Cultures News

March 22, 2025

Top Headlines

Fragment of a Human Face Aged Over One Million Years Discovered

Mar. 12, 2025 — The discovery of a human facial fragment aged over one million years represents the oldest known face in western Europe and confirms the region was inhabited by two species of human during the early Pleistocene, finds a new ...

Genetic Study Reveals Hidden Chapter in Human Evolution

Mar. 18, 2025 — Modern humans descended from not one, but at least two ancestral populations that drifted apart and later reconnected, long before modern humans spread across the ...

The 'Frontiers' of Southeast Iberian Bronze Age Communities Identified

Mar. 17, 2025 — Researchers have identified the economic and political borders separating El Argar, considered to be the first state-society in the Iberian Peninsula, from its La Mancha and Valencia Bronze Age neighbors some 4,000 years ago. These communities, with ...

When Did Human Language Emerge?

Mar. 18, 2025 — Humans' unique language capacity was present at least 135,000 years ago, according to a survey of genomic evidence. As such, language might have entered social use 100,000 years ...

Latest Headlines

updated 7:21pm EDT

Prehistoric Bone Tool 'Factory' Hints at Early Development of Abstract Reasoning in Human Ancestors

Mar. 5, 2025 — The oldest collection of mass-produced prehistoric bone tools reveal that human ancestors were likely capable of more advanced abstract reasoning one ...

New Study Reveals Neanderthals Experienced Population Crash 110,000 Years Ago

Feb. 25, 2025 — A new study suggests that Neanderthals experienced a dramatic loss of genetic variation during the course of their evolution, foreshadowing their ...

Evidence of Cannibalism 18,000 Years Ago

Feb. 11, 2025 — An international research team has gained new insights into the burial rituals of Late Ice Age societies in Central Europe. Signs of human remains from the Maszycka Cave in southern Poland being ...

Ancient Artifacts Unearthed in Iraq Shed Light on Hidden History of Mesopotamia

Jan. 14, 2025 — Researchers made the new discoveries during field work at the Bronze Age site of Kurd Qaburstan. The research provides insights into regional ...

The Early Roots of Carnival? Research Reveals Evidence of Seasonal Celebrations in Pre-Colonial Brazil

Feb. 5, 2025 — An international team of scientists has tentatively found some of the earliest indications of alcoholic drink production in the Patos Lagoon region ...

Missing Link in Indo-European Languages' History Found

Feb. 5, 2025 — Where lies the origin of the Indo-European language family? Researchers contribute a new piece to this puzzle. They analyzed ancient DNA from 435 individuals from archaeological sites across Eurasia ...

Ancient DNA Analyses Bring to Life the 11,000-Year Intertwined Genomic History of Sheep and Humans

Jan. 30, 2025 — The rise of pastoralist peoples in the Eurasian steppes and their westward spread some 5,000 years ago may have been fueled by sheep herding and ...

New Evidence Pushes Back Arrival of Early Hominins in Europe

Jan. 24, 2025 — Research reveals new evidence of early hominin activity in Europe, suggesting that hominins were present on the continent far earlier than previously ...

East Asia Meets Europe in Lower Austria

Jan. 16, 2025 — Researchers carried out an archeogenetic study of human remains from more than 700 individuals from the Early Middle Ages. Two large burial sites, Modling and Leobersdorf, have been genetically ...

Volcanic Eruption Caused Neolithic People to Sacrifice Unique 'Sun Stones'

Jan. 16, 2025 — 4,900 years ago, a Neolithic people on the Danish island Bornholm sacrificed hundreds of stones engraved with sun and field motifs. Archaeologists and climate scientists can now show that these ...

Early Humans Adapted to Harsh Conditions More Than a Million Years Ago

Jan. 16, 2025 — A long-standing question about when archaic members of the genus Homo adapted to harsh environments such as deserts and rainforests has been answered in a new research ...

DNA Adds New Chapter to Indonesia's Layered Human History

Jan. 7, 2025 — A new study has outlined the first genomic evidence of early migration from New Guinea into the Wallacea, an archipelago containing Timor-Leste and hundreds of inhabited eastern Indonesian ...

Dinosaurs Roamed the Northern Hemisphere Millions of Years Earlier Than Previously Thought, According to New Analysis of the Oldest North American Fossils

Jan. 7, 2025 — A newly described dinosaur whose fossils were recently uncovered is challenging the existing narrative, with evidence that the reptiles were present in the northern hemisphere millions of years ...

