DNA analysis sheds light on important societies within Africa that existed before colonialism.
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Articles on Human history
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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.
The findings suggest we weren’t the first advanced carnivore among the hominins, as has been previously assumed.
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.
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.
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.
In a new study, archaeologists have re-discovered the role boomerangs played in retouching stone tools.
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.
Our findings reveal the slowing down of brain development in our ape-like ancestors began more than three million years ago.
Understanding our evolution can tell us a lot about the health challenges we face today.
Archaeologists have uncovered a 2,000-year-old amber bead scam. But humans have been making fake jewels and icons for much longer than that.
Rainforests may have played far more of a role in shaping human evolution than previously thought.
When did Australia’s human history begin?
The Conversation, CC BY16.6 MB (download)
Today's episode of Essays On Air, the audio version of our Friday essay series, seeks to move beyond the view of ancient Australia as a timeless and traditional foundation story.
From the tropics of Borneo, Darren Curnoe posted a daily diary sharing his team’s dig to explore ancient cemeteries. Through two metres of clay, human bones and tools were discovered.
Archaeology is not only about stones and bones: it is mainly about the people of the past. DNA is one way to get from the stones and the bones to the people and their stories.
Evolutionary biologists ask very similar questions about species to those asked by linguists about languages.
Evidence of Homo naledi’s age suggests we need to rethink our understanding of human history and evolution.
The environment minister recently told a conference that agriculture is as old as ‘mankind’. She’s out by a few million years.
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.
Top contributors
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Honorary Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney
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Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH), University of Wollongong
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Associate Professor of Archaeology, Griffith University
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Lecturer, Deakin University
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Professor in Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University
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Associate Professor, Southern Cross University
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ARC Laureate Fellow, Monash University, Director of Global Encounters Program., Monash University
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Principal Research Associate, UCL
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Professor, Griffith University
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Professor, Griffith University
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Senior Research Associate in Translational Genomics, University of Oxford
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Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Newcastle
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Paleoanthropologist, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Independent Group Leader, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology
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Professor in the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution & Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University
