Ancient Proteins Help Track Early Milk Drinking in Africa
New research shows milk consumption in eastern Africa began before the evolution of lactase persistence
Articles by Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
The Future of Field-Based Sciences in a COVID-19 World
Paper identifies how working practices can be remodeled to overcome the challenges brought on by the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing the current pandemic
New Method Reliably Predicts Sources of Ancient Poop
Coprolite identification of ancient feces makes this archaeological find far more informative
One Species, Many Origins
Modern humans evolved in Africa, and we now know that human groups from all over the continent contributed to that process. A group of scientists says that means it is time to stop arguing about where in Africa humans 'really' came from
The Origins of Cannabis Smoking: Marijuana Use in the First Millennium BC
A chemical residue study of incense burners from ancient burials at high elevations in western China has revealed psychoactive cannabinoids
Humans Used Northern Migration Routes to Reach Eastern Asia
A new article suggests wetter climates may have allowed Homo sapiens to expand across the deserts of Central Asia 50-30,000 years ago
Homo Sapiens Developed a New Ecological Niche That Separated It from Other Hominins
Our species' ability to occupy diverse and "extreme" settings around the world stands in stark contrast to the ecological adaptations of other hominin taxa
Oldest Bubonic Plague Genome Decoded
A pair of 3,800-year-old skeletons buried together in Russia test positive for a strain of the plague-causing bacterium Yersinia pestis