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UrduAn 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.
Tag: Anthropology
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
Māori connections to Antarctica may go as far back as 7th century, new study shows
Indigenous Māori people may have set eyes on Antarctic waters and perhaps the continent as early as the 7th century, new research published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand shows.
Māori connections to Antarctica may go as far back as 7th century, new study shows
Indigenous Māori people may have set eyes on Antarctic waters and perhaps the continent as early as the 7th century, new research published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand shows. Over the last 200 years,…
Language extinction triggers loss of unique medicinal knowledge
Language is one of our species’ most important skills, as it has enabled us to occupy nearly every corner of the planet. Among other things, language allows indigenous societies to use the biodiversity that surrounds them as a “living pharmacy”…
Peace accord in Colombia has increased deforestation of biologically-diverse rainforest
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Since the end of the long-running conflict in Colombia, large areas of forest have been rapidly converted to agricultural uses, suggesting the peace agreement presents a threat to conservation the country’s rainforest, a new study from Oregon…
‘Asian American’: A rallying cry that united Asians in the 1960s but is it still relevant?
How Asian Americans’ public policy opinions are divided by generation and national origin, especially on immigration
10,000-year-old DNA pens the first tales of the earliest domesticated goats
New research has revealed the genetic makeup of the earliest goat herds. The findings, assimilated from DNA taken from the remains of 32 goats that died some 10,000 years ago in the Zagros mountains, provide clues to how early agricultural…
Soft tissue measurements critical to hominid reconstruction
Accurate soft tissue measurements are critical when making reconstructions of human ancestors, a new study from the University of Adelaide and Arizona State University has found.
Puppies are wired to communicate with people, study shows
Dogs may have earned the title “man’s best friend” because of how good they are at interacting with people. Those social skills may be present shortly after birth rather than learned, a new study by University of Arizona researchers suggests.…
Gender differences exist even among university students’ wage expectations
Though both male and female students have optimistic wage expectations compared to actual wages of similar graduates, when given information about actual wages, women tended to decrease their expectations–while men actually increased their expectations
Study of Wild Geladas Reveals Mid-Size Group Living is Best for Survival and Fitness
A research team that includes Anthropology researchers from Stony Brook University has used 14 years of demographic data on multiple groups of wild geladas to determine that mid-size group living is best for fitness, essentially optimizing survival and reproduction.