Water and Gruel -- Not Bread: Discovering the Diet of Early Neolithic Farmers in Scandinavia

Dec. 20, 2024 — At a Neolithic settlement on the Danish island Funen dating back 5,500 years, archaeologists have discovered both grinding stones and grains from early cereals. However, new research reveals that the ...

A New Timeline for Neanderthal Interbreeding With Modern Humans

Dec. 12, 2024 — Neanderthal genes make up 1-2% of the genomes of non-Africans. Scientists analyzed the lengths of regions of Neanderthal DNA in 58 ancient Eurasian genomes of early modern humans and determined that ...

Oldest Modern Human Genomes Sequenced

Dec. 12, 2024 — Few genomes have been sequenced from early modern humans, who first arrived in Europe when the region was already inhabited by Neanderthals. An international team has now sequenced the oldest modern ...

Unique Insights Into Lives of People Who Lived Over 5,600 Years Ago Near Kosenivka, Ukraine

Dec. 11, 2024 — A new study sheds light on the lives of people who lived over 5,600 years ago near Kosenivka, Ukraine. Researchers present the first detailed bioarchaeological analyses of human diets from this area ...

Genetic Study of Native Hazelnut Challenges Misconceptions About How Ancient Indigenous Peoples Used the Land

Dec. 6, 2024 — By decoding the DNA of the beaked hazelnut (Corylus cornuta), a native plant that thrives in British Columbia, a team of multidisciplinary scientists is providing new insight into how ancestral ...

Chimpanzees Perform the Same Complex Behaviors That Have Brought Humans Success

Dec. 5, 2024 — A new study suggests that the fundamental abilities underlying human language and technological culture may have evolved before humans and apes diverged millions of years ...

Mammoth as Key Food Source for Ancient Americans

Dec. 4, 2024 — Scientists have uncovered the first direct evidence that ancient Americans relied primarily on mammoth and other large animals for food. Their research sheds new light on both the rapid expansion of ...

How Did Humans and Dogs Become Friends? Connections in the Americas Began 12,000 Years Ago

Dec. 4, 2024 — A new study sheds light on how long humans in the Americas have had relationships with the ancestors of today's dogs -- and asks an 'existential question': What is a ...

Earliest Evidence of Humans Using Fire to Shape the Landscape of Tasmania

Nov. 16, 2024 — Some of the first human beings to arrive in Tasmania, over 41,000 years ago, used fire to shape and manage the landscape, about 2,000 years earlier than previously ...

Genetic Legacy of Jomon Hunter-Gatherers Linked to Increased BMI in Modern Japanese, Study Finds

Nov. 14, 2024 — New research exploring the roots of modern Japanese populations has linked the genetic signature of Jomon hunter-gatherers to a higher body mass index (BMI) among individuals, underlining that ...

New Insights Into the Denisovans: New Hominin Group That Interbred With Modern Day Humans

Nov. 8, 2024 — Scientists believe individuals of the most recently discovered 'hominin' group (the Denisovans) that interbred with modern day humans passed on some of their genes via multiple, distinct ...

DNA Evidence Rewrites Story of People Buried in Pompeii Eruption

Nov. 7, 2024 — Researchers have used ancient DNA to challenge long-held interpretations of the people of Pompeii. Contrary to physical appearances, the DNA evidence revealed unexpected variations in gender and ...

Indigenous Cultural Burning Has Protected Australia's Landscape for Millennia, Study Finds

Nov. 1, 2024 — Ancient cultural burning practices carried out by Indigenous Australians limited fuel availability and prevented high intensity fires in southeastern Australia for thousands of years, according to ...

Into the Great Wide Open: How Steppe Pastoralist Groups Formed and Transformed Over Time

Oct. 30, 2024 — With the 'time-traveling ability' of archaeogenetic studies it has become possible to shed light onto the dynamic past of human populations world-wide. Integrated with archaeological and ...

The 'Urban Revolution' Was Slow in Bronze Age Arabia

Oct. 30, 2024 — Settlements in northern Arabia were in a transitional stage of urbanization during the third to second millennium BCE, according to a new ...

Rare Fossils of Extinct Elephant Document the Earliest Known Instance of Butchery in India

Oct. 21, 2024 — Scientists have discovered the earliest evidence of animal butchery by humans in ...

Underwater Caves Yield New Clues About Sicily's First Residents

Oct. 9, 2024 — Archaeological surveys suggest that coastal and underwater cave sites in southern Sicily contain important new clues about the path and fate of early human migrants to the ...