Anthropology.net

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. But a new study led by Hadas Goldgeier, Dr. Antoine Muller, and Prof. An aerial photograph of the Natufian site of Nahal Ein Gev II.

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Anthropology.net

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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Anthropology.net

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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Anthropology.net

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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Anthropology for Beginners

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

Application of Archaeology Archaeology is the study of human past through material remains. archaeologists study past humans and societies primarily through their material remains – the buildings, tools, and other artifacts that constitute what is known as the material culture left over from former societies.

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Anthropology.net

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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Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 19, 2025

A new study published in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology 1 has upended this assumption. To correct this, the team organized a workshop where archaeologists directly examined artifacts from both traditions side by side. Neanderthals vs. Modern Humans: Who Made What? But do they? The results were striking. 4a) blade-like.

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Anthropology.net

MARCH 25, 2025

These tools, characterized by a prepared-core technique that allowed for precise flake removal, have long been studied using traditional measurements. This new study offers a different lens: analyzing the entire three-dimensional structure of the core to assess how shape is controlled across different regions and tradition.

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Anthropology.net

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). “Understanding how these practices spread and their significance will help us uncover more about the relationship between early humans and their environment.”

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Anthropology.net

OCTOBER 29, 2024

Photo by Marcello Canuto) The Power of Lidar in Archaeology Lidar, a laser-based detection system, allows archaeologists to scan landscapes by sending thousands of laser pulses per second and mapping the terrain based on how these pulses reflect off surfaces.

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Anthropology.net

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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Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

A Discovery in the Desert The story of human migration is often told in sweeping arcs—great waves of Homo sapiens leaving Africa, moving into Eurasia, and eventually populating the entire planet. Credit: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2025). Credit: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2025).

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Anthropology.net

MARCH 5, 2025

A Discovery That Reshapes the Story of Human Innovation For over a century, Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania has been the stage for some of the most profound discoveries in human evolution. Bone tools found in Olduvai, photographed in the Pleistocene Archaeology Lab of CSIC.

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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.​ The discovery of these well-preserved cymbals offers a rare glimpse into the auditory traditions of Bronze Age communities.​

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Anthropology.net

MARCH 27, 2025

The narrative of human technological advancement has long positioned metallurgy as a hallmark of settled agricultural societies. ​ a) Location of early metallurgical activities in Anatolia and Gre Fılla archaeological site. b) The context where the vitrified material (GRE-VRF) was found. c) Chisel axe.

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Anthropology.net

NOVEMBER 5, 2024

In contrast, modern shrub density in some forests is now higher than it was 130,000–115,000 years ago—a period with a similar climate to today’s but without human intervention. Researchers focused on key historical periods: pre-human Australia, periods of Indigenous habitation, and the era following British colonization.

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Anthropology.net

NOVEMBER 14, 2024

Testing the Hypothesis with Replicas To test this hypothesis, the research team recreated similar stones using local pebbles and a flint drill, then enlisted Yonit Kristal, a traditional craftsperson, to spin flax using these replicas. “It really changes the way you think about your archaeological finds.”

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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. That lack of disturbance makes it an exceptional place to study how humans occupied the region during the final millennia of the Upper Paleolithic.

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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. Read more 1 Martinoia, V.,

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Sapiens

MARCH 5, 2024

An archaeologist explains how remains recently recovered from a cave in present-day Germany suggest that Neanderthals and modern humans populated Europe together for at least 10,000 years. An international, multidisciplinary team has identified human ( H. However, there are many challenges to exploring this distant time.

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 23, 2025

But the new findings suggest that its human story stretches well into the early Holocene—with pottery, ostrich eggshell jewelry, and evidence of lakeshore settlement. During the post-Last Glacial Maximum warming, these lakes became magnets for human activity. Archaeological Research in Asia, 35, 100416. link] Kuzmin, Y.

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Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

Excavations at Bété I uncovered a striking connection between early humans and a wet tropical forest environment, dated to approximately 150,000 years ago using advanced dating techniques such as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and electron spin resonance (ESR). Their conclusion?

