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Human Origins

Researchers discovered that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens appeared to collect the same type of snail shell, possibly for ornamental or symbolic purposes.

Our Ancestors Loved Shell Trinkets, Just Like Neanderthals. New Research Suggests It’s a Sign of Shared Culture Across Species

Based on artifacts found in a limestone cave on the Mediterranean coast, scientists think the two species might have shared similar survival strategies, stone tool technologies and symbolic traditions

Homo floresiensis (center) had a skull about the size of a grapefruit and stood a little more than three feet tall.

How a Hungry Komodo Dragon Led Scientists to Determine Our Small, Hobbit-Like Cousins Probably Weren’t That Smart After All

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 hypothesized

Some of the Neanderthal remains that were analyzed in the new study

Why Did Neanderthals Go Extinct? Inbreeding Probably Wasn’t to Blame for Their Demise in Northwestern Europe, a Study Suggests

In contrast to those who resided in Siberia, Neanderthals who lived in what’s now Belgium and France shortly before the species vanished seem to have been genetically diverse and healthy

Scientists collected samples from 11 caves in Spain and Portugal.

In a Scientific First, Researchers Recovered Ancient DNA That Humans Left Behind on Rock Art and Cave Walls

DNA preservation on cave walls is highly variable, but scientists say their work is an important step on the path toward gaining a deeper understanding of our creative ancestors

Modern humans and our relatives have occupied Wonderwork Cave in South Africa for around two million years.

Early Humans May Have Used Fire 1.8 Million Years Ago, Nearly Doubling the Age of the Oldest Known Evidence for the Feat

In Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa, burned bones were found in a dirt layer associated with Homo erectus. The inhabitants probably hadn’t mastered fire-making, but researchers say they may have moved and maintained flames from a natural fire

A fossilized Homo naledi skull

New Research

Did These Prehistoric Primates Really Bury Just Their Female Dead Deep in a Cave?

Researchers say that the fossilized bones of “Homo naledi,” so far found exclusively underground in South Africa, lack a key genetic male marker

Chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas tend to walk on their knuckles, while macaques and capuchins walk with flat palms.  

Did Human Ancestors Walk on Their Knuckles Like Today’s Chimpanzees? New Research Adds More Evidence to the Debate

After investigating thousands of wrist bones, scientists suspect the last common ancestor species of humans and chimpanzees may have navigated the world on its knuckles

Around 90 percent of people are right-handed.

Why Is Nearly Every Person Right-Handed—but Not Every Ape and Monkey? New Research Explores the Evolutionary Origins of Human Handedness

Brain size and bipedalism are the most likely drivers of our species’ right-hand dominance, according to new research

Archaeologists think the green minerals found in the cave might be malachite, which is treated and processed to make copper.

New Research

Mysterious Green Rocks Discovered in a Remote Cave in Spain Might Be Signs of Prehistoric People Working With Copper

The find challenges assumptions that people in the region thousands of years ago did not spend much time at high altitudes

New research indicates that Neanderthals had the genetic hardware for language.

Did Neanderthals Have Language? New Research Suggests They Had the Genetic Hardware for It, Like Humans

Specific genomic regions that seem to play a role in human language development evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago, before humans and Neanderthals diverged from a common ancestor, a new study finds

Chimpanzees from the Western group attacking members of the Central group in 2019.

These Wild Chimps Have Been Fighting in a ‘Civil War’ for Nearly a Decade. It’s the Bloodiest Split Ever Seen Among Their Kind

The Ngogo chimpanzees in Uganda have divided themselves into two main factions, and dozens of deaths have been recorded since the split in 2018. A new study details the unprecedented violence, which could shed light on the evolutionary underpinnings of human warfare

An artistic rendering of the successfully hunted straight-tusked elephant, which would have been an incredible source of food for Neanderthals

After Nearly 80 Years of Doubt, Scientists Say a Spear Lodged Between Elephant Ribs Offers Evidence That Neanderthals Hunted Big Game

In 1948, amateur archaeologists unearthed the remains, which should have shifted researchers’ views of Neanderthals. But poor documentation sowed skepticism in the scientific community

An artist’s rendition of Masripithecus moghraensis  

Cool Finds

These 17-Million-Year-Old Fossils Could Rewrite the Evolutionary Tree of Apes—Including Humans

Jawbone fragments and teeth from a previously unknown species hint that the evolution of modern apes occurred in what’s now North Africa or the Arabian Peninsula, rather than in East Africa

Little Foot's skull was distorted and damaged, so researchers spent years digitally reassembling the bones to understand what the individual's face might have looked like 3.67 million years ago.

New Research

See How Scientists Reconstructed the Face of Little Foot, a Human Ancestor Who Lived 3.67 Million Years Ago

For the first time, researchers have digitally reconstructed the facial fragments of the individual, who belonged to the Australopithecus genus

Researchers investigated 112 decorated ostrich eggshell fragments discovered at three sites—two in South Africa and one in Namibia.

New Research

These Intricately Decorated Ostrich Eggshells Suggest Our Ancestors May Have Understood Basic Geometry 60,000 Years Ago

The lines, right angles and other mysterious designs required careful planning and robust cognitive abilities, according to a new study

Researchers dubbed one experiment involving a roughly one-foot-tall crystal "The Monolith" in honor of Stanley Kubrick's iconic film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Chimps Seem to Love Crystals. Their Attraction Might Help Explain Humans’ Obsession With the Shimmering Stones

Hominins have been collecting calcite and quartz for at least 780,000 years. A new study hints at why

A reconstruction of a Neanderthal man at the Natural History Museum in London.

Neanderthal Men May Have Often Hooked Up With Human Women Thousands of Years Ago

Most people alive today carry a little Neanderthal DNA—except in a few spots. A new study might explain why

Researchers collected chimp urine from leaves and puddles on the forest floor in Uganda.

Wild Chimpanzees Love to Eat Boozy Fruit. Scientists Say the Proof Is in Their Pee

The work further hints that humans may have inherited our penchant for alcohol from our ape ancestors

The team analyzed 260 engraved objects discovered in caves in what is now southwest Germany, including this 40,000-year-old mammoth figurine.

New Research

Humans May Have Used These Mysterious Symbols to Encode Information Tens of Thousands of Years Before the First Writing Systems

The symbols, discovered on 40,000-year-old artifacts in caves in southwest Germany, may have been a precursor to the first written language

The study focused on Kanzi, a language-trained bonobo who died in March 2025 at the age of 44.

Can Apes Play Pretend? What Scientists Learned From Having Imaginary ‘Tea Parties’ With Kanzi the Bonobo

A new study provides evidence for imagination in a captive-raised, English language-trained animal

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