First pre-human art found
Scientists looking over a museum collection stumbled across the first ever piece of art made by a pre-human species.
When did throwing evolve?
Throwing stuff is kind of a big deal; whether it’s spears at prey or balls at the other team. How far back can this key human behaviour be traced?
Human ancestors caught Herpes off chimps 1.6 million years ago
Humans have one more version of the Herpes virus than any other primate. New research reveals this is because one of our ancestors caught the chimp version of the disease 1.6 million years ago.
Dmanisi contains two human species after all?
A skull discovered last year at Dmanisi seemed to show that there were less species in the human family than we once thought. However, a new analysis of its jaw suggests that there may actually have been two species at the site after all.
Creationist claims Dmanisi fossil is a fraud
Brian Thomas, of the ICR, argues that the Dmanisi fossils are apes. In fact they are so obviously apes that to claim they’re human – as scientists are doing – borders on fraud
New fossil trims our family tree
A new skull from Dmanisi shows single species of human were actually more variable than we thought, forcing us to rethink how many different species there were.
The earliest art predated humans
Just what is the earliest example of art produced by our family? Cave art, shell beads, figurines; or perhaps something much more ancient.
How smart were our fire-taming ancestors?
The discovery of fire was a key moment in the human prehistory. With fire our ancestors would’ve been able to cook food, making digestion more efficient. The benefits of this are so great that we’ve now become dependent on cooking food and people who’ve attempted to live of raw food alone have suffered from chronic…
Caring Homo erectus
Empathy is an important human emotion, forming the foundation of the social emotions which underpin our communities. Our desire to care for one another – often at great personal cost – has allowed us to develop the society we know today. The importance of empathy has not been missed by academics, who have for centuries…
When did our ancestors become dependent on meat?
For around 30 million years the great apes have been living in the rainforest, during which time they have been adapting and evolving to that environment. However, ~14 – 10 million years ago the African environment began to change. It got drier, there was less rainfall and what rain did occur became more seasonal. All…
