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Biological Anthropology

@bioanth.bsky.social
3.9K followers 3.6K following 253 posts

Posting the latest discoveries in human evolution and primatology. We also spotlight the broader field of biological anthropology—from the history of our discipline to talks, conferences, and job opportunities.

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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
theconversation.com
Fruit and honey fuelled the early evolution of the human brain
Intelligence is an energetically expensive luxury. And a new study in Science shows meat has never been the main fuel source for our ancestors.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
newscientist.com
The 85-million-year timeline of human evolution | New Scientist
Combining archaeological evidence with ancient DNA and data on past climates shows us how long and winding the story of human evolution is, stretching back millions of years to when the first primates...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Is it time to reconsider hominin (or homininan?) taxonomy? A new article in AJBA explores whether our current classification of human evolution accurately reflects evolutionary relationships. The Conversation article: doi.org/10.64628/AA.... AJBA article: doi.org/10.1002/ajpa...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
sciencedaily.com
Who are the Japanese? Huge DNA discovery rewrites history
Scientists analyzing the genomes of thousands of people across Japan discovered evidence for a previously overlooked third ancestral group, challenging the long-accepted “dual origins” theory. The new...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
livescience.com
Homo erectus genetic material sequenced for the first time, and it shows 'deep genetic links' with modern humans
A new study of six Homo erectus individuals from China reveals one amino acid variant that distinguished this archaic human from all other human lineages and one that it passed on to modern humans via...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
livescience.com
Homo habilis is the earliest named human. But is it even human?
Between 2 million and 3 million years ago, humans appeared in Africa — but identifying them in the fossil record is turning out to be surprisingly difficult.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
pnas.org
A high-coverage Neandertal genome from the Altai Mountains reveals population structure among Neandertals | PNAS
We present a genome sequenced to ~37-fold genomic coverage from an approximately 110,000-y-old male Neandertal from Denisova Cave in the Altai Moun...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
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Masripithecus: A new Miocene ape from Egypt sheds light on the origins of modern apes
In a study published in Science, an international research team from the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center (Egypt) and the University of Southern California (U.S.) describe Masripithe...
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Reposted by Biological Anthropology
Primate Research and News @ourprimatepast.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
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Bonobos are just as aggressive as chimps, but there's a key difference — the female bonobos
A new study of chimpanzee and bonobo groups at zoos reveals similar levels of aggression. However, scientists found stark sex-based differences between the species.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
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Howler monkey ancestors began eating leaves 13 million years ago, changing course of primate history in South America
Thirteen million years ago, a group of medium-sized monkeys known for guarding their territory among the treetops with fearsome "howls" started doing something new. These monkeys, among the oldest kno...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
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The lost languages of ancient humans: Listen to stone-age chat
The fossilised bones of our ancestors remain silent. So, how can we possibly imagine what our earliest languages sounded like?
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
theguardian.com
Vast scale of overseas human remains held in UK museums decried by MPs and experts
Exclusive: Guardian study finds UK museums hold more than 260,000 items of remains, often in sacrilegious ways
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
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The Oldest Human Ancestor May Have Just Been Found Somewhere Very Unexpected
Our story may not begin in Africa after all.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
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A 2,850-year-old mass grave in Serbia reveals a shift in prehistoric violence
Our study has finally uncovered the circumstances surrounding the death of 77 people, mostly women and girls.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
sciencedaily.com
Teeth smaller than a fingertip reveal the first primate ancestor
Tiny, tooth-sized fossils have just reshaped the story of our deepest ancestry. Paleontologists have discovered the southernmost remains ever found of Purgatorius—the earliest-known relative of all pr...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
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Arrowhead points found in Central Asia could prove the presence of ‘Homo sapiens’ 80,000 years ago
Tiny triangular-shaped flints from arrowheads found in Uzbekistan shed light on how the first settlement of ‘Homo sapiens’ – our modern human ancestors – came to Europe.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
phys.org
First 3D reconstruction of the face of 'Little Foot' completed
Identified as the most complete Australopithecus fossil discovered to date, "Little Foot" was buried in sediments whose movement and weight caused fractures and deformations, making analysis of its sk...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
phys.org
Ancient mosquitoes developed a taste for early hominins, research reveals
The preference of some mosquitoes in the Anopheles leucosphyrus (Leucosphyrus) group—including those that transmit malaria—for feeding on humans may have evolved in response to the arrival of early ho...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
livescience.com
Humans and Neanderthals interbred — but it was mostly male Neanderthals and female humans who coupled up, study finds
A preference for pairings between male Neanderthals and female Homo sapiens may answer the question of why there are "Neanderthal deserts" in human chromosomes.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
forbes.com
Meet The 1.5-Million-Year-Old ‘Ghost’ In Your Genes. Hint: We’ve Haven’t Found Its Fossils Yet
New genomic research suggests our species descended from a deep fusion between two ancient lineages — one of them a mysterious “ghost.”
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Unravelling the Palaeolithic 2026: Two day conference on all things Palaeolithic, Pleistocene and Early Human Origins at UCL Institute of Archaeology 19-20th June. Call for papers now open: sites.google.com/view/unravel...
sites.google.com
Unravelling the Palaeolithic
Welcome to the website for the Unravelling the Palaeolithic conference 2026! Unravelling the Palaeolithic is an ECR and student-led conference with a history of showcasing excellence in research in P...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
nature.com
Palaeoanthropological evidence from China is changing the picture of hominin evolutionary history - Nature Ecology & Evolution
The authors review recent archaeological and palaeoanthropological discoveries from China and discuss how they change our understanding of human evolution.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
nature.com
A regional-scale mobility model for the early hominin occupation of the Lower Omo Valley (Ethiopia) - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - A regional-scale mobility model for the early hominin occupation of the Lower Omo Valley (Ethiopia)
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
science.org
Ancient artifacts hint at earliest protowriting
Geometric shapes on 40,000-year-old bone and ivory suggest early European Homo sapiens long possessed cognitive tools for language
