All articles tagged with #homo sapiens
A research team at Kalambo Falls in Zambia dated well-preserved wood to at least 476,000 years ago, including interlocking logs and tool marks, using luminescence dating. The findings show early hominins engineered wooden structures long before Homo sapiens, suggesting sophisticated planning and wood-working skills that challenge the notion of a purely Stone Age narrative.
Extinction of Neanderthals appears to be the result of a mix of regional pressures: small, isolated populations prone to inbreeding and mutational burden, competition with expanding modern humans, and varied demographic dynamics across Eurasia. Genetic evidence confirms interbreeding with Homo sapiens, meaning Neanderthals contributed to the modern human genome, but there is no single smoking gun or uniform fate—different Neanderthal groups disappeared for different reasons over time.
Researchers report 85 fossilized footprints on a northern Moroccan beach dating to about 90,000 years ago, likely left by at least five individuals in a multigenerational group. Preserved by clay-rich sand and rapid tidal burial, the tracks represent North Africa’s oldest known human trackway, but the site faces erosion risk and urgent documentation before it degrades.
Archaeologists at Leang Bulu Bettue in Sulawesi uncovered a 208,000-year record of human occupation, including artifacts and animal remains that show early archaic hominins living alongside Homo sapiens; a major cultural shift around 40,000 years ago introduced advanced tools and symbolic behavior, likely tied to Homo sapiens, suggesting coexistence or replacement and highlighting Sulawesi as key to understanding early human evolution; future digs may reveal even older layers.
Fossils discovered in Morocco, dating back over 773,000 years, support the theory that Homo sapiens originated in Africa. The fossils, found in a cave and linked to Earth's magnetic field reversal, fill a crucial gap in the fossil record and suggest that our species' divergence from ancestors like Homo erectus may have occurred earlier than previously thought.
New research suggests that early Homo sapiens in Eurasia may have used bow and arrow technology earlier than previously believed, around 40,000 years ago, challenging the traditional view that such technology only appeared later. The study combines experimental and archaeological evidence to show that some ancient projectile points were consistent with arrow use, indicating a diverse and complex technological repertoire during human expansion.
Ancient genomes from southern Africa reveal deep population stratification, long-term stability, and unique Homo sapiens-specific genetic variants, highlighting southern Africa as a long-standing refugium and providing insights into human evolution and adaptation.
A new study suggests that interbreeding between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens introduced a gene variant in Neanderthals that may have caused reproductive issues, potentially contributing to their eventual extinction by creating a genetic mismatch that reduced their survival over generations.
A digitally reconstructed ancient skull suggests our species is at least 1 million years old, challenging existing timelines of human evolution and sparking debate among scientists.
Scientists have found evidence at Skhul Cave in Israel suggesting that interbreeding between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens occurred around 140,000 years ago, predating previous estimates by nearly 100,000 years, indicating a long period of coexistence and genetic mingling between the two species.
A re-analysis of a 140,000-year-old child's skeleton from Skhul Cave suggests early contact and possible interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals, challenging previous timelines and highlighting the region as a long-term contact zone.
A 140,000-year-old fossil from Skhul Cave provides the earliest evidence of interbreeding between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, showing a mix of traits and indicating social and biological relations between the two groups in the Land of Israel.
Researchers used advanced 3D imaging to study the bones of a 140,000-year-old child from Israel, revealing evidence of interbreeding between early humans and Neanderthals much earlier than previously thought, challenging assumptions about their interactions and coexistence.
Scientists in Israel discovered the oldest known mixed human-Neanderthal fossil, a 140,000-year-old child's skeleton showing traits of both species, providing evidence of interbreeding and social ties between Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens in the region.
Israeli archaeologists reanalyzed a 140,000-year-old child skull from Skhul Cave, revealing the earliest evidence of interbreeding between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, predating previous genetic evidence by over 80,000 years, and indicating early gene flow in the Middle East.