anthropology

Listen to a Song That Hasn’t Been Heard For a Thousand Years

An ancient song repertory lost since the 11th century has been reconstructed by researchers from the University of Cambridge. It’s called “Songs of Consolation,” and it was a medieval musical retelling of Roman philosopher Boethius’s magnum opus, The Consolation of Philosophy. Back then it was common practice to take classic works, such as those written…

Tech News George Dvorsky Apr 22

Artificial Intelligence Sheds New Light on the Origins of the Bible

Twenty six hundred years ago, a band of Judahite soldiers kept watch on their kingdom’s southern border in the final days before Jerusalem was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar. They left behind numerous inscriptions—and now, a groundbreaking digital analysis has revealed how many writers penned them. The research and innovative technology behind it stand to teach us…

Artificial Intelligence Maddie Stone Apr 11

Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture

At exactly the same time Batman was becoming an obsessive, a new breed of enthusiast began its rise to prominence. For years they had lurked in the shadowy corners of popular culture, quietly pursuing their niche interests among themselves, keeping their heads down to avoid the inquisitive, judgmental gaze of the wider world. They called…

Movies Glen Weldon Mar 23

Ancient Warrior Found Buried With Ritualistic Spears Stabbed Into His Body

Archaeologists working at the Pocklington burial site in Yorkshire have discovered the 2,500-year-old skeletal remains of a high ranking warrior who was buried alongside his sword—and who had a half-dozen spears thrust into him in ritualistic fashion. The “speared burial” figure was discovered among 75 burial chambers, also known as barrows, containing over 160 iron…

Tech News George Dvorsky Mar 18

These Ancient ‘Hand Prints’ Were Not Made by Human Hands

The Wadi Sura cave in the Libyan Desert features a number of stencil paintings dating back to between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago, including over a dozen tiny human-like hand prints. Since its discovery, the hands were thought to belong to human babies, but an anthropologist now says they’re not human at all. Sorry folks,…

Tech News George Dvorsky Mar 1

A Wild Female and Male Orangutan Teamed Up To Murder Another Orangutan

Anthropologists in Borneo observed a rare instance of a female and a male orangutan teaming up—to kill another female orangutan. This is the first observed time a female-female conflict in orangutans has turned lethal, and the way the it went down changes what we thought we knew about orangutan behavior. Primates, being known jerks, attack…

Tech News Esther Inglis-Arkell Feb 3

We Were Wrong About What Happened After Europeans Reached America

The tale of Europeans explorers’ arrival in the Americas is a dark one, colored by slavery, slaughter, and smallpox. But a new study calls key details of that story into question, including how quickly Native American societies succumbed to disease, and how Earth’s climate responded. While many scholars believe that the diseases brought by early…

Climate Change Maddie Stone Jan 25

Discovery of Brutal Massacre Pushes Back History of Human Warfare

Anthropologists working in Kenya have uncovered the remains of a group of prehistoric foragers who were ruthlessly massacred about 10,000 years ago. It’s considered the earliest example of organized violence among nomadic hunter-gatherers, a rare find that’s offering an unprecedented glimpse into what life—and death—was like for prehistoric foragers. Archaeological evidence of warfare is abundant…

Tech News George Dvorsky Jan 20

Sunken Bronze Age Settlement Is the ‘Pompeii’ of Britain

Archaeologists in Britain have uncovered the charred remains of a 3,000-year-old stilted wooden structure that plunged into the river after it caught fire. The remarkably well-preserved roundhouse is offering an unprecedented glimpse into what domestic life was like during the Bronze Age. This remarkable settlement in East Anglia was occupied at the end of the…

Tech News George Dvorsky Jan 12

This Rediscovered Leather Trunk Contains Thousands of Letters From the 17th Century

The 300-year-old linen-lined trunk is filled with over 2,600 letters that were mailed out—but never received—between the years 1680 and 1706. Historians are now taking a closer look. The trunk, ignored for centuries, had been stored away by a Dutch postmaster in the Netherlands. The extraordinary collection contains letters from all manner of society, including…

Tech News George Dvorsky Nov 10

This Extinct Species is Changing What We Know About Early Ape Evolution

Meet Pliobates catalonia, an extinct species of ape that roamed the jungles of Catalonia some 11.5 million years ago. Because of this ancient creature’s many surprising physical characteristics, researchers are having to revise their conceptions of what the last common ancestor of all living apes—humans included—might have looked like. Pliobates lived long after a time…

Tech News George Dvorsky Oct 29

The Controversy over Homo Naledi Is Actually A Good Thing

Homo naledi, the newly discovered species of early hominin announced last month, is drawing a lot of fire from paleoanthropologists. For one thing, there’s still debate over whether Homo naledi is actually a new species at all. Some anthropologists, like Jeffrey Schwarz, say the specimens look more like an early human ancestor from a whole…

