As early humans spread from lush African forests into grasslands, their need for ready sources of energy led them to develop a taste for grassy plants, especially grains and the starchy plant tissue ...

New clues about our earliest ancestors suggest they may have reached Eurasia sooner than scientists once thought. Fossils found in Romania hint that hominins left Africa nearly two million years ...

For decades, textbooks painted a dramatic picture of early humans as tool-using hunters who rose quickly to the top of the food chain. The tale was that Homo habilis, one of the earliest ...

In a recent review published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, researchers discussed the role of climatic shifts and vegetation changes in driving the evolution within the subfamily ...

A skull, unearthed nearly a century ago, has led to new revelations in the study of human evolution. Known as “Dragon Man,” the fossil has now been identified as belonging to the Denisovans — a ...

Homo erectus was able to adapt to and survive in desert-like environments at least 1.2 million years ago, according to a paper published in Communications Earth & Environment. The findings suggest ...

Our prehistoric human ancestors relied on deliberately modified and sharpened stone tools as early as 3.3 million years ago. The selection of rock type depended on how easily the material could be ...

Life on Earth began in a way that still boggles the mind. Around 4.5 billion years ago, a chemical process called abiogenesis occurred, where life emerged from non-life. Imagine a hot, watery mix of ...

Mastering fire may have also led to genetic changes that helped early humans survive mild burn injuries, but this evolutionary trait could complicate the treatment of more severe cases today. An early ...

Study: Hominins had a taste for high-carb plants long before they had the teeth to eat them, providing first evidence of behavioral drive in the human fossil record As early humans spread from lush ...

Niguss Gitaw Baraki receives funding from the Leakey Foundation and the U.S. National Science Foundation. Dan V. Palcu Rolier's work was supported by NWO Veni grant 212.136, FAPESP grants 2018/20733-6 ...