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UrduA long-term study led by primatologist Crickette Sanz at Washington University in St. Louis reveals the first evidence of lasting social relationships between chimpanzees and gorillas in the wild.Drawn from more than 20 years of observations at Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo, researchers documented social ties between individual chimpanzees and gorillas that persisted over years and across different contexts.
Tag: Anthropology
Search for clues may explain the collapse of ancient city in Mexico
Faculty and students from ISU joined an international team of archaeologists this summer to begin excavating one of Teotihuacan’s suburbs. The four-year project could help unlock clues about the ancient city’s mysterious collapse and what happened in the hundreds of years before Spanish conquistadors arrived in central America.
Research of a Wild Primate Shows Maternal Effects Key to Gut Microbial Development
A study of wild geladas provides the first evidence of clear and significant maternal effects on the gut microbiome both before and after weaning in a wild mammal. This study suggests the impact of mothers on the offspring gut microbiome community extends far beyond when the infant has stopped nursing.
Octopus lures from the Mariana Islands found to be oldest in the world
An archaeological study has determined that cowrie-shell artifacts found throughout the Mariana Islands were lures used for hunting octopuses and that the devices, similar versions of which have been found on islands across the Pacific, are the oldest known artifacts of their kind in the world.
With NIH funding, University of Oregon professor dives deeper into aging research
A look into how environmental variables accelerate, slow or even reverse the aging process is the focus of a University of Oregon anthropologist whose research was recently funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Did Gonorrhea Give Us Grandparents?
UC San Diego researchers tracked the evolution of a gene variant that supports cognitive health in older humans, but may have first emerged to protect against bacteria.
The importance of elders
Researchers argue that the long human lifespan is due in part to the contributions of older adults.
Study points to Armenian origins of ancient crop with aviation biofuel potential
Camelina, also known as false flax or Gold-of-Pleasure, is an ancient oilseed crop with emerging applications in the production of sustainable, low-input biofuels. Multidisciplinary research from Washington University in St. Louis is revealing the origins and uses of camelina and may help guide decisions critical to achieving its potential as a biofuel feedstock for a greener aviation industry in the future.
The Persistent Effects of Colonialism in Caribbean Science
Prior to the first world war, sprawling European empires collectively controlled roughly 80% of Earth’s landmass.
Children and Adolescents Can Walk Efficiently at the Same Pace as Adults
Ana Mateos and Jesús Rodríguez, scientists at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), have published an experimental energy study in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology, which shows that children and adolescents can walk at a speed close to the optimal pace for adults, with hardly any locomotion energy costs or departing from their own optimal speed.
A Child of darkness
An international team of researchers, led by Professor Lee Berger from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa (Wits University) has revealed the first partial skull of a Homo naledi child that was found in the remote depths of the Rising Star cave in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Drone helps researchers find fresh water in the sea at Easter Island
Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York have demonstrated the effectiveness of using drones to locate freshwater sources at Easter Island.
Prehistoric humans rarely mated with their cousins
The researchers re-analyzed previously published DNA data from ancient humans that lived during the last 45,000 years to find out how closely related their parents were.
New evidence supports idea that America’s first civilization was made up of ‘sophisticated’ engineers
The Native Americans who occupied the area known as Poverty Point in northern Louisiana more than 3,000 years ago long have been believed to be simple hunters and gatherers. But new Washington University in St. Louis archaeological findings paint a drastically different picture of America’s first civilization.
Researchers identify record number of ancient elephant bone tools
Ancient humans could do some impressive things with elephant bones.
Study shows evidence of beer drinking 9,000 years ago in Southern China
Alcoholic beverages have long been known to serve an important socio-cultural function in ancient societies, including at ritual feasts.
‘Digging’ Into Early Medieval Europe with Big Data
During the middle of the sixth century CE a dramatic transformation began in how the people of western Europe buried their dead.
Archaeology: Roman road discovered in the Venice lagoon
The discovery of a Roman road submerged in the Venice Lagoon is reported in Scientific Reports this week. The findings suggest that extensive settlements may have been present in the Venice Lagoon centuries before the founding of Venice began in…
Why weren’t New World rabbits domesticated?
Archaeologists find the answer in rabbit social behavior
Study highlights need to replace ‘ancestry’ in forensics with something more accurate
A new study finds forensics researchers use terms related to ancestry and race in inconsistent ways, and calls for the discipline to adopt a new approach to better account for both the fluidity of populations and how historical events have…
Resilience, not collapse: What the Easter Island myth gets wrong
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — New research from Binghamton University, State University of New York suggests that the demographic collapse at the core of the Easter Island myth didn’t really happen. You probably know this story, or a version of it: On…
US-wide, non-white neighborhoods are hotter than white ones
Wealthier, whiter urban and small-town residents benefit more from cooling infrastructure and trees
Human environmental genome recovered in the absence of skeletal remains
Ancient sediments from caves have already proven to preserve DNA for thousands of years. The amount of recovered sequences from environmental sediments, however, is generally low, which difficults the analyses to be performed with these sequences. A study led by Ron Pinhasi and Pere Gelabert of the University of Vienna and published in Current Biology successfully retrieved three mammalian environmental genomes from a single soil sample of 25,000 years bp obtained from the cave of Satsurblia in the Caucasus (Georgia).
Hurley to receive funding for fellowship
Jessica Hurley, Assistant Professor, English, will receive $35,000 from the National Humanities Center for a fellowship supporting her book project, “Nuclear Decolonizations.” Hurley will research how nuclearization has impacted the decolonization imaginary in India, South Africa, Oceania, and Native North…
Satellite monitoring documents cultural heritage at risk
Cornell researchers are using high-resolution satellite imagery to monitor and document endangered and damaged cultural heritage in the South Caucasus.
