Arctic
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)
Did Neandertals live at or above the Arctic Circle?
Examining work by Ludovic Slimak and coworkers on the Byzovaya site, with Mousterian artifacts near the Arctic Circle in Russia.
![Stone tool from Byzovaya, Russia, in four views](/content/images/size/w1460/2022/01/byzovaya-tool-science-slimak-2011.jpg)
Who first inhabited the European Arctic? A look at Mamontovaya Kurya
I examine a new paper reviewing a site in the far north of European Russia, with critical examination of the idea that Neandertals were this far north 40,000 years ago.
![A mammoth tusk with a series of many parallel cutmarks across it. An inset shows some of the cutmarks in detail.](/content/images/size/w1460/2023/01/mammoth-tusk-cutmarks-mamontovaya-kurya-pavlov-2003.jpg)