What do we know about the ancestry of Homo erectus?
A creation interest group takes a quote from me, and I look back at a classic paper.
![Nine fossil skulls viewed in lateral view with Australopithecus near the top and Homo erectus at bottom](/content/images/size/w1460/2024/07/habilis-erectus-crania-lateral-comparison-banner-2024.jpg)
Julurens: a new cousin for Denisovans and Neanderthals
A new study suggests that the Middle Pleistocene record in China includes more groups than have previously been recognized.
![A fossil child's upper jaw with teeth, in two views on left and two angles of microCT on the right](/content/images/size/w1460/2024/06/xujiayao-1-maxilla-xing-2019.jpg)
The evolutionary mystery of the German cockroach
The species evolved to exploit human-built environments and exists nowhere else. So where did it come from?
![A cockroach poised on a rock](/content/images/size/w1460/2024/06/erik-karits-CAgEXn8iFZc-unsplash.jpg)
New insights into the biology of Homo luzonensis
Studies of teeth from Callao Cave yield information about the pace of development in this species and its possible connections with Homo erectus.
![image of two people within a very large cave with green color on stalactites in the background](/content/images/size/w1460/2024/05/callao-cave-theglennpalacio-wikipedia.jpg)
Why did the ancients make gigantic handaxes?
Looking at new research on the distribution and function of curiously large bifacial tools
![Two very large handaxes](/content/images/size/w1460/2024/04/giant-handaxes-biddenham-canterbury-west-dale-2024.jpg)
Four amazing Stone Age sites with wooden artifacts
From Africa, Asia, and Europe, these sites give us a rare window into the ways that organic technology shaped ancestral lives.
![Four views of a double-pointed throwing stick in center, with detail of sharpened points at top left and bottom right.](/content/images/size/w1460/2024/04/milks-double-pointed-stick-schoningen-plos-2023.jpg)
How many bathrooms have Neanderthals in the tile?
A Reddit poster finds an ancient jaw in his parents' new travertine. It may be more common than most people imagine.
![Two fragments of a skull, bearing a browridge and truncated by slice marks](/content/images/size/w1460/2024/04/kocabas-skull-fragments-vialet-wikimedia-commons-2.jpg)
Eclipses for the ancestors
Culture shapes our experience of these astronomical events, and would have done so for Neanderthals and other ancestral hominins.
![Solar eclipse with bright point of sunlight just emerging from the moon's edge at right of image](/content/images/size/w1460/2024/03/jongsun-lee-F-pSZO_jeE8-unsplash.jpg)
A remembrance of Frans de Waal
Among many highlights of this primatologist's work, he maintained that humans are not unique or separated from other primates.
![Frans de Waal giving a lecture](/content/images/size/w1460/2024/03/frans-de-waal-tedx-peachtree-wikimedia-commons.jpg)
Vagrant birds and ancient human habitats
People killed the Carolina parakeet. An inquiry into their historic population range helps illustrate the challenges of understanding ancient human populations.
![A painting showing several green parakeets in varied poses](/content/images/size/w1460/2022/12/carolina-parakeets-detail-audubon-wikimedia.jpg)