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Anthropology 365

APRIL 23, 2025

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.

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 2, 2025

The discovery of a sophisticated stone tool tradition in southern China is now forcing a major reassessment of that assumption. The presence of this distinctive technology so far from its previously known origins raises new questions about ancient human migrations, cultural exchange, and independent innovation.

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Anthropology.net

SEPTEMBER 21, 2024

A new study 1 challenges long-held beliefs about the origins of horseback riding, casting doubt on the Kurgan hypothesis, which claims that humans first began domesticating horses as early as the fourth millennium B.C. Horseback riding can indeed leave subtle marks on the human body. Can Horseback Riding Change Your Skeleton?

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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. It contained more than 40 human graves and preserved layers of human artifacts, such as stone tools, going back 12,000 years.”

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Anthropology.net

OCTOBER 14, 2024

Archaeological discoveries in East Timor’s Laili rock shelter have unveiled evidence 1 of ancient human habitation dating back approximately 44,000 years. Excavations revealed thousands of stone artifacts and animal bones, indicating human presence approximately 44,000 years ago.

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Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 19, 2025

The Ancient Hearths of Fuente del Salín Fire has long been a cornerstone of human existence, providing warmth, protection, and a means to cook food. The Gravettian mastery of fire provides a glimpse into the complexity of their cultural traditions, reshaping our understanding of how early humans structured their lives.

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 29, 2025

While the southern lowlands began to host reindeer hunters and mobile foragers, the highlands and islands of Scotland remained largely uncharted in the archaeological record. Evidence has trickled in from sites in Yorkshire and Kent, but Skye, until now, was off the archaeological map. Hardy et al., Stone tools found on Skye.

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Anthropology.net

MARCH 10, 2025

“Even when they pass on, you still respect and honor them as non-human relatives. In a new paper published in Advances in Archaeological Practice 1 , Ward and his colleagues are calling for museums to take a more ethical, culturally informed approach to caring for the bones of animals, particularly those tied to Indigenous traditions.

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Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 24, 2025

The Genetic Footprint of the Huns The study focused on 35 newly sequenced genomes from key archaeological sites, including a 3rd–4th century site in Kazakhstan and 5th–6th century burial contexts in the Carpathian Basin. 137 ancient human genomes from across the Eurasian steppes." Related Research de Barros Damgaard, P.,

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Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

The Search for Early Symbolic Expression For decades, archaeologists have debated the origins of symbolic thought in early humans. Was it an innovation exclusive to modern humans, or did our distant relatives also engage in abstract expression? Symbolic behavior in early humans is often difficult to identify with certainty.

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 23, 2024

In the vast tapestry of human history, certain discoveries emerge as seismic shifts, reshaping our understanding of our origins and the paths we've traversed. Mithen's holistic approach, spanning disparate realms of inquiry, forms a tapestry of evidence that paints a vivid portrait of humanity's nascent linguistic capabilities.

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Anthropology.net

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

Over the last 12,000 years, a pivotal shift occurred in the human genome, driven by the advent of agriculture and the shift to a carbohydrate-rich diet. This process allowed early humans to extract more energy from crops like wheat and grains, which became staples in post-agricultural societies.

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Sapiens

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

The Wajãpi had invited me to map archaeological sites in their territory. The Wajãpi already knew of my “archaeological finds”—the footsteps of Creator Hero from the beginning of time. What could my archaeological knowledge possibly offer to such a vast cosmological wisdom? I was excited. We just draw from different backgrounds.

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Anthropology.net

AUGUST 28, 2024

The Role of Fear in Shaping Population Patterns Since the end of the Ice Age, human populations have experienced cycles of growth and decline, with the underlying causes remaining only partially understood. ” The interdisciplinary approach of combining complexity science with archaeological evidence has proven fruitful in this study.

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Anthropology News

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

I call this a “confession” because “ (bio)archaeologists ” like me—scholars who identify with archaeology, biological anthropology, or both—are not necessarily known for centering social theories like Intersectionality in our subdisciplines. Bio)archaeology is no stranger to its colonial baggage. Intersectional Anthropology.

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