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Ape family tree suggests human ancestors weren’t particularly violent

30 June 2023

An evolutionary analysis of behavioural traits across primate species may shed light on the question of whether humans are violent by nature

Utopia: The ancient discoveries that point to the ideal human society

27 June 2023

Anthropology and archaeology are revealing that a human society can take myriad forms, which can teach us how to build a modern society that is more equal, resilient and stable

Bone fragment reveals humans wore leather clothes 39,000 years ago

12 April 2023

A study of an ancient bone from Spain with a strange pattern of notches hints that it was used by early Homo sapiens in Europe as a punch board for making holes in leather

The archaeologists recreating the secrets of prehistoric technology

14 March 2023

It has long been unclear how ancient people built a city of wood in the New Mexico desert far from any forests. By trying prehistoric building techniques themselves, archaeologists are working it out

Tightly-curled hair appears to maximise the shielding effect from the sun while minimising an unwanted insulating effect

Curly hair may have evolved to protect early humans from the sun

14 February 2023

In the first study to look at the evolution of hair types, researchers found tightly coiled hair provides a trade-off of shielding the head from the sun while minimising unwanted insulating

Early hominin Paranthropus may have used sophisticated stone tools

9 February 2023

Stone tools discovered in Kenya are the oldest Oldowan-type implements found, dating back at least 2.6 million years, and they may have been made by our relative Paranthropus

Straight-tusked elephant bones hint at routine hunting and butchering by Neanderthals

Neanderthals hunted enormous elephants that fed 100 people for a month

1 February 2023

The extinct straight-tusked elephant was even larger than modern African elephants, making it unclear if Neanderthal hunters could take one down, but a newly analysed trove of bones suggests it was possible

A series of hominoid crania (counterclockwise from the L): juvenile Australopithecus, adult Australopithecus, adult chimpanzee, juvenile chimpanzee, adult Homo erectus (center). Specimens photographed at the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History.

Our ancestors’ prenatal growth sped up after we split from chimps

3 October 2022

Early humans evolved a faster fetal growth rate than other apes about a million years ago, suggesting it could have played a role in the evolution of our species