Sapiens

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

Archaeological evidence and Oral Histories show people in what is today Ghana lived sustainably for millennia—until European colonial powers and the widespread trade of enslaved people changed everything. I felt compelled to share this story as an example of the power of archaeology to shift perspectives. It’s the year 2065.

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MAY 8, 2025

The Ox and the Origins of Unequal Societies Long before hedge funds, private property, or multinational tax havens, human societies were surprisingly equal. Across a wide range of Neolithic communities, archaeological evidence suggests that disparities in wealth—though present—were often kept in check. Hertz, T.,

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MARCH 18, 2025

For decades, archaeologists have puzzled over one of humanity’s most crucial technological leaps—when and how early humans began making sharp stone tools. These early humans may have used these naturally occurring cutting tools long before they figured out how to produce them deliberately. DOI: 10.1111/arcm.13075

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APRIL 16, 2025

According to new research, it may have also reshaped the evolutionary story of humans in Europe and beyond. Caves, Clothes, and Ochre: A Human Strategy for Survival As the magnetic field declined, the effects on Earth’s surface intensified. The map also shows areas of human activity on a global scale.

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NOVEMBER 9, 2024

One of the most intriguing chapters in human evolution is the story of the Denisovans, a mysterious, now-extinct hominin group that left a significant genetic footprint in the DNA of modern humans. Overview of the distinct Denisovan populations that introgressed into modern humans.

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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. Instead of deterring settlement, this cold phase appears to coincide with some of the earliest human activity in the region. The modelling work (e.g.,

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APRIL 26, 2025

The Forgotten Migrant When thinking about humanity’s migrations across continents, yeast is probably the last traveler that comes to mind. By examining over 300 genomes from yeast living quietly on the bark of oak and other trees, the team found that these seemingly wild populations are anything but untouched by human history.

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APRIL 12, 2025

“What we’re seeing here is early evidence of cognitive flexibility,” said a researcher familiar with the findings. Eleven of them bore unmistakable marks of human manipulation: flake scars, trimmed edges, and signs of deliberate shaping using techniques otherwise seen in lithic technology. It appears to be a pattern.

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NOVEMBER 30, 2024

Discovery of a Potential New Human Species A groundbreaking study published in Nature Communications 1 has proposed the existence of a new human species, Homo juluensis. This ancient hominin, believed to have lived in eastern Asia between 300,000 and 50,000 years ago, is a significant addition to our understanding of human evolution.

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DECEMBER 3, 2024

By integrating insights from developmental psychology, researchers have identified playful and imaginative marks made by young artists, fundamentally rethinking prehistoric creativity. This new research confronts that narrative, positioning children as active creators whose unique contributions have long been overlooked.

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NOVEMBER 21, 2024

Tools as a Catalyst for Evolution The ability to create and use tools is a hallmark of human evolution. A groundbreaking study by researchers from the University of Tübingen, led by Dr. Alexandros Karakostis, provides fresh insights into how changes in brain function enabled early humans to wield tools with precision.

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Sapiens

JANUARY 29, 2025

In addition to forests, these practices have destroyed archaeological evidence. In Southeast Asia, researchers have suggested some dental remains and putative tools associated with H. We knew our chances were slimmost of the spectacular discoveries in human evolutionary research in Southeast Asia have been made in limestone caves.

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DECEMBER 2, 2024

Researchers from the ROOTS Cluster of Excellence at Kiel University have introduced a groundbreaking way 1 to apply modern philosophical concepts, like the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), to ancient societies, offering fresh perspectives on how and why these communities thrived.

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MARCH 28, 2025

The human brain stands apart in the animal kingdom, not just in sheer size but in its remarkable cognitive abilities. For decades, researchers have sought to understand what genetic changes fueled the expansion of our neocortex, the region responsible for higher-order thinking, reasoning, and language.

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APRIL 4, 2025

An Ancient Practice, Revisited Through Code Knots are one of humanity’s oldest tools—so ancient, in fact, that they predate agriculture, metallurgy, and written language. By analyzing 338 distinct knots from archaeological archives and museum collections, they discovered a surprisingly stable repertoire.

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Sapiens

APRIL 1, 2025

backed coups, and, oddly enough, invested in archaeology. Her research explores how archaeology as a discipline has been used in U.S. imperial projects, with a focus on how the United Fruit Company used archaeology to grow territorial power in Central America. The United Fruit Company was a U.S.

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DECEMBER 19, 2024

For decades, archaeologists have described the architectural evolution of early human settlements as a transition from circular to rectangular structures—a shift thought to reflect deeper societal changes. By digitizing and analyzing architectural remains, researchers can uncover patterns that qualitative approaches often miss.

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Sapiens

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

A scientific study with important implications for archaeology in Britain and France was published in January. leading research excavations, the Durotriges project of the University of Bournemouth. While some of the press coverage about the new research portrayed the findings as a surprise, archaeologists were far from shocked.

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NOVEMBER 23, 2024

This discovery not only predates the arrival of modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) in the region by 20,000 years but also highlights the Neanderthals' sophisticated engineering and teamwork. Evidence of Experimental Archaeology To confirm their hypotheses, the researchers recreated the Neanderthal hearth. inches deep.

