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Cooking rhizomes in the Middle Stone Age

Border Cave has exceptional preservation of plant remains, giving a window into the diets of hominins.

View from inside a cave looking at railing and sandbags
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Part of a Denisovan mtDNA resides in the nuclear genomes of many living people

A paper last week by Robert Bücking and coworkers trawled through the recently-sequenced Indonesian Genome Diversity Project dataset looking for snippets of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that have been inserted into the nuclear genome. These snippets, called “NUMTs”, arise every so often as a result of DNA transfer from the mitochondrion

A reproduction of the Denisova 3 finger bone sits on a chalk outline of a hand
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Did Acheulean hominins have long-distance obsidian trade?

I review several papers looking into the occurrence of obsidian artifacts in the Acheulean of eastern Ethiopia.

J. Desmond Clark photographing artifacts on a desert landscape
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Denisovan traits bring up the old problem of understanding morphological continuity

A paper by Shara Bailey and coworkers suggests that three-rooted lower molars are diagnostic of population mixture from Denisovans.

Fossil mandible from Xiahe, China, viewed from right side.
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Research highlight: Use ancient remains more wisely

In this contribution, Keolu Fox and I consider what is necessary to build a sustainable science of ancient DNA.

Front page of "Use ancient remains more wisely"
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Recounting the repatriation of aboriginal remains from Lake Mungo

Reacting to a feature article from Smithsonian magazine that followed the reburial of a 42,000-year-old human skeleton.

Landscape in Mungo National Park, New South Wales, Australia
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Geneticists work to understand how skeletons wound up in a mysterious Himalayan lake

Reviewing new work that reveals migrants from several historic periods in the skeletons surrounding this lake in India.

Roopkund Lake surrounded by snowy rocks
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A mid-century observer wrote about hybridization and Neandertals

A quote from Loren Eiseley, one of the best known writers about anthropology and human origins.

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How will ancient proteins change paleoanthropology?

Paleoproteomic methods may provide exciting avenues toward understanding pieces of fossils and their relationships.

Denisova 11 bone fragment in four views
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Homo luzonensis: a new species of hominin from Luzon

I reflect on the discovery from Callao Cave, Philippines, which reinforces the ability of ancient hominins to disperse across island Southeast Asia.

Teeth from the Homo luzonensis individual from Callao Cave
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How much do scientific societies fear Plan S for open access?

My examination of the politics within scientific organizations surrounding open access publishing

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How capable were early human ancestors of crossing open water?

In past populations we should keep in mind the exceptional ability of humans to adapt to new circumstances.

Rocky coastline with beach and blue water
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How much do Y chromosome haplogroups shape our views of modern human origins?

The divergent A00 haplogroup roots the modern human Y chromosome tree deeper in time.

Map of Africa showing high concentration of Y chromosome haplogroup A in Namibia and northeast Africa
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How did English come to have different words for "ape" and "monkey"?

The etymology of our words for living primates gives some insight into how common ideas adjusted to new scientific knowledge.

How did English come to have different words for "ape" and "monkey"?
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Three big insights into our African origins

Recently, I delivered a lecture to the American Society for Human Genetics, focusing on the African record of human origins. It was a great privilege to speak to more than 5000 members of this professional organization, together with other distinguished experts on African genetic variation and health. Here I share

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A critical look at the idea of Australopithecus prometheus

A historical perspective on a species name that was associated with fossils from Makapansgat, South Africa.

Still from 2001: A Space Odyssey in which an ape is using a bone to bask a skeleton
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Lecture: Who were the ancestors of the Neandertals?

Looking at what we know about Neandertal origins and how our understanding has changed in the last decade.

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How collagen fingerprinting is changing the way archaeologists understand ancient sites

Katarina Douka and coworkers are identifying the species of ancient bone fragments at a massive scale from Denisova Cave.

Three archaeologists working in a cave site with sediment profile
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Artifacts of a pre-Clovis tradition from the Gault site, Texas

A 2018 paper by Thomas Williams and coworkers documents a Native American group that existed as early as 16,000 years ago.

Tent covering Area 15 excavation of Gault site, Texas
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A perspective on how media marginalize scientists from developing countries

A reminiscence from Emanuel "Wahyu" Saptomo sheds light on the discovery and reaction to Homo floresiensis.

Browsing a phone in front of a computer
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Should archaeologists really fear and loathe geneticists?

An article in Nature focuses on the tension between archaeologists and ancient DNA specialists.

Should archaeologists really fear and loathe geneticists?
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The so-called Toba bottleneck simply didn't happen

Prompted by a paper by Chad Yost and coworkers, I look at the persistent myth that humans were an endangered species only 74,000 years ago.

A volcanic eruption with ash cloud rising from caldera
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What's the deal with the Sahelanthropus femur?

A news story by Ewen Callaway investigates the mysterious case of this purported earliest bipedal hominin.

Skull of Sahelanthropus tchadensis reconstruction in a museum exhibit
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Lida Ajer, early modern human remains in island Southeast Asia

A site first investigated by Eugene Dubois is rediscovered by Kira Westaway and collaborators.

A cave entrance with two people, one with headlight
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My photo of the Neo skull is named one of the top science images of the year

I am feeling really honored to have one of my photos of Neo included as one of Cosmos magazine’s “Top 10 science images of 2017” [https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/top-10-science-images-of-2017]. It’s the frontal view of the Neo skull. I’ve always thought that human evolutionary science has some

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How many students in paleoanthropology can see casts of Australopithecus afarensis?

The real problem with a lack of data access is that 50 years of the fossil record is invisible to many students in the field.

Cranium of Australopithecus afarensis
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Scientists doubted the Piltdown hoax from the beginning. What can they teach us?

For nearly forty years between the Piltdown discovery and exposure as a deliberate hoax, many scientists never believed the story.

Skull and jaw from Piltdown, viewed from the left side.
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Lecture: How Homo naledi is changing human origins

A talk with an audience at UW–Madison covers our work on Homo naledi, including the recently-published Lesedi Chamber remains and the age of the fossils.

John Hawks with a University of Wisconsin banner behind him
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When anthropologists argue about species, is it evidence, or ego?

For some people who follow human evolution news, recognizing “species” is really just about whether you’re a lumper or a splitter. Many people assume that the names of species are about ego, not evidence. But nature presents us with real challenges, which still cause different scientists to approach the

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An unusual rate of dental chipping may give clues about Homo naledi's diet

Research by Ian Towle and coworkers finds that Homo naledi may have been eating foods with lots of grit.

A close-up photo of a Homo naledi tooth with a large chip on the edge