Anthropology

In recent years, DNA evidence has added important new tools for scientists studying the human past, and a collection of reviews published in a recent issue of Current Biology offers a timely update on how new genetic evidence, together with archaeological and linguistic evidence, has enriched our understanding of human history. The journey started around 60 to 70 thousand years ago in Africa, where modern humans evolved more than 150 thousand years ago, and where human diversity is still the highest among all continents in terms of genetic variation and languages. From there, humans settled…

An analysis of the skeletal remains found in Carthaginian burial urns could finally lay to rest the millennia-old conjecture that the ancient empire of Carthage regularly sacrificed its youngest citizens. An examination of the remains of Carthaginian children revealed that most infants perished prenatally or very shortly after birth and were unlikely to have lived long enough to be sacrificed. The findings, published this week in PLoS ONE, refute claims from as early as the 3rd century BCE of systematic infant sacrifice at Carthage that remain a subject of debate among biblical scholars and…

About a third way up the mountain, on Mt. Sinai, Moses was given six visions in the year 1598 BC, about two months after the Exodus from Egypt. Each vision was twelve hours long, revealing events on Earth. God was conveying to mankind, via the Jewish people, the history of Earth, mankind, and the universe. The big problem we have had is that Moses, and subsequent scholars and scribes, did not understand the seven days that God revealed to Moses. Now, here we are in 2010, and the prevalent view is the ridiculous theory of evolution. It remains at the forefront, because rabbis and others don't…

Based on new radiocarbon dating evidence for the Late Aurignacian of Portugal, an archaeological culture unquestionably associated with modern humans,  an international team of researchers claims that the last Neanderthals in Europe died out approximately 37,000 years ago. The new paper, published in PLoS ONE builds on earlier research which proposed that, south of the Cantabro-Pyrenean mountain chain, Neanderthals survived for several millennia after being replaced or assimilated by anatomically modern humans everywhere else in Europe. Although the reality of this 'Ebro Frontier'…

Conservation efforts aimed at protecting Gorillas And Elephants in African parks and reserves  are well intentioned but are often based on incorrect assumptions about the local culture, say Purdue University anthropologists. In a new Conservation Biology paper, the team says that understanding local human communities is key to protecting the wildlife they live alongside. The Purdue team focused on issues specific to animal species, forest fragmentation, ecotourism, local culture and industry in the Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Reserve in the Central African Republic. The forest is known…

Researchers from the University of Bristol have analyzed the teeth of a 30,000-year-old child originally found in the Abrigo do Lagar Velho, Portugal in 1998. Classified as a modern human with Neanderthal ancestry, the child raises controversial questions about how extensively Neanderthals and modern human groups of African descent interbred when they came into contact in Europe 'Early modern humans', whose anatomy is basically similar to that of the human race today, emerged over 50,000 years ago and it has long been the common perception that little has changed in human biology since then.…

December 8 SPIEGEL ONLINE has two articles posted on skulls. The former covers a stone age mystery in a town called Herxheim in Germany. We read a graphic description of cannibalism during the demise of a small settlement 7 millennia ago. Yet nearby Speyer celebrates this year its 2,000-year anniversary with a postage stamp. There were surely mass migrations long before the arrival of the Romans in the area 2,000 years ago as the neolithic map (below) marks them as well as two-way trips between Africa and Sicily not shown on the…

What do you think is the number one reason men gave for cheating on their long term partner? a) Primarily Sexual Dissatisfactionb) Other/no dissatisfactionc) Equal Emotional and Sexual Dissatisfaction d) Primarily Emotional Dissatisfaction To find out the answer listen to the audio blog. [ Men and Infidelity ]

What is the number one reason men say they cheat on their long term partner? Is it a) Primarysexual dissatisfactionb) Other/nodissatisfactionc) Equalemotional and sexual Dissatisfactiond) Primarilyemotional dissatisfaction Listen to the audio blog to find out the answer.[ Why do Men Cheat?]

Hormones called androgens are considered important in the development of masculine characteristics like aggression and strength and some believe that prenatal androgens affect finger length during development in the womb. High levels of androgens, such as testosterone, increase the length of the fourth finger in comparison to the second finger. Some archaeologists and anthropologists are using finger ratios as an indicator of the levels of exposure to the hormone and recently compared this data with social behavior in primate groups.  They found that Old World monkeys, such as baboons…