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
nature.com
Deep-time preservation of amino acids in mammalian fossil tooth enamel - Communications Biology
Tooth enamel preserves endogenous amino acids for over 40 million years, representing a robust and underexplored archive for deep-time biomolecular research and enabling future paleoproteomic and isot...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
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Ancient DNA Reveals Europe’s Last Hunter-Gatherers Survived Thousands of Years Longer Than Expected
Ancient DNA shows that hunter-gatherers in northwestern Europe endured for millennia, with women driving a gradual cultural shift toward farming.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
sciencedirect.com
The axis (C2) from El Sidrón and its implications for Neanderthal upper cervical spine form
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
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2,000-year-old skulls reveal people in ancient Vietnam permanently blackened their teeth — a stylish practice that persists today
In a study of 2,000-year-old skulls from Vietnam, archaeologists discovered that iron was the primary component that dyed teeth black.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
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'Smiling' fossil discovered in Northumberland
The unusual looking fossil is estimated to be a few hundred million years old dating to the Carboniferous period.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
news.wisc.edu
DNA analysis provides insight into Mongol Empire’s genetics and integration with local cultures
Are one in 200 men really related to Genghis Khan? Maybe not, according to a new study from researchers at UW–Madison.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
livescience.com
What are ghost lineages, remnants of the past that still exist in our DNA today?
Ghost lineages reveal themselves through ancient genes that still exist in living beings today.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
livescience.com
'Absolute surprise': Homo erectus skulls found in China are almost 1.8 million years old — the oldest evidence of the ancient human relatives in East Asia
A new date for Homo erectus skulls found in central China provides new insight into how and when ancient human relatives reached eastern Asia.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
independent.co.uk
Dog walkers discover 2,000-year-old human footprints on beach
Archaeologists say the human and animal prints were made at the height of the Roman Empire
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
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Ancient drought may have wiped out the real-life hobbits 61,000 years ago
A massive, centuries-long drought may have driven the extinction of the “hobbits” of Flores. Climate records preserved in cave formations show rainfall plummeted just as the small human species disapp...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
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5,500 years ago, a teenage girl was buried with her father's bones on her chest, new DNA study reveals
A novel DNA analysis of skeletons excavated from a Neolithic hunter-gatherer cemetery in Sweden has revealed surprising family relationships.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
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News - Early Bronze Age Burial Discovered in Northwestern France - Archaeology Magazine
NORMANDY, FRANCE—La Brujula Verde reports that a burial pit dated to between 1900 and 1800 […]
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
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Scientists Say Your Fingers Hold a Secret of Brain Evolution
The secret to how our brains grew may be hidden in our fingers before we are even born.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
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The untold story of our remarkable hands and how they made us human
The evolution of human hands is one of the most important – and overlooked – stories of our origin. Now, new fossil evidence is revealing their pivotal role
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
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60,000 years ago humans were already using poisoned arrows
Sixty thousand years ago, humans in southern Africa were already mastering nature’s chemistry. Scientists have discovered chemical traces of poison from the deadly gifbol plant on ancient quartz arrow...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
johnhawks.net
Complex fiber and wood technologies of the first Great Basin peoples
From Cougar Mountain Cave and Paisley Caves, Oregon, come remarkably preserved examples of perishable materials.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
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3D scanning and shape analysis help archaeologists connect objects across space and time to recover their lost histories
Digital tools allow archaeologists to identify similarities between fragments and artifacts and potentially recover previously unknown parts of their stories.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
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Did modern humans wipe out the Neanderthals? New evidence may finally provide answers.
A complex picture of how Neanderthals died out, and the role that modern humans played in their disappearance, is emerging.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
phys.org
Northern Britain's oldest human remains are of a young female child, DNA analysis reveals
The oldest human remains ever found in Northern Britain have been identified as a young female three years after being discovered in a Cumbrian cave. Excavated at Heaning Wood Bone Cave in Cumbria's G...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Evolving a Field: Can Evolutionary Theory Provide What the Study of Human Evolution Requires?
The extended evolutionary synthesis (EES) is a school of thought that maintains that genetic determination and natural selection are over-emphasized in the study of evolution at the expense of non-ge...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
psu.edu
Center for Human Evolution and Diversity to host two 2026 Darwin Day events | Penn State University
Augustín Fuentes, professor of anthropology at Princeton University, will deliver the 2026 Darwin Day Lecture on Feb. 19 and participate in a panel discussion the following day.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
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The Agricultural Revolution and How It Reshaped Society 12,000 Years Ago | TheCollector
Beginning around 12,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution began to change the way human beings lived their lives.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
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Bison hunters abandoned long-used site 1,100 years ago to adapt to changing climate, Great Plains study finds
On the Great Plains of North America, bison were hunted for thousands of years before populations collapsed to near extinction due to overexploitation in the late 1800s. But long before then, bison hu...
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
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“Astonishing behaviour.” Filmmakers left a robot orangutan in the Borneo rainforest. The footage helped solve a mystery that puzzled scientists | Discover Wildlife
Wild orangutans in the Borneo rainforest have been observed washing themselves with soap – but researchers weren't sure why
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
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‘It ain’t no unicorn’: meet the researchers who’ve interviewed 130 Bigfoot hunters
In this Q&A with the authors of a recent book about Bigfoot hunters, they admit these people are neither anti-science nor irrational.
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Biological Anthropology @bioanth.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
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Scientists find first physical evidence that Romans used human poop as medicine | CNN
Archaeologists in Turkey say they have uncovered evidence that the Romans used human feces in medical treatments, according to new research.
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