Anthropology.net

DECEMBER 3, 2024

Researchers from the University of São Paulo (USP) and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) have identified semi-domesticated maize specimens from caves in Brazil’s Peruaçu Valley, revealing a unique chapter in the crop’s evolutionary history.

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Anthropology.net

MAY 1, 2025

In this landscape stands Picuris Pueblo—a small, sovereign tribal nation whose history has long been narrated in stories passed down through generations. These stories speak of migration, of belonging, of origins tied to Chaco Canyon, one of the great ceremonial and cultural centers of the ancient Puebloan world.

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Tradition Oral History Ancestry Archaeology 90

Sapiens

NOVEMBER 26, 2024

New archaeological research reveals insights into the first-known seafarers to brave ocean crossings from Asia to the Pacific Islands more than 50,000 years ago. The authors acknowledge the contribution of Abdul Razak Macap, a social anthropologist at the Regional Cultural Heritage Center in Manokwari.)

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Anthropology.net

MAY 15, 2025

Domestication allowed for permanent settlements, surplus food, the rise of states—and ultimately, the birth of what we call “history.” Excavations at the Vardhanze archaeological site in Uzbekistan, under the directorship of Silvia Pozzi and the Italian/Uzbek Expeditions. Denham, T. P., & Fuller, D.

Archaeology 89

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 4, 2025

But beyond their everyday function of fastening and securing, knots hold something deeper: a story about the evolution of human cognition, the flow of culture, and the quiet persistence of shared technique across continents and millennia. Encoding Entanglement—How Math Helped Map Knots Knots rarely survive in the archaeological record.

Humanities 68

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 30, 2025

2025 In a new study published in Australian Archaeology 1 , Ana Paula Motta and colleagues, in partnership with the Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation, have proposed that these figures represent a distinct rock art style they call the Linear Naturalistic Figures (LNF). "We The Archaeology of Rock Art in Western Arnhem Land, Australia.

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Anthropology.net

JANUARY 18, 2025

In the 8th century CE, the Avars—an enigmatic group with roots in the East Asian steppes—settled in Central Europe, weaving a tapestry of cultural cohesion amid genetic diversity. Their findings reveal an intriguing story of cultural integration despite distinct genetic divides. ” Even weapons were rare in the graves.

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Anthropology.net

MARCH 14, 2025

Genomic Clues: Tracing Language Through Population Splits Unlike previous studies that relied on archaeology or comparative anatomy, this research examines how human populations began to branch off from one another. What Came First: Language or Symbolic Thought? This challenges the long-held view that language and symbolism arose in tandem.

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Anthropology.net

DECEMBER 4, 2024

The Study of Ancient Alaskan Canids To explore this complex history, a team of archaeologists led by François Lanoë from the University of Arizona analyzed 111 sets of bones from canids unearthed at archaeological sites across interior Alaska. Journal : Journal of Anthropological Archaeology , 2019. Hofreiter, M.,

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Anthropology for Beginners

DECEMBER 20, 2023

style='mso-element:field-begin'> TOC o "1-4" h z u Archaeology of power and identity: the political use of the discipline. style='mso-element:field-begin'> TOC o "1-4" h z u Archaeology of power and identity: the political use of the discipline.

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Anthropology.net

MAY 13, 2025

“The archaeological record shows shifts in empires and cultures. Present-day Iran is highlighted, with the archaeological sites mentioned in the text. When Culture Changes, But People Stay This genetic continuity finds an echo in the archaeological record.

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Anthropology.net

NOVEMBER 8, 2024

Their findings underscore the importance of Central Asia not only as a geographical way point but as a cultural and technological nexus where different human populations may have encountered each other over millennia. Artifacts suggest that the Zeravshan Valley was not only a migration route but potentially a place of cultural exchange.

Humanities 97

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Anthropology.net

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

However, the scale of ochre extraction and the evident skill involved at Lion Cavern marks this site as a unique focal point in the history of human creativity and ritual. Ochre’s Role in Early Human Society Ochre, valued across cultures and eras, was more than a mere pigment; it was a cornerstone of symbolic and ceremonial life.

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 2, 2025

© Archaeological Mission in the Sahara, Sapienza University of Rome By analyzing DNA from two 7,000-year-old naturally mummified individuals found in the Takarkori rock shelter of southwestern Libya, researchers have identified a genetic signature distinct from both sub-Saharan and Eurasian populations.

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Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 17, 2025

Recent analysis of artifacts from two Lusatian Culture cemeteries suggests that early metallurgists were not only working with iron from terrestrial sources but also incorporating metal from ataxite meteorites—an extremely rare form of nickel-rich iron that originates in space. Journal of Archaeological Science, 92 , 30-39.

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Anthropology.net

MARCH 26, 2025

The early human settlement of South America stands as one of the last great migrations in human history, yet the environmental conditions that shaped this journey remain debated. 2 ) takes different cultural components and specific lithic traditions/categories into account. The modelling work (e.g., <2,5000 masl = orange.

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 16, 2025

Their three-dimensional models show a planet bathed in increased ultraviolet and cosmic radiation—especially across Europe and northern Africa—at precisely the moment when Homo sapiens was expanding and Homo neanderthalensis was fading from the archaeological record. But Earth’s own history tells a more nuanced story.

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Anthropology.net

MARCH 27, 2025

​ a) Location of early metallurgical activities in Anatolia and Gre Fılla archaeological site. ​ Implications for the History of Metallurgy The discoveries at Gre Fılla necessitate a reevaluation of the origins of metallurgy. b) The context where the vitrified material (GRE-VRF) was found.

