much-sought "missing link"?

The fortuitous discovery of the fossils involved a motivated researcher, a dog, and a 9-year-old boy.

Traditional zebra-like tattoos protect tribes-people from insect bites

A stripe a day keeps the bug bites away!

Stone Age people were living on the Himalayan plateau 30,000 years ago

They may have received some genetic assistance from an early race of humans.

Shamans were the first professional class in human history

"Sorry, we can't hire you, you don't have the qualifications."

Archaeologists find 50,000 year-old tiara, made from wooly mammoth ivory

It's still beautiful to this day.

More evidence shows that Neanderthals and early humans interbred -- multiple times

A significant portion of most people's DNA is Neanderthal.

Archaeologists date prehistoric "Swiss army knife" from Chinese cave

It's a tool built by humanity's ancestors.