In Search of Us by Lucy Moore review – the first anthropologists, warts and all
The eccentric adventures, academic insights and many prejudices of 12 pioneering scholars
June 2022
Earliest Pacific seafarers were matrilocal society, study suggests
DNA analysis of 164 individuals from 2,800 to 300 years ago shows men would move to be with their wives
Early human ancestors one million years older than earlier thought
Fossils from South African cave are 3.4 to 3.6m years old and walked the Earth at same time as east African relatives
‘I’m certainly open to criticism’: David Wengrow and the trouble with rewriting human history
Wengrow and his late co-author David Graeber caused a sensation with their revisionist view of humankind’s development. But then came the attacks…
May 2022
Stonehenge builders ate undercooked offal, ancient faeces reveals
Intestinal parasites recovered from prehistoric rubbish dumps shine light on lives and diet of builders
Child’s 130,000-year-old tooth could offer clues to extinct human relative
Researchers believe the discovery in a Laos cave proves that Denisovans lived in the warm tropics of southeast Asia
Climate crisis: what lessons can we learn from the last great cooling-off period?
The ‘little ice age’ of the 14th to the 19th centuries brought cold winters to Europe and unusual weather globally. Studying how humans adapted could be valuable
March 2022
Three centuries on, a shaman’s precious rune drum returns home
Instrument confiscated by the Danes is given back to the Sámi people after a lengthy campaign
January 2022
Archaeology’s sexual revolution
Hindu gods, Aztec rites, Blondie hits … why the heart is our eternal symbol
November 2021
Book of the day
In the Eye of the Wild by Nastassja Martin review – life after being ‘kissed’ by a bear
A close escape from the jaws of a bear leads to an exploration of trauma and survival in the French anthropologist’s funny and horrifying memoir
Grandmothers may be more connected to grandchildren than to own offspring
Study of women’s brain function finds more empathy activation when looking at pictures of grandchildren
Try, try and try again: why did modern humans take so long to settle in Europe?
Origins of ‘Transeurasian’ languages traced to Neolithic millet farmers
The Audio Long Read
Unfreezing the ice age: the truth about humanity’s deep past – podcast
October 2021
Human species who lived 500,000 years ago named as Homo bodoensis
Species was direct ancestor of early humans in Africa and discovery has led to reassessment of epoch
Book of the day
The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow review – inequality is not the price of civilisation
An archaeologist and an anthropologist dismantle received wisdom about the way early societies operated
The long read
Unfreezing the ice age: the truth about humanity’s deep past
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow review – have we got our ancestors wrong?
‘Sophisticated’: ancient faeces shows humans enjoyed beer and blue cheese 2,700 years ago
