Archaeology

Scientists unearth the mystery of Easter Island’s Moai statues

Rapanui people likely believed the ancient monoliths helped food grow on the Polynesian island, study reveals. Rapa Nui (or Easter Island, as it is commonly...

Did modern humans cause Neanderthal extinction?

Neanderthal extinction could have occurred without environmental pressure or competition with modern humans, new study suggests. Small populations, inbreeding, and random demographic fluctuations could have...

Scientists decode 3,000-year-old Egyptian wheat genome for first time

The genome of an ancient Egyptian wheat has been sequenced for the first time by a UCL-led team, revealing historical patterns of crop movement...

Early humans moved through the Mediterranean much earlier than believed

An international research team led by scientists from McMaster University has unearthed new evidence in Greece proving that the island of Naxos was inhabited...

Scientists detect Golden Ratio in human skulls

The Golden Ratio, described by Leonardo da Vinci and Luca Pacioli as the Divine Proportion, is an infinite number often found in nature, art...

What ancient Denisovans may have looked like

If you could travel back in time 100,000 years, you'd find yourself living among multiple groups of humans, including anatomically modern humans, Neanderthals, and...

Rare 10 million-year-old fossil unearths new view of human evolution

Human ancestors might not have been built like modern African apes, a new study suggests. Near an old mining town in Central Europe, known for...

Scientists discover the sixth major mass extinction

Scientists have concluded that earth experienced a previously underestimated severe mass-extinction event, which occurred about 260 million years ago. This raises the total of major...

3.8-million-year-old fossil cranium unveils more about human ancestry

In 2016, researchers in the Afar region of Ethiopia discovered a nearly complete cranium of an early human ancestor, Australopithecus anamensis, that dates to...

New study pinpoints when humans began to dominate the Earth

Archaeologists have identified with unprecedented precision the turning point when humans began to transform the Earth beyond recognition, tracing it to around 3,000 years...