Hi, I'm John Hawks.
I'm a paleoanthropologist, exploring the ancient world of humans and fossil human relatives.
I write about the science of human origins, and how our ancient past can help make sense of today's world.
You can follow my writing here, or subscribe to have articles sent when they are published. Keep checking in for more changes.
The top 10 discoveries about ancient people from DNA in 2022
Research on ancient genomes has moved way beyond population mixture into broader questions about how ancient people lived and interacted with their environments.
A transition to a new platform for my words and video
The look and feel of the site is changing, with a new emphasis on subscriptions and connections.
What is the ‘braided stream’ analogy for human evolution?
A discussion of the way that reticulation has manifested across human evolution, with reference to an essay by Clive Finlayson.
Debates about Neandertal cave art miss the point of their visual culture
Humans today live in visually rich environments, and it's increasingly clear that Neandertals shaped their visual environments also.
Research highlight: Homo naledi teeth
In a massive new paper, a team led by Lucas Delezene provides descriptions of the dental evidence from the Dinaledi Chamber.
Ghostbusters of human origins
Humans tend to mix and interact with each other. Geneticists are once again starting to take that seriously, changing their view of our origins.
Did two pulses of evolution supercharge human cognition?
An intriguing new study tries to tabulate the ages of genetic variants associated with human phenotypes, but its claims about recent brain evolution may not pan out.
Lecture: Finding ancient minds in the human evolutionary tree
Insights into the behavioral capabilities of ancient human relatives are beginning to show that some of the abilities we consider human go surprisingly deep in our ancestry.
What color were Neandertals?
Even with whole genomes, scientists can't say very precisely what pattern of skin, hair, and eye pigmentation was in ancient populations like the Neandertals.
New evidence is revealing the ages of death, birth, and menarche in Neandertals
Analysis of dental cementum is yielding new insights into the ages when ancient people faced significant physiological stresses.
Explaining the X chromosome hole in Neandertal ancestry
Natural selection reduced the variation on human X chromosomes in populations with the most Neandertal and Denisovan mixture. It may have been meiotic drive.
Many people have a little Neandertal in the brain. Does it matter?
Research has started to show the ways that introgressed genes from Neandertals affect brain shape in living people.
When did our ancestors start looking up to the stars?
Changes in the sky have been important to peoples throughout the world. That connection may go back much further than our species.
Solving the mystery of the Red Deer Cave people
New DNA evidence is revealing the genetic relationships of ancient groups from southern China, showing how they were connected to living people across the region.
The pathogen side of human-pathogen interactions
In the first part of a review of pathogens in human origins, I examine a sampling of infectious diseases in people today and their diverse origins.
Ancient amputations tell remarkable stories of survival and care
A 33,000-year-old case of an amputated leg prompts comparisons to earlier Neandertal instances of amputation.
The Nesher Ramla site: a third way between Neandertals and modern humans?
Fragments representing people who lived just before Skhūl and Qafzeh seem outside the expectations for these “early modern humans” or for Neandertals.
Finding ancient fire use in the Rising Star cave system
The study of the underground landscape enters a new phase with evidence of charcoal and burned animal bone in deep chambers.
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