In 1960, a villager found something terrifyingly creepy in Greece’s Petralona cave—a humanoid cranium with a protrusion on its forehead, fused to the cave wall. Since then, researchers have been trying to date the strange specimen and understand how it got there, but these efforts so far have yielded only a frustratingly broad age range […]
Newly Discovered Fossils Reveal Unknown Humanlike Relative
Researchers have uncovered fossils belonging to a previously unknown ancient human relative. And they may have lived in the same time and place as the earliest-known members of the genus Homo, from which modern humans evolved, according to a new study. A team of archeologists working at Ethiopia’s Ledi-Geraru research project area unearthed a set […]
Neanderthals and Early Humans Hung Out Way More Than We Thought, Study Finds
A team’s investigation of ancient human burials in Israel’s Tinshemet Cave has revealed evidence that Homo sapiens and our nearest cousins, the Neanderthals, intermingled in ancient times, sharing moments of daily life and various customs. The team’s research—published today in Nature Human Behavior—investigated stone tools, hunting strategies, and social aspects of the two human groups, and […]
Age of Famous Neanderthal Hybrid Child Pinpointed With Breakthrough Method
The famous skeleton of a child with human and Neanderthal features has now been precisely dated, thanks to a new radiocarbon dating technique that provides a more accurate timeline of the child’s life. The Lapedo Child—so-named for the valley in Portugal in which it was found—was discovered in 1998, when students chanced upon the rock […]