History
Today the shoreline of Lake Malawi is open, not forested the way it was before ancient humans started modifying the landscape. Jessica Thompson, CC BY-ND Jessica Thompson, Yale University; David K. Wright, University of Oslo, and Sarah Ivory, Penn State Fields of...
History
Handaxes, as seen in the top row, were common to this period; the tools seen in the bottom row appear to be unique to this site. Rosalia Gallotti Rosalia Gallotti, Université Paul Valéry – Montpellier III More than 1.5 million years ago, a new era dawned for our human...
History
Modern Papuans have descended from beachcombers. cifor, CC BY Daniel Zadik, University of Leicester It is well established that modern humans originated in Africa, before moving out to inhabit rest of the planet. They first spread into Asia and Europe via the Arabian...
History
Footprints at the second, more recently recorded site in Laetoli. Marco Cherin Elgidius Ichumbaki, University of Dar es Salaam and Marco Cherin, Università degli Studi di Perugia In 1976 paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey and other scientists reported that they’d found...
History
Three upright walkers, including Lucy (center) and two specimens of Australopithecus sediba, a human ancestor from South Africa dating back nearly 2 million years. Image compiled by Peter Schmid and courtesy of Lee R. Berger/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA Jan Simek,...
History
Drilling 139 meters down to volcanic rock provided scientists with a million-year environmental record. Human Origins Program, Smithsonian Richard Potts, Smithsonian Institution People thrive all across the globe, at every temperature, altitude and landscape. How did...