Tech News Kiona Smith-Strickland Oct 25

The Plague Has Been Around For a Lot Longer Than We Thought

The Black Death wiped out nearly half the population of Europe during the 14th Century, a blight that swept through the continent in the gut of fleas. But a new analysis of ancient human DNA shows that the dreaded bacteria emerged at least 3,000 years before the first plague pandemic—a time before it mutated into…

Tech News George Dvorsky Oct 23

Newly-Discovered, Ancient Humans Were Tree-Climbers Who Walked and Used Tools

Last month in South Africa, scientists announced the discovery of a new group of early humans called Homo naledi. Now an analysis shows that this hominin had hands capable of both tree climbing and tool use, plus feet that were adapted for walking upright. The remains of the extinct hominin were discovered in the Dinaledi…

Tech News George Dvorsky Oct 6

This Is the Oldest Case of Ritual Decapitation Ever Uncovered in the Americas

Archaeologists working in a rock shelter in Lapa do Santo, Brazil, have uncovered the remains of a 9,000-year-old ceremonial beheading. It’s now considered the oldest known case of decapitation in the New World. As a ritual practice, decapitation was widespread among Native Americans across the entire South American continent—a practice with deep historical roots. Prior…

io9 George Dvorsky Sep 24

Here Are Some Essential Survival Skills We’ve Lost From Our Ancient Ancestors

The basic structure of the human brain has remained essentially unaltered for tens of thousands of years, but the information processed within it has changed dramatically over time. Today, we require an entirely new set of skills to get by, but at the expense of our ancient know-how. Here are some essential skills used by…

io9 George Dvorsky Sep 23

Archaeologists Discover a Rare Pre-Roman Tomb at Pompeii

An undisturbed Samnite tomb has been unearthed at a burial ground beside Pompeii’s famous Villa of the Mysteries. The discovery will help archaeologists study a relatively unexplored era of Pompeii’s history—a time when the Samnites fought bitter battles against the Romans. A team of French archaeologists from the Jean Berard Centre in Naples accidentally stumbled…

io9 George Dvorsky Sep 22

You Can Print Your Own Homo Naledi Specimens

If you’re excited about last week’s announcement of a new human-like species discovered in South Africa, you can get your hands on the specimens — sort of. You can print your own 3D replicas of Homo naledi and several other important hominin finds. Anthropologist Lee Berger and his colleagues found 91 specimens, which they say…

Tech News Kiona Smith-Strickland Sep 20

Your DNA Can Teach Us About Ancient History

For thousands of years, history has been recorded piecemeal, in books, artifacts, buildings and legends. But in the age of molecular biology, a new archive is helping to fill in the gaps: your genetic code. Each of our genomes contains a record of the journeys taken by our ancestors, one that scientists are just now…

Tech News Maddie Stone Sep 18

Europe’s First Farmers Were Shockingly Violent

Archaeologists working in Germany have uncovered evidence of a violent clash between a pair Early Neolithic farming communities, a grim encounter that resulted in a surprising number of deaths—and may have even involved torture. Violence on this scale isn’t what immediately comes to mind when we think of Europe’s first farmers, but as a new…

io9 George Dvorsky Aug 18

Listen to a Song That Hasn’t Been Heard For a Thousand Years

Artificial Intelligence Sheds New Light on the Origins of the Bible

Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture

Ancient Warrior Found Buried With Ritualistic Spears Stabbed Into His Body

These Ancient ‘Hand Prints’ Were Not Made by Human Hands

A Wild Female and Male Orangutan Teamed Up To Murder Another Orangutan

We Were Wrong About What Happened After Europeans Reached America

Discovery of Brutal Massacre Pushes Back History of Human Warfare

Sunken Bronze Age Settlement Is the ‘Pompeii’ of Britain

This Rediscovered Leather Trunk Contains Thousands of Letters From the 17th Century

This Extinct Species is Changing What We Know About Early Ape Evolution

The Controversy over Homo Naledi Is Actually A Good Thing

The Plague Has Been Around For a Lot Longer Than We Thought

Newly-Discovered, Ancient Humans Were Tree-Climbers Who Walked and Used Tools

This Is the Oldest Case of Ritual Decapitation Ever Uncovered in the Americas

Here Are Some Essential Survival Skills We’ve Lost From Our Ancient Ancestors

Archaeologists Discover a Rare Pre-Roman Tomb at Pompeii

You Can Print Your Own Homo Naledi Specimens

Your DNA Can Teach Us About Ancient History

Europe’s First Farmers Were Shockingly Violent

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