Are we still primitive? How ancient survival instincts shape modern power struggles
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Cover Stories
How We Distribute Power Will Influence Our Future
As we head into a future shaped by climate change, we must find ways to stabilize societies and reduce conflict. Solutions may lie in the archaeological record.
A Hunter’s Hypothesis: Ancient Mammoth-Bone Circles Were Smokehouses
A modern day hunter may shed light on the ancient mammoth-bone circles of Russia, Ukraine and Moldavia with a new hypothesis.
The Archaeological Wonders of Madhya Pradesh
In the Madhya Pradesh state of India, archaeologists and preservationists are uncovering and restoring a remarkable prehistoric, historic, and cultural heritage for the world to see.
Evidence of cannibalism 18,000 years ago
Researchers analyze traces of manipulation of human remains from Maszycka Cave.
The Taung Child, Revisited
Celebrating a centenary: the prehistoric skull of a child that caused a revolution in how we think about human evolution.
Missing link in Indo-European languages’ history found
New insights into our linguistic roots via ancient DNA analysis.
Ancient engravings shed light on early human symbolic thought and complexity in the levantine middle palaeolithic
Lead contamination in ancient Greece points to societal change
Heidelberg geoscientists find the oldest evidence of human-caused contamination with the heavy metal lead in the Aegean region.
Ancient DNA analyses bring to life the 11,000-year intertwined genomic history of sheep and humans
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Other Stories
Research reveals ancient Maya lessons on surviving drought
Huge variety of plant foods made their starvation unlikely.
Nits on ancient mummies shed light on South American ancestry
New technique means head lice can provide clues about ancient people and migration.
Scientists digitally ‘unwrap’ mummy of pharaoh Amenhotep I for the first time in 3,000 years
Study shows that 21st dynasty restorers ‘lovingly restored’ mummy, dispelling theory that they were bent on reusing old royal burial equipment.
New dates for Viking trade
Solar flare throws light on ancient trade between the Islamic Middle East and the Viking Age.
Humans Reached Remote North Atlantic Islands Centuries Earlier Than Thought
Faroes Settled Well Before Vikings Arrived, Lake Sediments Show.
Mystery solved: Footprints from site A at Laetoli, Tanzania, are from early humans, not bears
Findings provide conclusive evidence that multiple species of hominins co-existed on the landscape.
Volcanic eruptions contributed to collapse of China dynasties
Eruptions create sulfuric acid clouds in the upper atmosphere and can cool the climate.
A Child of darkness
The first partial skull of a child of Homo naledi begins to give us insight into all stages of life of this remarkable species.
More than ceremonial, ancient Chaco Canyon was home, new study says
Early puebloans impacted the ecosystem around Chaco Canyon earlier than previously believed.
