A chunk of Neanderthal DNA carried by some people living today appears to reduce the chance of miscarriage and promote fertility. The finding is the latest evidence that Homo sapiens benefitted from Stone Age sexual encounters with other human species. Image: opacity
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The ancient human species Australopithecus afarensis may have been the earliest hominin to run on two legs. Although it had relatively short, ape-like legs, A. afarensis may have had a long Achilles’ tendon just like modern humans do – a feature that helps us to run more efficiently. Image: Noeluap
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Excavations at the Denisova cave in Siberia have uncovered almost 80,000 stone artefacts that extinct humans left over a 150,000-year period. Collectively, they seem to show how technology developed by Denisovans evolved through the Stone Age, culminating with the production of spectacular bracelets, beads and tiaras about 50,000 years ago. Image: loronet
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The fossilized remains of a newly discovered species of ancient ape suggest that it might have been able to walk on two feet, millions of years before the first humans appeared. Image: Christoph Jäckle
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We might have misunderstood one of the greatest mysteries of human evolution. For decades, its been unclear why we began walking on two legs instead of moving on all fours as it is assumed our great ape ancestors did. But new evidence suggests the first great apes may have moved on two legs a little like we do. Image: Vector Open Stock
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Anthony Pagano, a medical researcher at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, has a new explanation for the Neanderthal extinction. He thinks the ancient humans might have been unusually prone to severe ear infections, which left them struggling to compete against their Homo sapiens cousins. Image: activefree
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An ancient face is shedding new light on our earliest ancestors. Archaeologists have discovered a 3.8-million-year-old hominin skull in Ethiopia — a rare and remarkably complete specimen that could change what we know about the origins of one of humanity’s most famous ancestors, Lucy. Image: Dale Omori, courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History
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How and why, roughly 2m years ago, early human ancestors evolved large brains and began fashioning relatively advanced stone tools, is one of the great mysteries of evolution. Some researchers argue these changes were brought about by the invention of cooking. Image: pablo_marx
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The jaws of an ancient European ape might speak volumes about the origins of our ancestors. A new analysis of these fossils supports a controversial idea: that the apes which gave rise to humans evolved in south-east Europe instead of Africa. Image: David R Begun
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Stone Age Europe was a lonely place to live. An assessment of ancient population sizes suggests a vast swathe of western and central Europe may have been home to no more than 1500 people at any one time. Image: PlanetObserver
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Almost a decade ago, researchers sequenced DNA from an ancient bone fragment to reveal that it belonged to a woman from an entirely new group of humans. After years of waiting, we are now getting our first glimpse of the only confirmed home of the Denisovans. Imagine: Katerina Douka
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We used to think the Iberian Peninsula was the Neanderthals’ final stronghold. It appeared that our species somehow failed to find a way into the region until about 35,000 years ago, leaving the last remaining Neanderthal population untouched. But stone tools from a cave in southern Spain may now sink that idea once and for all. Image: edenpictures
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