Analysis of elephant bones shines light on Neanderthal diets
The assemblage of more than 3,000 elephant bones was discovered in 125,000-year-old lake deposits at the site of Neumark-Nord, in central Germany.
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First direct evidence of elephant hunting shines light on Neanderthal subsistence strategies
Analysis of more than 3,000 remains of the now-extinct elephant species has revealed the first ‘clear-cut’ evidence of elephant hunting in human evolution.
World news in brief: hominin footprints and hunter-gatherer cooking practices
A round-up of some of the latest archaeological news from across the globe, including: Etruscan bronze statues found in Italy; a hominin footprint found in Spain; and a study of hunter-gatherer cooking practices.
World news in brief: Palaeolithic cooking practices, an Etrsucan temple, and re-examining Ötzi
A glance at some of the latest exciting archaeological stories from across the globe.
Oldest charred food remains shine light on Palaeolithic cooking techniques
Research suggests that, for Neanderthals and early modern humans, flavour was an important consideration during food preparation.
DNA, diets, and dealing with the weather
Svante Pääbo is the second member of his family to be elected a Nobel laureate: his father, Sune Bergström (1916-2004) shared the same Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1982. Is there a gene, one wonders, for Nobel-Prize-winning science?
Nobel Prize awarded to Svante Pääbo
The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Svante Pääbo for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution.
Ice Age mammoth bones and Neanderthal tools found in Swindon
The find has been dubbed the ‘biggest mammoth discovery for a generation’
Molecular analysis identifies earliest known Denisovan fossils
Discovered at Denisova Cave in Siberia, the bones have been dated to 200,000 years ago
Face to face with the Netherlands’ first Neanderthal
The young Neanderthal man, known as ‘Krijin’, lived between 50,000 and 70,000 years ago in Doggerland, the prehistoric landscape that lies subsumed in the North Sea.
New theory emerges about how humans learned to count
The Les Pradelles hyena bone is ‘potentially the earliest known example of this type of mark-making’, and suggests Neanderthals possessed the cognitive abilities for numeracy.
News in brief: Neanderthals and Waterloo
A quick round-up of news stories from around the globe, including a study of how Neanderthals spoke, an analysis of a chesnut tree from the Battle of Waterloo, and the discovery of stone artefacts in South America dating to c. 24,000 years ago.
Reassessing Neanderthal teeth in Jersey
Recent analysis of 12 teeth, first excavated at the Palaeolithic site of La Cotte de St Brelade in Jersey between 1910 and 1911, may provide new evidence of cross-breeding between Neanderthals and
Neanderthal neighbours: tracing evidence for our closest hominin relatives in Britain
Neanderthals have long been stereotyped as our less-capable cousins, but advances in archaeological research have given fascinating new insights into the lives of our closest hominin relatives and the world they inhabited, as Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes explains.
The disappearing Neanderthal Y chromosome
Over the last decade, developments in genetic sequencing, as well as in the successful extraction of DNA from increasingly older and even contaminated remains, have allowed our knowledge of ancient hominins to