article thumbnail

Dog Domestication: A Tale of Alaskan Canids and Human Companionship

Anthropology.net

However, the journey to this unique bond between humans and canines was far from straightforward. A new study 1 suggests that in prehistoric Alaska, humans repeatedly domesticated and lived alongside not just dogs but also wolves, wolf-dog hybrids, and even coyotes. Sablin, M.

article thumbnail

Ancient Instincts, Modern Power Struggles: How Evolution Still Shapes Human Society

Anthropology.net

Human societies are built on layers of culture, law, and technology, yet beneath it all, some of the oldest instincts in the animal kingdom continue to shape our world. In A New Approach to Human Social Evolution 1 , neuroscientist and anthropologist Jorge A. At its core, the human brain retains an ancient architecture.

educators

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

An Ode to Jonathan Marks, or How I Became a Marksist

Anthropology 365

I was trying to understand how humans and wildlifeparticularly javelinaslive together in messy, contested landscapes, shaped as much by perception and politics as by biology. Instead, Jon turned his deep grounding in genetics into a sharp critique of how science makes claims about human difference. By the time I left for a Ph.D.

article thumbnail

The Ocean Floor Jawbone That’s Redrawing Denisovan History

Anthropology.net

A Jawbone from the Edge of the Map Long before shipping lanes crossed the Taiwan Strait, and long before Taiwan was an island at all, an archaic human jawbone settled into the mud of the ancient seabed. ” The Most Elusive of Human Relatives The Denisovans have always been strange occupants of the human family tree. .

History 97
article thumbnail

Neanderthal Ingenuity: The Tar-Burning Hearth at Vanguard Cave

Anthropology.net

Moreover, this finding contributes to a broader narrative that places Neanderthals as active participants in the cultural evolution of early humans. Their ability to develop and share complex technologies like tar-making illustrates their pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of human development. Kozowyk, P. Poulis, J. Schmidt, P.,

article thumbnail

The Evolution of European Pigmentation: A Slow, Complex Journey Through Ancient DNA

Anthropology.net

For decades, the story of how human pigmentation changed as Homo sapiens spread across Europe has been told in broad strokes. Early humans arrived from Africa with dark skin, and as they adapted to lower UV radiation in northern latitudes, their skin lightened—a simple narrative of evolutionary selection. DOI: 10.1006/jhev.2000.0403

article thumbnail

Mapping Ancient Emotions: How Mesopotamians Felt and Expressed Their Feelings in the Body

Anthropology.net

But how did ancient humans experience and describe these feelings? By analyzing one million words of Akkadian cuneiform, researchers unearthed fascinating connections between emotional states and specific body parts, offering fresh insights into human emotional experience through time. N'Shea Thesis : University of Malta , 2019.