The reconstructed skeleton of Lucy, found in Hadar, Ethiopia, in 1974, and Grace Latimer, then age 4, daughter of a research team member.
James St. John/Flickr
At the heart of the Maya civilisation were sacred sites where ritual sacrifices took place. A new DNA analysis reveals more about this practice and Maya genetic legacy.
An archaeologist takes bog samples in Germany for analysis of past civilizations and what they cultivated.
Stefan Puchner/picture alliance via Getty Images
New research reveals signs of ancient human habitation in a vast cave beneath the Arabian desert. It may have been used as a waystation by Stone Age herders travelling from one oasis to another.
After sifting through DNA from almost 10,000 people from ancient and pre-modern societies, we have discovered six cases of Down syndrome in past human populations.
Our new study reveals a mosaic of habitable landscapes – now submerged by the ocean – once supported up to 500,000 people living in Australia’s northwest.
A general view of Wadi Gharandal riverine wetland, along the Jordan Rift Valley, showing palm trees concentrated at the centre of the wadi near the active spring.
Mahmoud Abbas
In the largest study of its kind, researchers have used DNA from a 6,700-year-old cemetery in France to reconstruct the lives of everyday Neolithic people.
Getting high to get spiritual insight isn’t a new pursuit.
bestdesigns/iStock via Getty Images
A scholar of religion who is writing a book on sacred drugs explains how today’s ‘psychedelic renaissance’ reflects a millennia-long history of using intoxicants to seek insight and connection.
Stone obelisks stand tall in Aksum, Ethiopia. This city was once the capital of a kingdom spanning northeast Africa and the Arabian peninsula.
Shutterstock / Artist
45,000 years ago, people first started arriving in what’s known as Europe today. We thought a worsening ice age made them disappear – but it seems some lineages survived.
A new analysis of deep soil sediments accumulated in the mangroves of Pohnpei and Kosrae islands reveals a potentially different history of human arrival in this oceanic region.
Population growth fuels knowledge, leading to new technology and energy use, fueling more population growth.
Robert Essel/The Image Bank via Getty Images
The UN estimates the global population will pass 8 billion people on Nov. 15, 2022. From the Stone Age to today, here’s how things spiraled out of control.
A Neanderthal father and his daughter.
Tom Björklund
Ancient DNA from Neanderthal fossils in southern Siberia reveals a small community with close family ties – including a father and his teenage daughter.
An astonishing discovery from the oldest known grave in Southeast Asia has revised medical history – the previous known amputation surgery was just 7,000 years ago.
Stone-walled structures such as Driefontein often store information that’s not written down and are the only remaining resources to help understand local histories.
The original Dikika child skull (left), a 3D model produced with synchrotron scanning (middle), and a model corrected for distortion during fossilisation (right).
Gunz et al. (2020) / Science Advances.