All articles tagged with #human evolution
A Science study shows that Neanderthal and modern-human ancestry influenced ancient mating: men with more Neanderthal DNA tended to pair with women with more modern-human DNA, suggesting a strong historical preference that helped shape the Neanderthal DNA in present-day genomes, though whether this reflects attraction or other factors remains uncertain.
New fossils and analyses from China indicate eastern Asia played a central role in Homo evolution over the past 2 million years, with Denisovan-related fossils reclassified as Homo juluensis and Homo longi, and Yunxian 2 suggesting an early Homo sapiens divergence; China is portrayed as a dynamic crossroad where multiple Homo lineages interacted and admixed, shaping a diverse regional mosaic.
A new study suggests the human chin didn’t evolve for a specific function but emerged as an incidental byproduct—or spandrel—of other skull changes, meaning natural selection may have shaped surrounding structures rather than the chin itself.
Ghost lineages are extinct or unsampled ancestral populations whose DNA persists in modern genomes; scientists detect them when portions of our DNA cannot be traced to known relatives, revealing hidden chapters of evolution and ancient gene flow from Neanderthals, Denisovans, and other unknown lineages.
A Denisovan jawbone found 60–120 meters deep off the coast of Taiwan and identified using paleoproteomics confirms Denisovans’ presence in warmer coastal Asia and suggests they thrived in diverse environments beyond Siberia. Dating is uncertain, estimated between 10,000 and 190,000 years ago, highlighting their adaptability and potential interactions with other hominins.
Archaeologists in Greece uncovered 430,000-year-old handheld wooden tools at the Marathousa site on the Peloponnese—the oldest known of their kind and about 130,000 years before Homo sapiens. One tool is a long digging-stick-like piece about 81 cm (31.9 inches) and fragmented; the other is a small 5.7 cm (2.2 inches) debarked piece of wood. The discovery, preserved by wet soils near a lakeshore, suggests early hominins used diverse materials (including wood) for different tasks, likely made by species such as Homo heidelbergensis or early Neanderthals, broadening our understanding of ancient technology and behavior.
A hand stencil in Liang Metando cave on Muna Island, Indonesia, has been dated to at least 67,800 years ago using uranium-series dating, making it the oldest known cave art and suggesting Homo sapiens may have created art earlier than previously thought and perhaps migrated to Australia even sooner than current estimates.
Scientists describe KNM-ER 64061, the most complete Homo habilis skeleton yet, dating to about 2.02–2.06 million years ago in northern Kenya, revealing unusually strong arms and upper-limb proportions similar to australopithecines and suggesting a more complex early hominin evolution.
A 7-million-year-old fossil of Sahelanthropus tchadensis provides strong evidence that early human ancestors could walk upright, suggesting that bipedalism evolved much earlier than previously thought. The discovery was made through detailed analysis of skeletal features, including a femoral tubercle and limb proportions, indicating that this species was adapted for upright walking despite its small brain and tree-dwelling habits.
Fossils of an early human ancestor dating back 700,000 years were discovered in Morocco, potentially representing a major missing link in human evolution and supporting the theory of a deep African origin for Homo sapiens.
A 7 million-year-old fossil of Sahelanthropus tchadensis shows evidence of walking upright, suggesting it may be an early human ancestor, based on a newly identified femoral bump and other human-like features.
New archaeological evidence from South Africa shows that humans used poisoned arrows 60,000 years ago, making it the oldest direct evidence of poison use in hunting globally, and highlighting advanced cognitive skills and knowledge of toxic plants among ancient hunter-gatherers.
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.
Scientists have analyzed fossils from Central Africa, including a skull and limb bones, which suggest that a human ancestor walked upright approximately 7 million years ago, shedding light on the origins of humanity.
A new analysis of 7-million-year-old fossils suggests Sahelanthropus tchadensis was likely a bipedal hominin, supported by a newly identified femoral feature indicating upright walking, making it a strong candidate for the earliest human ancestor.