Tag: Prehistory

A cave site in Kenya’s forests reveals the oldest human burial in Africa

A cave site in Kenya’s forests reveals the oldest human burial in Africa

by | Apr 27, 2023 | , | 0

Reading time: 7 minutes
Africa is often referred to as the cradle of humankind – the birthplace of our species, Homo sapiens. There is evidence of the development of early symbolic behaviours such as pigment use and perforated shell ornaments in Africa, but so far most of what we know about the development of complex social behaviours such as burial and mourning has come from Eurasia.

However, the remains of a child buried almost 80,000 years ago under an overhang at Panga ya Saidi cave in Kenya is providing important new details.

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Why the Neanderthals may have been more sophisticated hunters than we thought – new study

Why the Neanderthals may have been more sophisticated hunters than we thought – new study

by | Feb 6, 2023 | | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
When Neanderthals are depicted in artistic reconstructions, they often have a spear in hand. Most archaeologists believe that Neanderthals were adept hunters, and we have found spears at Neanderthal sites. But our knowledge of how they used spears and how that compares with our own species has been inconclusive. Rather than using the spears for hunting, Neanderthals could have used them for self-defence or scavenging.

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Neanderthals: Javelin athletes helped us show how effective they were at hunting with weapons

Neanderthals: Javelin athletes helped us show how effective they were at hunting with weapons

by | Jan 23, 2023 | | 0

Reading time: 5 minutes
Neanderthals used to be portrayed as unintelligent and technologically deficient, a species that went extinct because of its inferiority to humans. But researchers now generally agree that Neanderthals were adept predators, innovative builders and symbolic thinkers. So how were early humans actually different from Neanderthals? It’s getting increasingly difficult to tell. But the capability to kill at a distance – such as with a bow and arrow – has long been thought of thought of as one important threshold in our human success story.

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Old teeth from a rediscovered cave show humans were in Indonesia more than 63,000 years ago

Old teeth from a rediscovered cave show humans were in Indonesia more than 63,000 years ago

by | Jan 5, 2023 | | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes

Modern humans were present in Southeast Asia about 20,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to new evidence published in Nature today.

An international research team led by Macquarie University applied new archaeological techniques to a longstanding question – were the human teeth discovered more than 120 years ago from Lida Ajer cave really modern human? The techniques allowed us to identify and date ancient human teeth from this Sumatran cave.

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A snapshot of our mysterious ancestor Homo erectus

A snapshot of our mysterious ancestor Homo erectus

by | Dec 26, 2022 | | 0

Reading time: 6 minutes
Homo erectus is now extinct. This enigmatic human ancestor probably evolved in Africa more than 2 million years ago, although the timing of their disappearance is less clear.

Homo erectus was in the news over 2018 thanks to new discoveries in the Philippines and China, which have transformed our understanding of this not too distant family member.

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When did Homo erectus die out? A fresh look at the demise of an ancient human species over 100,000 years ago

When did Homo erectus die out? A fresh look at the demise of an ancient human species over 100,000 years ago

by | Dec 6, 2022 | | 0

Reading time: 11 minutes
A key site in our understanding of Homo erectus, at Ngandong, in Java, Indonesia, has until now defeated all attempts at reliable dating since it was first excavated more than 90 years ago. With the aid of new techniques, we have now found that the Ngandong Homo erectus fossils are the most recent known specimens, dating from between 117,000 and 108,000 years ago.

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