The portrait painted by John Cooke in 1915. Back row: (left to right) F. O. Barlow, G. Elliot Smith, Charles Dawson, Arthur Smith Woodward.
John Cooke/wikimedia
Fossils claiming to be the missing link between ape and humans were manipulated in such a way that Charles Dawson, who discovered them, was most likely the forger.
This clay facial reconstruction of Kennewick Man, carefully sculpted around the morphological features of his skull, suggests how he may have looked alive nearly 9,000 years ago.
Brittney Tatchell, Smithsonian Institution
A 9,000-year-old skeleton became a high-profile and highly contested case for the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. How do we respectfully deal with ancient human remains?
The polished surface was a sure sign this was no natural fragment.
Australian Archaeology
For the first couple of centuries of European occupation of Australia the history of its Indigenous people, as written by white fellas, drew heavily on adjectives like ‘primitive’. As both a white fella…
On the hunt for other cultures.
Shutterstock/Gorosi
Ask any anthropologist what they do and they will find it hard to give you a direct answer. But it ultimately comes down to studying people and their culture.
Not our natural habitat. Risk and money go hand in hand.
EPA/STR
Archaeological remains, traditional tribes and conflict among chimpanzees can tell us much about the history of human warfare.
Illustration of ritualised human sacrifice in traditional Hawaiian culture, as documented by the French explorer and artists Jaques Arago in 1819.
Arago, Jacques. (1822). Promenade autour du monde: pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820, sur les corvettes du roi l’Uranie et la Physicienne, commandées par M. Freycinet
A scientist explains how a liberal arts education made ‘subtle yet significant contributions’ to his understanding of what science is, how it’s done, and how advancements are made.
With moralistic gods watching, it’s easier to be fair and cooperative.
Olivier
For human groups to grow from small, intimate communities to the huge interconnected societies we know now, people needed to be willing to cooperate with strangers. Religion might have played a big role.
A particularly fruitful moment for technological innovation?
Viktor M Vasnetsov
Not all technologies are created equal. Researchers devised a new model to explain why, after eons of nothing much new, we sometimes see an explosion of innovation in the archaeological record.
Turns out the movement of women after marriage can help explain why humans cooperate beyond the household.
Du Juan
Rolf Quam, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Beyond the cool factor of figuring out hominin hearing capacities two million years ago, these findings could help answer the tantalizing question of when did human vocalized language first emerge.
Prehistoric grandmothers helping out with the kids may have led to a surplus of older men competing for a comparatively small number of young, fertile women. Could this have created long-term couples?
Many hands make light reindeer herding.
Matthew Gwynfryn Thomas
Human cooperation is the cornerstone of any society. We looked at teamwork in an indigenous minority group in Scandinavia, whose lifestyle is under threat.
Getting hitched, or stitched up?
Ray Burmiston/Channel 4