March 13th, 2015
Earliest Evidence of Genus Homo
March 13, 2015An American team working in the Afar region of Ethiopia has found the earliest evidence of our genus Homo, it was announced last week in the journal Science.
February 6th, 2015
Intriguing Cave Find Announced
February 06, 2015The discovery of a fragment of a human cranium located in a cave in the Galilee, was announced in the journal Nature this week. The fragment is a skullcap or calvaria and dated to 55,000 years ago.
December 3rd, 2014
Earliest evidence of symbolic behavior found
December 03, 2014Long overlooked fresh water shells lying in a museum drawer for more than a century have yielded the earliest evidence of symbolic behavior, according to an article in Nature this week..
The article is entitled “Homo erectus at Trinil on Java used shells for tool production and engraving“, by Josephine C. A. Joordens et al. The abstract of the article states:
November 24th, 2014
Lucy is forty!
November 24, 2014Lucy, the three million year old fossil skeleton, turns 40 today. On November 24, 1974 a young paleoanthropologist named Donald Johanson was returning to camp. He glanced over his shoulder and something caught his eye. A bit of bone protruding from the sloping ground.
October 23rd, 2014
Living High
October 23, 2014Human residence at high altitude for prolonged periods is confirmed in a Podcast issued by the journal Science this week.
October 23rd, 2014
Oldest Human Genome Reported
October 23, 2014The finding of the oldest human genetic material is reported this week. A femoral shaft (thigh bone without ends to fit with hip and knee)was found in Siberia and dated to 45,000 years ago.
October 23rd, 2014
Revisiting the Hobbit
October 23, 2014On the tenth anniversary of the announcement of a close human relative, Homo floresiensis, nicknamed The Hobbit, noted paleoanthropologist Chris Stringer revisits the find in an article in Nature this week.
October 7th, 2014
Johanson on Twitter
October 07, 2014Donald Johanson, discoverer of the famous fossil "Lucy" and narrator of the Documentary Becoming Human on this website,can now be followed on Twitter.
September 4th, 2014
First Evidence of Neanderthal Art?
September 04, 2014Neanderthals were capable of abstract expression, according to a paper published this week by European archeologists in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).
August 25th, 2014
Earlier Dates for Neanderthal Extinction
August 25, 2014Recent recalculation of dates associated with bone and artifacts found at 40 Neanderthal sites has determined the last Neanderthals became extinct between 39,000 and 41,000 years ago.