Anthropology.net

JANUARY 16, 2025

By sequencing DNA from 50 individuals interred over centuries, researchers discovered 1 a striking social structure: women, not men, were at the heart of these communities. By comparing data from other Iron Age cemeteries across Britain, the researchers identified similar patterns of maternal inheritance in Yorkshire and beyond.

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 4, 2025

In a new study published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal 1 , researchers from institutions across Europe compiled the most comprehensive cross-cultural knot database to date. By analyzing 338 distinct knots from archaeological archives and museum collections, they discovered a surprisingly stable repertoire.

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Humanities History Archaeology Ancestry 72

Teaching Anthropology

APRIL 13, 2024

The VMP content spans the subfields of biological anthropology (evolutionary, primatology), and archaeology. In the introductory course in biological anthropology and archaeology, “92% of students agreed that the Virtual Mystery web-tool helped them understand what a professional anthropologist does; 88.3% Smithsonian Institute).

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 14, 2025

A sweeping archaeological analysis 1 led by Gary Feinman of the Field Museum of Natural History offers a strikingly different view. “The idea that big populations or new technologies automatically lead to widening inequality simply doesn’t hold up in the archaeological record.” Bogaard, A., Feinman, G.

Humanities 65

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Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 24, 2025

Credit: Boglárka Mészáros, BHM Aquincum Museum A team of geneticists, archaeologists, and historians from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the HistoGenes project examined the DNA of 370 individuals dating from the 2nd century BCE to the 6th century CE, spanning sites from Mongolia to Central Europe.

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Anthropology.net

MARCH 13, 2025

A new genetic and archaeological study 1 has revealed that leopard cats ( Prionailurus bengalensis ), small wild felines native to East Asia, lived alongside people in China’s early agrarian societies for at least 3,500 years—only to disappear from human settlements centuries before the arrival of domestic cats via the Silk Road.

Archaeology 59

Archaeology Humanities Museum Geography 59

The Hechinger Report

JUNE 17, 2021

Pandemic closures prompted hundreds of museums, art galleries and zoos around the world to launch virtual field trips in the last year. But a program offered through a museum in Utah sought to offer a different kind of virtual science field trip. The program, called Research Quest , was designed for middle school students.

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Sapiens

APRIL 3, 2024

In museum archives, researchers found photos of remains from Paleolithic children who had belonged to a group of early Homo sapiens in Eurasia. In a museum basement, we huddled over a black-and-white photograph showing pieces of a lower jawbone and its loose teeth. Not all fossil discoveries happen in the field.

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Sapiens

MARCH 5, 2024

It is therefore not surprising that this time period—the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition—has been a focus of research for many archaeologists, physical anthropologists, and, more recently, geneticists. Using a method called proteomics, researchers determined this nondescript bone fragment from Ilsenhöhle Cave belonged to a human.

Humanities 142

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Anthropology.net

MARCH 26, 2024

Endowed with 61 meticulously etched markings, Ötzi's tattoos have long puzzled researchers, prompting inquiries into their significance, symbolism, and the sophisticated techniques employed in their creation. © South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/Eurac/Samadelli/Staschitz. 2015: fig.

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Anthropology.net

SEPTEMBER 21, 2024

However, the researchers caution that this type of skeletal change is not exclusive to riding; other activities, such as prolonged sitting or riding in carts, can also produce similar alterations. Hosek said, “In archaeology, there are vanishingly few instances in which we can tie a particular activity unequivocally to skeletal changes.”

Humanities 105

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Teaching Anthropology

MAY 8, 2023

Marilou Polymeropoulou, University of Oxford, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography Active learning is a well-established pedagogical strategy in secondary and tertiary education where independent learning and critical thinking are nurtured. A space for learning: An analysis of research on active learning spaces. 56-67. . &

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Anthropology.net

MAY 15, 2024

Nestled near the tumultuous borders of present-day Ukraine and Russia lies Mykhailivka, a village with archaeological significance dating back millennia. Here, seventy years ago, Ukrainian researchers excavated pivotal insights into the enigmatic Yamnaya culture—a nomadic pastoralist society that emerged approximately 5,000 years ago.

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Anthropology.net

OCTOBER 16, 2024

Archaeologists from the Lolland-Falster Museum, in collaboration with Aarhus University, have analyzed the site and published their findings in Radiocarbon 1. The researchers noted that “the discovery forces us to reevaluate our assumptions about the technological capabilities of Neolithic societies. DOI: 10.1017/RDC.2024.79.

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Anthropology.net

JUNE 28, 2024

An artist’s impression of a Neanderthal family on display at the Neanderthal Museum in Croatia. Photograph: Nikola Solic/Reuters Discovery and Significance The fossil in question was excavated in 1989 at the Cova Negra archaeological site in Valencia, Spain.

Humanities 105

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Anthropology.net

JULY 15, 2024

Field Museum scientist Luis Muro Ynoñán with the carving of a mythological bird creature in La Otra Banda, Cerro Las Animas. Excavation Details Last month, the research team began excavating a 33- by 33-foot plot of land near Zaña, a coastal town in Peru. This site, dating between 600 and 700 C.E.,

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Anthropology.net

MAY 27, 2024

Recently published in PLOS ONE 1 , research by scientists from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology (LDA) of Saxony-Anhalt explores the rich tapestry of culinary traditions spanning from the Early Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age. . ©

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Anthropology.net

MAY 11, 2024

Archaeologists from the ROOTS Cluster of Excellence , in collaboration with partners from Serbian museums, have unearthed a remarkable discovery: a previously unknown Late Neolithic settlement nestled near the Tamiš River in Northeast Serbia. The deep black angular anomalies indicate a large number of burnt houses.