Black hairstyles will inspire innovative building materials in new research
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Natural Black hair texture and styling practices – such a braiding, locking and crocheting – will help inspire and generate novel building materials and architecture structures using computational design processes in new research funded by the…
2D:4D ratio is not related to sex-determined finger size differences in men and women
The ratios between the lengths of the second and fourth fingers, known as the 2D:4D ratio, are different in males and females, which is often explained by levels of androgens and oestrogens. However, an alternative theory states that men have…
Neanderthal artists? Our ancestors decorated bones over 50,000 years ago
Since the discovery of the first fossil remains in the 19th century, the image of the Neanderthal has been one of a primitive hominin.
The City of David and the sharks’ teeth mystery
Scientists have found an unexplained cache of fossilised shark teeth in an area where there should be none – in a 2900 year old site in the City of David in Jerusalem. This is at least 80 km from where…
Smart technology is not making us dumber
UC social/behavioral expert explains that tech doesn’t dumb us down
Bronze Age: how the market began
Knowing the weight of a commodity provides an objective way to value goods in the marketplace.
Forget cash! Credit is key to the survival of busking
Electronic and digital payments are the key for buskers and street performers to survive in a post-COVID world, new RMIT research reveals
New book highlights need for Chaco Canyon preservation
Lincoln, Nebraska, July 1, 2021 — Carrie Heitman can still remember the moment when — as an undergraduate visiting for the first time — Chaco Culture National Historic Park became the cornerstone of her academic career in anthropology. “You have…
Being Anglo-Saxon was a matter of language and culture, not genetics
A new study from archaeologists at University of Sydney and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, has provided important new evidence to answer the question “Who exactly were the Anglo-Saxons?”
New fossil discovery from Israel points to complicated evolutionary process
Analysis of recently discovered fossils found in Israel suggest that interactions between different human species were more complex than previously believed, according to a team of researchers including Binghamton University anthropology professor Rolf Quam.
New fossils reveal previously unknown population of archaic hominin from the Levant
In two companion studies, researchers reveal a previously unknown population of archaic hominin- the “Nesher Ramla Homo ” – from a recently excavated site in Israel dated to roughly 140,000 to 120,000 years ago. Analysis of both the fossils and…
New fossil discovery from Israel points to complicated evolutionary process
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Analysis of recently discovered fossils found in Israel suggest that interactions between different human species were more complex than previously believed, according to a team of researchers including Binghamton University anthropology professor Rolf Quam. The research team,…
Did the ancient Maya have parks?
The ancient Maya city of Tikal was a bustling metropolis and home to tens of thousands of people.
2021 EurekAlert! fellowships highlight the importance of reporting on real-world connections, impact
Five early-career science journalists have been selected for the 2021 EurekAlert! Fellowships for International Science Reporters. The winners, from China, India, Greece, Egypt, and Brazil, were chosen by an independent panel of judges. EurekAlert! is a news release distribution platform…
Study explores how readers at partisan news sites respond to challenging news events
Researchers from Bentley University have been exploring how readers at partisan news sites respond to news events that challenge their worldview. In a forthcoming paper in the journal ACM Transactions on Social Computing , they report results of a study…
At underwater site, research team finds 9,000-year-old stone artifacts
An underwater archaeologist from The University of Texas at Arlington is part of a research team studying 9,000-year-old stone tool artifacts discovered in Lake Huron that originated from an obsidian quarry more than 2,000 miles away in central Oregon.
Study: Complexity holds steady as writing systems evolve
A new paper in the journal Cognition examines the visual complexity of written language and how that complexity has evolved.
Mary Foltz awarded Mellon/ACLS Scholars and Society Fellowship to Expand LGBTQ Archive
Lehigh University’s Mary Foltz will serve as a scholar-in-residence at Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, where she will work with the center’s Lehigh Valley LGBT Community Archive and lead public humanities initiatives.
Analysis: Chile’s transition to democracy slow, incomplete, fueled by social movements
A new article analyzes Chile’s transition in 1990 from dictatorship to democracy, the nature of democracy between 1990 and 2019, and the appearance of several social movements geared to expanding this democracy. The article, by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University…
At underwater site, research team finds 9,000-year-old stone artifacts
Underwater archaeology team finds ancient obsidian flakes 2,000 miles from quarry
Earliest memories can start from the age of two-and-a-half, new study shows
On average the earliest memories that people can recall point back to when they were just two-and-a-half years old, a new study suggests.
Barks in the night lead to the discovery of new species
The raucous calls of tree hyraxes — small, herbivorous mammals — reverberate through the night in the forests of West and Central Africa, but their sound differs depending on the location. Tree hyraxes living between the Volta and Niger rivers…
Holberg Prize to Martha C. Nussbaum and Griselda Pollock
The 2020 and 2021 Holberg Prizes were conferred upon Professor Griselda Pollock and Professor Martha C. Nussbaum, respectively
Indigenous mortality following Spanish colonization did not always lead to forest regrowth
A new study, published now in Nature Ecology and Evolution , draws on pollen records from tropical regions formerly claimed by the Spanish Empire in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, to test the significance and extent of forest regrowth…
As a decade of ecosystem restoration kicks off, don’t forget the people
Global ecosystem restoration efforts are often measured by billions of trees planted or square kilometers of land restored. But there is a critical void in the agenda: The social and political dimensions that make restoration a success