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Anthropology 365

APRIL 23, 2025

What He Wrote and Why it Matters Jons first book, Human Biodiversity: Genes, Race, and History (1995), came out of a simple but transformative observation: the science of human difference had changed dramatically over the twentieth century, and most people, including many scientists, hadnt caught up. Jon wasnt rejecting science.

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Anthropology.net

DECEMBER 4, 2024

Discovering Emotion in Ancient Mesopotamia From the flutter of "butterflies in the stomach" to the weight of a "heavy heart," emotions are often tied to physical sensations in modern cultures. Towards a Universal Understanding of Emotions This study opens new doors to understanding whether emotions are universal or culturally specific.

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Anthropology.net

NOVEMBER 5, 2024

Ancient Mud Unlocks 130,000 Years of Australia’s Fire Management History Australia’s relationship with fire extends back thousands of years, with Indigenous land management practices deeply shaping the continent’s ecology.

Archaeology 98

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 30, 2025

These languages, many of which still survive today, are more than means of communication—they are archaeological strata encoded in speech. “It suggests that grammatical complexity, like genetic variation, can reflect the demographic history of a population,” the study concludes. “And migration reshapes both.”

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Anthropology.net

JANUARY 19, 2025

An Ancient Cave with Modern Questions Franchthi Cave, nestled in the Peloponnesian peninsula of Greece, has been a silent witness to 40,000 years of human history. It serves as a critical archaeological site for understanding the transition from Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to Neolithic agriculturalists.

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Anthropology.net

MAY 1, 2025

The Bone Archive of Human History If genes are blueprints, skulls are blueprints weathered by time. The results hint at a Europe in flux: a continent repeatedly reshaped not just by migration but by the slow churn of diet, disease, and cultural transformation. BC, without cultural affiliation, Věstonice cluster).

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 7, 2025

These instruments, linked to the Umm an-Nar culture, provide compelling evidence of a shared musical tradition between the ancient civilizations of the Arabian Peninsula and the Indus Valley.​ Al Rahbi Music has long served as a universal language, transcending geographical and cultural boundaries. S., & Douglas, K.

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 14, 2025

In a sweeping new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 1 , an international team analyzed the size of more than 47,000 houses across 1,100 archaeological sites. The archaeological record, stretching across six continents and 10 millennia, shows otherwise. Nature , 551(7682), 619–622. Bogaard, A.,

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Sapiens

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

Like conspiracy theories about aliens building ancient monuments , Hancock’s views carry racist implications— explicitly championed by white supremacists—that Indigenous peoples were not the source of their own cultures, technologies, and monuments. CC These ancient practices in Chaco Canyon are a bridge to Hopi culture today?

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Anthropology.net

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

A groundbreaking study 1 of ancient human DNA from the Oakhurst rock shelter in South Africa is shedding new light on population history in one of the world’s earliest regions of modern human activity. These new results from southernmost Africa are quite different, and suggest a long history of relative genetic stability.”

Humanities 98

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 14, 2025

For much of history, the rise of inequality has been treated like gravity: inevitable, natural, and inescapable. From the sprawling villas of Roman elites to the thatched huts of the poor in medieval Europe, textbook history often presents wealth disparity as a consequence of human progress. Three excavated Classic period (ca.

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Sapiens

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

A multidisciplinary team of researchers explains historical, cultural, and ethical issues they considered while developing a 3D scan of a South African site to be shared with the world online. This has led to numerous archaeological and heritage sites appearing online in interactive 3D platforms, such as Sketchfab.

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Anthropology.net

MARCH 10, 2025

Unlike many other archaeological sites that have been repeatedly excavated over decades, this cave has only recently been investigated systematically. Journal of Archaeological Science, Reports , 63 (105064), 105064. The radiocarbon dating places these tools firmly within the Early Epigravettian, aligning with known sites across Italy.

Archaeology 87

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Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

The Italian Peninsula before the rise of Rome was a tapestry of diverse ethnic groups, each with unique languages, customs, and material cultures. A recent study, The Genomic Portrait of the Picene Culture 1 , published in Genome Biology , attempts to decode their past through ancient DNA analysis. Ravasini et al.

Ancestry 57

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Anthropology.net

MARCH 31, 2025

It suggests that these journeys were neither incidental nor purely educational but held profound cultural and spiritual significance. Liminal Beings: Children as Mediators In many indigenous cultures, children are perceived as liminal beings—occupying a threshold between the earthly realm and the spiritual world.

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Anthropology.net

MARCH 26, 2025

Archaeology often deals with what remains—the bones, the stone tools, the charred remnants of ancient hearths. These stone grinding surfaces, found alongside rock art panels and other cultural features, are yielding the first direct evidence of plant processing in this landscape. Starch Granules as Markers of Diet and Behavior."

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Anthropology.net

MARCH 10, 2025

They were the remains of animals deeply intertwined with the histories and cultures of Indigenous communities. Lakota elder Milo Yellow Hair looks over bison skulls stored in the CU Museum of Natural History. Are they places where we treat archaeological objects as inanimate things? “You care for horses.

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Anthropology.net

MAY 6, 2025

That paradox has haunted archaeology for decades. “This is the first commodity to be exported across the entire continent in British history,” said Dr. Benjamin Roberts, associate professor of archaeology at Durham University. It doesn’t litter the ancient Mediterranean the way obsidian or copper does.

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Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 24, 2025

Within a few decades, they built an empire that stretched from the Eurasian steppe to the heart of Central Europe, reshaping political landscapes and leaving an imprint on European history. The results paint a complex picture of migration, cultural blending, and long-distance connections. But where did they come from?

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