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Neanderthals were stocky from birth

Human Evolution

Our closest relatives were born with wide bodies and robust bones

If a Neandertal were to sit down next to us on the underground, we would probably…

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Hominins may have been food for carnivores

Human Evolution

Tooth-marks on a 500,000-year-old femur from Morocco indicate hominin hunting or scavenging by large carnivores

An international team of researchers…

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Cetacean strandings increase dramatically at times of rapid climate change

Human Evolution

Researchers of the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, in collaboration with…

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The oldest case of decapitation in the Americas

Human Evolution

A 9,000 year-old case of human decapitation has been found in the rock shelter of Lapa do Santo in Brazil

Few Amerindian habits impressed the…

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Complexity before size: Old world monkey had a tiny but complex brain

Human Evolution

Victoriapithecus had a small brain relative to its body size with an olfactory bulb about three times as large as that in present-day monkeys

The…

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Climate change: boating in the desert

Human Evolution

Lake Mungo may have inspired Australians to reinvent boat use in the middle of the desert 24,000 years ago

Geologists and archaeologists from the Max…

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Modern human dispersal into Europe came from the Levant

Human Evolution

Modern humans occupied the Near East 45,900 years ago and colonized Europe from there

A multinational team led by researchers from the Max Planck…

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Deciphering the demise of Neandertals

Human Evolution

Members of our species Homo sapiens belonging to the Protoaurignacian culture may have been the ultimate cause for the demise of Neandertals,…

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Protein is the clue to solving a Darwinian mystery

Human Evolution

Bone collagen sequences prove that South American native ungulates are closely related to horses, rhinos and tapirs but not to elephants

The South…

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Handy man reborn

Human Evolution

Digital makeover of iconic human fossil sheds light on human origins

State-of-the-art computer reconstruction of the original fossil of Homo habilis,…

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Early human ancestors used their hands like modern humans

Human Evolution

Pre-Homo human ancestral species, such as Australopithecus africanus, used human-like hand postures much earlier than was previously thought

Some of…

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Early modern human settlement in Central Europe

Human Evolution

Modern humans may have migrated into Austria around 43,500 years ago during a period with a cold steppe-like climate

A multinational team led by…

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Neandertals made the first specialized bone tools in Europe

Human Evolution

New finds demonstrate: Neandertals were the first in Europe to make standardized and specialized bone tools – which are still in use today

Two…

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An evolutionary compromise for long tooth preservation

Human Evolution

During an individual’s lifetime the biomechanical requirements on his or her teeth change

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary…

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Possibly more devastating than previously thought

Human Evolution

Leipzig researchers have published new data on volcanic ash, known as the “Campanian Ignimbrite”, which covered wide parts of Europe

About 40,000…

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Material loss protects teeth against fatigue failure

Human Evolution

Computer simulation shows that the reduction of natural dental wear might be the main cause for widely spread non-carius cervical lesions (the loss of…

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Neanderthals meet Homo sapiens

Human Evolution

New high precision radiocarbon dates of bone collagen show that a cultural exchange may have taken place between modern humans and Neanderthals more…

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Scientists discover oldest evidence of human stone tool use and meat-eating

Human Evolution

New finds from Dikika, Ethiopia, push back the first stone tool use and meatconsumption by almost one million years and provide the first evidence…

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Human Evolution

Human Evolution

New Kenyan Fossils Shed Light on the Evolution of the Genus Homo

Exciting new fossils discovered east of Lake Turkana confirm that there were two…

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Tracking human evolutionary history

Human Evolution

Foundation of the Max Planck Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology in Rehovot/Israel

A new element is being brought in to the…

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