https://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/anthropology/RSS feed for AnthropologyenMon, 24 Aug 2026 17:18:09 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/closed-to-public-since-wwii-hidden-gallery-at-london-natural-history-museum-opens-doors-once-again-180989380/Animal skeletons, Neolithic tools and pop culture memorabilia are among the dozens of objects to be displayed in the reopened “Nature and Us” exhibitionMon, 24 Aug 2026 17:18:09 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/closed-to-public-since-wwii-hidden-gallery-at-london-natural-history-museum-opens-doors-once-again-180989380/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/meat-wasnt-the-only-food-that-drove-early-humans-to-evolve-bigger-brains-sugar-may-have-fueled-the-organs-enlargement-too-180989335/Scientists examined four million years of hominin diets. They found that natural sugars may have supplied energy—in the form of glucose—to growing brains before cooking made starchy foods easier to digestThu, 13 Aug 2026 20:27:39 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/meat-wasnt-the-only-food-that-drove-early-humans-to-evolve-bigger-brains-sugar-may-have-fueled-the-organs-enlargement-too-180989335/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/ancient-fossil-footsteps-found-in-kenya-may-hint-that-an-early-human-relative-was-larger-than-previously-thought-180989206/The trackway sheds light on how some hominins moved around their environments and with one anotherMon, 27 Jul 2026 19:08:12 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/ancient-fossil-footsteps-found-in-kenya-may-hint-that-an-early-human-relative-was-larger-than-previously-thought-180989206/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hunter-gatherers-brought-trout-to-a-norwegian-mountain-lake-7000-years-ago-the-earliest-known-example-of-humans-translocating-fish-180989167/Researchers have long known that the animals were introduced into the region's high-altitude bodies of water, but they weren't sure when it happened or whether humans had a hand. Analyses of recently discovered ancient fish traps provide new cluesThu, 23 Jul 2026 15:42:28 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hunter-gatherers-brought-trout-to-a-norwegian-mountain-lake-7000-years-ago-the-earliest-known-example-of-humans-translocating-fish-180989167/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/ancient-genes-reveal-that-big-bright-avocados-were-carried-through-the-americas-thousands-of-years-ago-180989171/People brought large avocado seeds from South America to Central America, kicking off a burst of diversity for the fruitWed, 22 Jul 2026 15:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/ancient-genes-reveal-that-big-bright-avocados-were-carried-through-the-americas-thousands-of-years-ago-180989171/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/for-three-hours-every-day-open-ocean-transforms-into-australias-ghost-reef-180989152/An isolated wonder some 1,200 miles from the nearest city, Montgomery Reef disappears as quickly as it appears, mirroring the supposed vanishing of its original owners, a tribe of Indigenous giantsMon, 20 Jul 2026 17:34:30 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/for-three-hours-every-day-open-ocean-transforms-into-australias-ghost-reef-180989152/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/thousands-of-kidnapped-africans-died-on-an-island-in-the-atlantic-after-being-rescued-from-slave-ships-evidence-in-their-teeth-traces-their-journeys-180989145/Remains in the graves of St. Helena, where the British military housed "liberated" enslaved Africans, contain isotopes from inland Angola and ZimbabweMon, 20 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/thousands-of-kidnapped-africans-died-on-an-island-in-the-atlantic-after-being-rescued-from-slave-ships-evidence-in-their-teeth-traces-their-journeys-180989145/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/did-these-ancient-egyptian-princesses-wield-weapons-and-train-in-martial-arts-just-like-the-men-of-their-time-180989151/A new analysis of their bones suggests they were buried alongside arrows, maces and daggers because they had repeatedly used those weapons in lifeMon, 20 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/did-these-ancient-egyptian-princesses-wield-weapons-and-train-in-martial-arts-just-like-the-men-of-their-time-180989151/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/kazakhstans-iron-age-golden-man-and-other-elite-scythians-of-eurasia-inherited-their-high-social-status-ancient-dna-suggests-180989089/Researchers have long wondered whether upper-class members of the ancient nomadic warriors earned their social status through individual achievements or birthrightThu, 09 Jul 2026 16:04:08 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/kazakhstans-iron-age-golden-man-and-other-elite-scythians-of-eurasia-inherited-their-high-social-status-ancient-dna-suggests-180989089/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-a-hungry-komodo-dragod-led-scientists-to-determine-our-small-hobbit-like-cousins-probably-werent-that-smart-after-all-180989078/New research indicates "Homo floresiensis" probably wasn't hunting big game or using fire on Flores Island, suggesting the small-brained species wasn't quite as "behaviorally advanced" as once hypothesizedMon, 06 Jul 2026 15:31:58 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-a-hungry-komodo-dragod-led-scientists-to-determine-our-small-hobbit-like-cousins-probably-werent-that-smart-after-all-180989078/