February 13, 2019
Hard-knock hominid skeletons tell harsh tales
The Pleistocene was a hard time for hominids. Homo fossils from this period, when humans evolved and expanded from Africa and across Eurasia, are …
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Hominin
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28 articles · Page 1 of 2
February 13, 2019
Down to Earth With: Paleoanthropologist and underground astronaut Lindsay Hunter
In 2013, Lindsay Hunter found herself at a personal and professional crossroads. She had gone through a divorce, left the paleoanthropology …
April 6, 2017
Lucy liked hanging out in trees
Lucy, the 3.2-million-year-old human ancestor discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, is one of the most complete early hominin skeletons ever found. …
March 29, 2017
Dental plaque reveals later start date for hominin cooking
Ancient teeth have long been a source of information about ancient diets, mainly through analyses of isotopic compositions and wear patterns. In …
December 27, 2016
Benchmarks: January 31, 1961: Ham the chimpanzee, first hominid in space
Early on the morning of Jan. 31, 1961, a chimpanzee named Ham, outfitted in a diaper, waterproof pants and a space suit, was sealed into a …
August 17, 2016
Hominid vs. hominin
Before genetics came along and revealed just how closely modern humans and chimpanzees are related, humans were classified in their own family, …
August 16, 2016
Redefining Homo: Does our family tree need more branches?
As the sole surviving species of the genus Homo, we Homo sapiens are one of the most taxonomically lonely species living on Earth today. But dig …
June 8, 2016
New fossils illuminate 'hobbit' evolutionary history
Scientists first discovered fossils of Homo floresiensis — a species of extinct 1-meter-tall hominins nicknamed “hobbits” — in Liang Bua cave on …
May 19, 2016
Ancient Indonesian tools made by mysterious inhabitants
The island of Sulawesi is one link in a chain of islands between mainland Asia and Australia, and was likely an important stepping stone in human …
April 18, 2016
China's Red Deer Cave people may have survived until the last ice age
In the 1980s, a collection of bones from very small hominids was excavated from a cave in southwestern China, alongside a number of bones from a …
January 8, 2016
Rising Star cave hominid walked its own way
After dozens of human-like fossils were discovered in a cave in South Africa last summer, they were declared distinct enough to be classified as …
June 19, 2014
Spanish cave reveals possible new Neanderthal ancestor
A trove of thousands of hominin fossils unearthed from a prolific cave in northern Spain is proving a boon for paleoanthropologists studying …
October 17, 2013
Hominin skull discovery fuels debate about early human evolution
Hailed as a find for the ages, a rare skull of a 1.8-million-year-old human relative could provide answers to longstanding questions about the …
March 29, 2012
Tree-climbing hominin with opposable toes co-existed with Lucy
When Lucy and other Australopithecines were walking around Ethiopia 3.4 million years ago, they may have encountered another hominin species that …
January 20, 2012
Voices: Redefining humanity through energy use
What is it, exactly, that distinguishes us from other species? The definition of humankind has perplexed scientists, philosophers and theorists …
January 5, 2012
Third hominin coexisted with modern humans and Neanderthals
Modern humans and Neanderthals lived side by side on the Eurasian landscape for tens of thousands of years — but it turns out they weren’t alone, …
January 5, 2012
The vital statistics
Ardipithecus ramidus was a hominid that lived in Ethiopia’s Afar region 4.4 million years ago. After spending more than a decade studying the …
January 5, 2012
Questions arise over earliest evidence of human tool use
The debate over when our ancestors first used stone tools is not over just yet. In August, researchers had reported finding scratch marks on two …
January 5, 2012
Paleo Patrol: Was mankind's first leap in a forest or savanna?
Last October, scientists formally introduced the world to Ardi the Ardipithecus, the well-preserved skeleton of a 4.4-million-year-old hominin …
January 5, 2012
Paleo Patrol: Out of Africa and into Arabia?
How and when did modern humans leave Africa and colonize the rest of the world? Many archaeologists would probably tell you that about 60,000 …
January 5, 2012
Paleo Patrol: Neanderthal genome offers clues on what makes us human
Did “Clan of the Cave Bear” get it right after all? Probably not, but at least one aspect of the ice age saga is true: Modern humans interbred …
January 5, 2012
Paleo Patrol: A hominin family reunion at the Smithsonian
Last month, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., unveiled its new (permanent) human evolution exhibit: the …
January 5, 2012
Move over Homo habilis: Early human evolution remapped
Mapping out how one species of early hominin branches to another has always been complicated by the rarity of complete specimens and lack of …
January 5, 2012
It's all in the wrist: Humans lack a knuckle-walking ancestor
Though counterintuitive, scientists have turned their attention away from the feet and to the wrist and forearm to better understand how humans …