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MAY 7, 2025

Stone Maps of Human Movement More than 25,000 lithic artifacts have been recovered from Montlleó—flint flakes, blades, and cores, some chipped and spent, others pristine and ready for use. They were hand-selected, transported, and exchanged—signifiers of distant homelands and enduring human ties.

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APRIL 14, 2025

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. A sweeping archaeological analysis 1 led by Gary Feinman of the Field Museum of Natural History offers a strikingly different view.

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JULY 30, 2024

The deserts of northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula have long been the focus of archaeological research, revealing their roles as cradles of early human civilization and migration routes through so-called “green corridors.” The Narabeb site showing location of former lake.

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OCTOBER 29, 2024

Recent groundbreaking research in Antiquity 1 has revolutionized the understanding of ancient Maya civilization. Utilizing cutting-edge lidar technology, researchers from Tulane University and Northern Arizona University have uncovered more than 6,500 structures hidden beneath the dense forests of Campeche, Mexico.

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APRIL 3, 2025

The end of the last Ice Age, spanning approximately 14,000 to 11,600 years ago, was a period of significant climatic fluctuations that profoundly influenced human populations in Europe. Humans during the Final Paleolithic apparently responded by migrating to more favorable areas."​ Credit: PLOS ONE (2025).

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DECEMBER 19, 2024

But recent archaeological findings reveal that even domestic livestock were transformed to project power and control. Credit: Journal of Archaeological Science (2024). ” How Horn Modification Was Achieved Using advanced analysis, the researchers determined that the horn deformations were not natural. DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2024.106104

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APRIL 30, 2025

These languages, many of which still survive today, are more than means of communication—they are archaeological strata encoded in speech. A new study in Scientific Reports 1 argues that their grammar preserves a faint but measurable imprint of the first humans to populate the continent. Related Research Hay, J., & Bauer, L.

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MARCH 6, 2025

New research published in Antiquity 1 by geoarchaeologist Jaafar Jotheri and his team reveals a massive, intricate irrigation system in the Eridu region—one that predates the first millennium BCE. This is a rare case where nature has preserved a vital piece of human history. Credit: Antiquity (2025). DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2025.19

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FEBRUARY 15, 2025

The Mystery of the First Dogs Dogs, our oldest animal companions, have walked beside humans for tens of thousands of years. Could natural selection alone turn wolves into early dogs quickly enough to match the archaeological record? But how did this ancient partnership begin?

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Anthropology.net

DECEMBER 2, 2024

. “The structure aligns with theoretical models predicting the use of specialized heating techniques for birch tar production, a hallmark of Neanderthal ingenuity,” the researchers note. Journal of Human Evolution, 137 , 102671. Journal of Archaeological Science, 117 , 105116. How Did Neanderthals Make Tar?

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APRIL 2, 2025

During the African Humid Period (14,500–5,000 years ago), this region supported thriving human populations. Now, an international team of researchers 1 has uncovered the first ancient genomes from this long-lost ecosystem, shedding new light on an ancient North African lineage that has all but disappeared.

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MAY 1, 2025

Published in Nature 1 on April 30, 2025, the research represents the first time a U.S. In this photo provided by researchers, Clifford Tsosie stands in front of the Round House in Picuris Pueblo, N.M., Pueblo Bonito, the largest archaeological site at Chaco Culture National Historical Park, is seen in northwestern New Mexico, on Aug.

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MAY 2, 2025

Tracing Human Movement Across the Iranian Heartland In the northern reaches of Iran’s Central Desert, nestled between the rugged Alborz Mountains and the flat, wind-worn claylands to the south, archaeologists have uncovered eight scattered landscapes rich in Paleolithic stone tools. However, the archaeological material is surface-level.

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MAY 13, 2025

“The archaeological record shows shifts in empires and cultures. ” A Long Memory in the Zagros On the northern edges of the Iranian Plateau, where the foothills of the Alborz Mountains give way to fertile valleys and ancient caravan trails, archaeologists and geneticists have uncovered an unexpected thread in the human story. .”

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JANUARY 17, 2025

Nearly two million years ago, in the high-altitude landscape of the Ethiopian Highlands, early human ancestors at the Acheulian site of Melka Wakena weren’t simply grabbing the nearest stones to use as tools. Some of the bones display telltale anthropogenic marks, suggesting that early humans had a significant presence here.

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NOVEMBER 7, 2024

The Ancient Artistry of Ochre Mining in Eswatini The Lion Cavern at Ngwenya, Eswatini, holds groundbreaking evidence 1 of humanity's earliest intensive ochre mining practices, dating back 48,000 years. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating methods confirmed its use as the world’s oldest ochre mine.

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MAY 2, 2025

Reshaping the Narrative on Neanderthal Technology The projectile point was discovered by a team led by Liubov Golovanova, who has spent decades investigating the archaeological layers of Mezmaiskaya. Related Research d’Errico, F., & Backwell, L. Neandertal demise: An archaeological analysis. It was a Neanderthal.

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APRIL 14, 2025

The Puzzle of the Missing Fires In the bleak cold of the Last Glacial Maximum, it seems obvious that fire would have been essential for human survival. And yet, the archaeological record for that period—from roughly 26,500 to 19,000 years ago—tells a strangely quiet story. Journal of Human Evolution , 69, 44–54.

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