Homo sapiens

Early humans in South Africa used dedicated quarries for stone as long as 220,000 years ago - study

Based on this, researchers suggest that early homo sapiens planned for the long-term acquisition of resources earlier than previously thought.

Dozens of large and small stone flakes and production waste found at the  Jojosi excavation site in eastern South Africa, April 11, 2026.
The mandible of an archaic human who lived about 773 000 years ago is pictured after being excavated at a cave called Grotte a Hominides at a site known as Thomas Quarry I in the southwest part of the Moroccan city of Casablanca in this undated photograph released on January 7, 2026.

Fossils found in Moroccan cave may be a close Homo sapiens ancestor

Homo sapiens. Illustration.

Ancient lead exposure may have given Homo sapiens a genetic shield

Chinese one-million-year-old Yunxian 2 skull challenges Homo sapiens timeline.

Chinese one-million-year-old Yunxian 2 skull challenges Homo sapiens timeline


People with tails? No, because of this ancient genetic mutation

It is an interesting thought experiment to ponder whether humans could have evolved with tails. The Na'vi people of "Avatar," alas, are science fiction.

 A southern right whale performs a tail slap just off the shore of Puerto Piramides, Argentina, June 26, 2007.

Beyond treatment: Reframing health in our ill-health systems

To examine what that means, we must begin by examining who and what we are in an evolutionary way.

 A man receives a COVID-19 vaccination at a health clinic in Jerusalem

Step this way: When did humans learn how to walk upright? - study

Through digitally recreating the muscles of an early human ancestor, research has shed new light on how humans evolved to walk upright.

 Illustrative depiction of the Australopithecus Afarensis

86,000-year-old human bone shows failed expansions out of Africa - study

The new evidence shows that humans attempted to expand several times before the last successful expansion.

 Reconstruction of what early human ancestor Homo Heidelbergensis may have looked like.

Newly discovered early Homo Sapien footprint sheds light on evolution

Footprints dating back to 153,000 years ago in South Africa are now the oldest Homo Sapien footprints to be discovered.

Slightly larger brains than modern humans, and stronger, but extinct. An illustration of the Neanderthal man.

New archeological evidence suggests Homo sapiens settled Europe in waves - study

How did humans arrive and settle in Europe, and how did they interact with the Neanderthals who were already there?

 An artifact from the Mandrin cave in France.

This pendant is 20,000 years old. Ancient DNA shows who wore it

It became the first prehistoric artifact linked by genetic sleuthing to a specific person. It is unknown whether the woman made or merely wore it.

 Scientist Elena Essel of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology works in the institute’s clean laboratory in Leipzig, Germany on the pierced elk tooth discovered in the Denisova Cave in southern Siberia in this undated handout picture. Scientists have recovered the DNA of a woman.

How did Europe's first farmers survive disease? New study uncovers answers

Early Neolithic groups from Anatolia spread and settled across Europe in the period from 10,000 to 5,000 years ago and became the first farmers.

 An illustrative depiction of early neolithic farming

New study discovers eight new prehistoric human groups

It unveils important changes in the genetic makeup of some regions following major climate changes,” - Ludovic Orlando, a molecular archaeologist.

 Neanderthal communities in prehistoric Europe. How were they linked? (Illustrative)

UK Boxgrove fossils highlight complexities of human evolution in new study

A comparison between the UK's Boxgrove fossils and the Sima de Los Huesos in Spain has led to new understandings of the links between some of Europe's earliest humans.

 Four human species are represented here (H. erectus, H. heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis, H. sapiens).