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Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Recent research 1 has unveiled a remarkable aspect of Neanderthal intelligence: their adeptness in crafting complex adhesives to bind stone tools, challenging prior assumptions of their cognitive capabilities. Their focus? The stone tool was affixed to a handle crafted from liquid bitumen, combined with 55% ocher.

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Anthropology.net

DECEMBER 24, 2023

Recent research unveils intriguing insights into the sophisticated choices made by Paleolithic humans regarding stone tool selection. These findings, published in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology 1 , suggest a deeper understanding and technical skill in stone tool creation than previously thought.

Humanities 52

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Anthropology.net

JUNE 23, 2024

Researchers have long debated when and where these mingling events occurred and whether they were isolated incidents or commonplace. This groundbreaking research leverages dozens of ancient Homo sapiens genomes to address long-standing questions about the origins of Neanderthal genes in modern humans.

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Anthropology News

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Jasmin interned at the NHHC’s Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB) and assisted in updating the UAB’s public outreach on the Navy Yard by creating posters to highlight ongoing and recent projects, specifically on the shipwreck sites of the Revolutionary War gunboat USS Spitfire and War of 1812 commodore Joshua Barney’s flagship Scorpion.

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Anthropology Heritage Museum Archaeology 52

Sapiens

MARCH 26, 2025

It was employed to animate the Mesolithic period (from about 9,000 to 4,300 years ago) in a museum. TikTok users have adopted it to make realistic short videos about archaeology and history. But others are more specific to archaeology. The stakes of representation in archaeology are high.

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Archaeology Museum History Humanities 93

Sapiens

APRIL 16, 2024

ENTERING THE FRAY I agreed to discuss archaeology with pseudoarchaeologist Graham Hancock on the mega-popular but controversial podcast the Joe Rogan Experience. But reaching those outside my echo chamber demands more than my archaeological expertise. I’m distinguishing archaeology from mythology. Many people buy it.

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Anthropology.net

APRIL 17, 2025

Now, researchers say 1 , those bones tell a story not just about a species in decline, but about a species—our own—trying to make meaning of life and death. In the archaeological layers of Taforalt, also known as Grotte des Pigeons, researchers have unearthed not only bustard bones, but strong evidence of their ritual use.

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Archaeology Artifacts Museum Humanities 74

Sapiens

OCTOBER 9, 2024

After two decades of research, scholars find that Stonehenge’s giant Altar Stone came from northeast Scotland. In the early 2000s, we started to look again at supposed Altar Stone fragments in museum collections. But without directly sampling the Altar Stone, how could we be sure that the museum fragments were genuine?

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Sapiens

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

Confronted by the expanding diversity of tool users, researchers have reached a tipping point: It’s time to rethink the meaning of tool use—and what it implies about the intelligence of humans, nonhuman animals , and our evolutionary ancestors. Researchers can detect a creature’s attention by watching what it does.

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Archaeology Humanities Museum Research 143

Anthropology.net

OCTOBER 25, 2024

Hominin Butchery Practices in Kashmir In a paper published in Quaternary Science Reviews 2 , researchers describe the finding of bone flakes from the elephant remains, suggesting that ancient humans extracted marrow from the bones. Pampore elephant site. Elephant skull under excavation. 1 Advait M.

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Sapiens

OCTOBER 7, 2024

What we mean by that is is this grounded in recent research? You want to take your big question, your 30000-foot question that hopefully you’re researching or you’re basing your piece on but take it down to earth. year career in the field as an archaeological field technician in CRM and academic settings.

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Anthropology News

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

Treasure hunting often defaces or even destroys archaeological and environmental heritage. This potential harm to tangible heritage raises the ire of conservationists across government agencies, museums, universities, and other non-profit organizations. What else may motivate one to search for treasures, then?

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Sapiens

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

Using the same fossil material, curators and paleoanthropologists commissioned this bust , “The Neanderthal Man of La Chapelle-aux-Saints,” for the American Museum of Natural History in 1915. Reflecting the Women’s Liberation Movement, this cartoon visualized feminist critiques of male-centric approaches to research.

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Anthropology.net

DECEMBER 22, 2023

In the realm of human evolution, a groundbreaking study 1 led by researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra and the Natural History Museum of London is poised to revolutionize our narrative of human ancestry.

Humanities 52

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Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 13, 2025

Researchers from the Natural History Museum in London and Historic England analyzed 61 individuals, using 30 newly obtained radiocarbon dates to refine previous chronological estimates. Over time, researchers recognized that human remains in the river represented a complex history of deposition. Did they drown accidentally?

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Humanities Archaeology Museum History 88

Studies Weekly

FEBRUARY 28, 2025

Later in life, she was one of the first women to work in Mexican archaeology and the first person to study the pre-Columbian site of Chalcatzingo. Impressed with her work, the national museum hired her as the director of archaeology. Her life proves women can not only break into male-dominated fields but excel in them.

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Sapiens

JANUARY 9, 2024

Two biological anthropologists analyze archaeological and physiological evidence to debunk enduring assumptions about the gendered division of labor in ancient times. Such depictions are found not only in media, but in museums and introductory anthropology textbooks too. I also excavate at their archaeological sites.

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Anthropology News

DECEMBER 19, 2024

Lowry Journal for the Anthropology of North America The agency of doing something: Ethnographic research on subject positions at predominantly White institutions Chenyu Wang, Chaise LaDousa Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology They study for six years.

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Anthropology.net

DECEMBER 2, 2024

Researchers from the China National Silk Museum and the Sichuan Research Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology have confirmed that silk played a significant role in sacrificial rituals conducted by the Shu State during the late Shang Dynasty (1600–1100 BCE).

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