Neanderthal News

The Oldest Known Burial Site in The World Wasn't Created by Our Species

The Oldest Known Burial Site in The World Wasn't Created by Our Species Paleontologists in South Africa said they have found the oldest known burial site in the world, containing remains of a small-brained distant relative of humans previously thought incapable of complex behavior.

The politics of the prehistoric past Our understanding of the earliest humans is shaped by contemporary beliefs about race, violence and s*x.

052 : cumulative

0524--cumulative The advent of “cumulative culture”—teaching others and passing down that knowledge—may have reached an inflection point around the time Neandertals and modern humans split from a common ancestor

Origins of cumulative culture in human evolution—researchers identify contributions to today's culture and technology Each of us individually is the accumulated product of thousands of generations that have come before us in an unbroken line. Our culture and technology today are also the result of thousands of years of accumulated and remixed cultural knowledge.

50,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Bones Have Remains of Human Viruses, Scientists Find

50,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Bones Have Remains of Human Viruses, Scientists Find The preliminary analysis is a first step in testing the theory that infectious diseases played a role in Neanderthals' extinction

Smallest known great ape, which lived 11m years ago, found in Germany

Smallest known great ape, which lived 11m years ago, found in Germany Buronius manfredschmidi estimated to have weighed just 10kg and was about the size of a human toddler

Neanderthals and humans interbred 47,000 years ago for nearly 7,000 years, research suggests

Neanderthals and humans interbred 47,000 years ago for nearly 7,000 years, research suggests DNA from prehistoric and modern-day people suggests that humans interbred with Neanderthals 47,000 years ago for a period lasting 6,800 years.

From Fragments to Genome: Technological Breakthroughs in the Sequencing of Ancient DNA

From Fragments to Genome: Technological Breakthroughs in the Sequencing of Ancient DNA How magnetic bead technology has facilitated the dawn of paleogenomics, unlocking secrets from ancient DNA fragments

How an Ancient Human Species Formed Family Ties Footprints made 80,000 years ago and ancient DNA are among the clues that hint at Neanderthals’ social and community lives.

Scientists have discovered a 50,000-year-old herpes virus – and perhaps how modern humans came to rule the world

Scientists have discovered a 50,000-year-old herpes virus – and perhaps how modern humans came to rule the world | Jonathan Kennedy Revolutionary ancient DNA evidence indicates that Homo sapiens finished off Neanderthals through deadly infectious diseases, says academic Jonathan Kennedy

How Neanderthal language differed from modern human—they probably didn't use metaphors

How Neanderthal language differed from modern human—they probably didn't use metaphors The Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) fascinate researchers and the general public alike. They remain central to debates about the nature of the genus Homo (the broad biological classification that humans and their relatives fall into). Neanderthals are also vital for understanding the uniqueness...

Neanderthals and modern humans made babies 47,000 years ago Most people alive today carry traces of genes inherited from Neanderthals—the enduring legacy of prehistoric hookups with our extinct cousins. But researchers have long debated when and where that …

The reconstruction of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman’s face makes her look quite friendly – there’s a problem with that Scientists can’t yet tell how soft tissue overlayed bones, so this reconstruction is inevitably based on artistic licence.

Enrichment of a subset of Neanderthal polymorphisms in autistic probands and siblings Homo sapiens and Neanderthals underwent hybridization during the Middle/Upper Paleolithic age, culminating in retention of small amounts of Neanderthal-derived DNA in the modern human genome. In the …

We Now Know Exactly When Humans And Neanderthals Hooked Up

We Now Know Exactly When Humans And Neanderthals Hooked Up The oldest love story in history is written into our genes.

How Neanderthal language differed from modern human – they probably didn’t use metaphors

How Neanderthal language differed from modern human – they probably didn’t use metaphors The two human species had many similarities but their communication would have been different.

Could Neanderthals talk? While still the topic of ongoing debate, some scientists think Neanderthals could talk and may have had language.

Ancient Viruses: Neanderthal Bones Reveal Secrets of Human Pathogens Genetic Analysis Unearths Prehistoric Viruses Related to Modern Human Pathogens

Scientists may have finally figured out what killed off the Neanderthals Our poor ancestral cousins, the Neanderthals, were doomed to extinction. And yet, almost two centuries since their remains were first discovered, experts continue to puzzle over what caused their ultimate demise.Now, experts studying the role diseases may have played in their destruction, have ended...

Neanderthal Art: The 130,000-Year-Old Bear Bone Enigma Exploring the Origins of Symbolic Culture in Neanderthals

Why did hominins like us evolve at all?

Why did hominins like us evolve at all? Animal life on Earth existed for over half a billion years before hominins hit the scene – a complex combination of environmental changes, innovations in technology and competition may have led to us

Oldest known human viruses found hidden within Neanderthal bones

Oldest known human viruses found hidden within Neanderthal bones

The reconstruction of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman makes her look quite friendly—there's a problem with that

The reconstruction of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman makes her look quite friendly—there's a problem with that From a flaky skull, found "as flat as a pizza" on a cave floor in northern Iraq, the face of a 75,000-year-old Neanderthal woman named "Shanidar Z" has been reconstructed. With her calm and considered expression, Shanidar Z looks like a thoughtful, approachable, even kindly middle-aged woman. She is...

Was the Stone Age Actually the Wood Age?

Was the Stone Age Actually the Wood Age? Neanderthals were even better craftsmen than thought, a new analysis of 300,000-year-old wooden tools has revealed.

Recreating the face of a 75,000-year-old female from a cave where Neanderthals buried their dead

Recreating the face of a 75,000-year-old female from a cave where Neanderthals buried their dead A new Netflix documentary has recreated the face of a 75,000-year-old female Neanderthal whose flattened skull was discovered and rebuilt from hundreds of bone fragments by a team of archaeologists and conservators led by the University of Cambridge.

Face of Neanderthal woman buried in Iraqi cave 75,000 years ago revealed

Face of Neanderthal woman buried in Iraqi cave 75,000 years ago revealed ‘Shanidar Z’ found in cave where Neanderthals repeatedly returned to bury their dead

Best-Preserved Neanderthal Skeleton In Over 25 Years Found In “Flower Funeral” Cave

Best-Preserved Neanderthal Skeleton In Over 25 Years Found In “Flower Funeral” Cave The prehistoric woman looked surprisingly similar to a modern human.

Astonishing images show how female Neanderthal may have looked

Astonishing images show how female Neanderthal may have looked The skull of Shanidar Z was found in the Shanidar cave in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and has been painstakingly put back together

Out of Africa: Not just once, but many times

Out of Africa: Not just once, but many times A new analysis of an ancient hominin fossil sheds light on the "Out of Africa" dispersal events that occurred more than one million years ago.