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Anthropology News -- ScienceDaily
Anthropology News. Read about early human culture, civilizations and latest discoveries at ancient sites in our anthropology news.

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Grave goods show gendered roles for Neolithic farmers
'); document.write('Grave goods, such as stone tools, have revealed that Neolithic farmers had different work-related activities for men and women.'); document.write('
Genetic admixture in the South Pacific: From Denisovans to the human immune response
'); document.write('Scientists have looked at understudied human populations from the South Pacific, which are severely affected by a variety of diseases, including vector-borne infectious diseases such as Zika virus, dengue, and chikungunya, and metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Using genome sequencing of 320 individuals, the scientists have investigated how human populations have biologically adapted to the environments of the Pacific islands and how this has affected their current state of health.'); document.write('
The chillest ape: How humans evolved a super-high cooling capacity
'); document.write('Researchers have discovered how a uniquely high density of sweat glands evolved in the human genome. Researchers showed that the higher density of sweat glands in humans is due mostly to accumulated changes in a regulatory region of DNA -- called an enhancer region -- that drives the expression of a sweat gland-building gene, explaining why humans are the sweatiest of the Great Apes.'); document.write('
Ancient pottery reveals the first evidence for honey hunting in prehistoric West Africa
'); document.write('A team of scientists has found the first evidence for ancient honey hunting, locked inside pottery fragments from prehistoric West Africa, dating back some 3,500 years ago.'); document.write('
Age of hotly debated skull from early human Homo erectus determined, new specimens discovered
'); document.write('A new study verifies the age and origin of one of the oldest specimens of Homo erectus -- a very successful early human who roamed the world for nearly 2 million years. In doing so, the researchers also found two new specimens at the site -- likely the earliest pieces of the Homo erectus skeleton yet discovered.'); document.write('
Childbirth versus pelvic floor stability
'); document.write('Human childbirth is comparatively difficult because our babies\' heads are large relative to our birth canals. This tight \'fetopelvic\' fit increases the risk of obstructed labor, which in turn has potentially dire outcomes for both mother and child. It has long been thought that bipedalism prevents further widening of the human pelvis.'); document.write('
Prehistoric Pacific Coast diets had salmon limits
'); document.write('Humans cannot live on protein alone - even for the ancient indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest whose diet was once thought to be almost all salmon. Anthropologists argue such a protein-heavy diet would be unsustainable and document the many dietary solutions ancient Pacific Coast people in North America likely employed to avoid \'salmon starvation,\' a toxic and potentially fatal condition brought on by eating too much lean protein.'); document.write('
Rewriting evolutionary history and shape future health studies
'); document.write('The network of nerves connecting our eyes to our brains is sophisticated and researchers have now shown that it evolved much earlier than previously thought, thanks to an unexpected source: the gar fish.'); document.write('
Modern human brain originated in Africa around 1.7 million years ago
'); document.write('The human brain as we know it today is relatively young. It evolved about 1.7 million years ago when the culture of stone tools in Africa became increasingly complex. A short time later, the new Homo populations spread to Southeast Asia, researchers have now shown using computed tomography analyses of fossilized skulls.'); document.write('
Living fossils: Microbe discovered in evolutionary stasis for millions of years
'); document.write('Research has revealed that a group of microbes found deep underground in three continents have been at an evolutionary standstill for millions of years. The discovery could have significant implications for biotechnology applications and scientific understanding of microbial evolution.'); document.write('
Early dispersal of neolithic domesticated sheep into the heart of central Asia
'); document.write('Along the Tian Shan and Alay mountain ranges of Central Asia, sheep and other domestic livestock form the core economy of contemporary life. Although it was here that the movements of their ancient predecessors helped to shape the great trade networks of the Silk Road, domestic animals were thought to have come relatively late to the region. A new study reveals that the roots of animal domestication in Central Asia stretch back at least 8,000 years -- making the region one of the oldest continuously inhabited pastoral landscapes in the world. The findings push back the presence of domesticated animals in the region by some 3,000 years.'); document.write('
800-year-old medieval pottery fragments reveal Jewish dietary practices
'); document.write('Archaeologists have found the first evidence of a religious diet locked inside pottery fragments excavated from the early medieval Jewish community.'); document.write('
Genomes of the earliest Europeans
'); document.write('Ancient genomes shed new light on the earliest Europeans and their relationships with Neanderthals.'); document.write('
Fetus in bishop\'s coffin was probably his grandson
'); document.write('Bishop Peder Winstrup died in 1679, and is one of the most well-preserved human bodies from the 1600s. Researchers may now have solved the mystery of why a fetus was hidden in his coffin in Lund Cathedral. DNA from the bishop and the fetus, along with kinship analyses, has shown that the child was probably the bishop\'s own grandson.'); document.write('
Neanderthal ancestry identifies oldest modern human genome
'); document.write('The fossil skull of a woman in Czechia has provided the oldest modern human genome yet reconstructed, representing a population that formed before the ancestors of present-day Europeans and Asians split apart.'); document.write('