Human evolution was a pretty crazy event (or series of events, specifically). One can’t help but wonder, how did a group of tree-dwelling apes evolve into the large-brained, upright walking creatures we see dominating the planet today? On a related note–where did this transformation even occur? This question–the question of where–has a fascinating history. Scientists…
How is it August already?! We’re more than halfway through 2017 and a dizzying amount of paleoanthropology has already happened this year. I can’t think of a better time to look back on some of the incredible discoveries that have been announced so far, so let’s count down my favorites! 5. Alesi. A 13 million-year-old ape…
Readers of this blog are familiar with my fascination of the fossils of human ancestors. I’ve written about fossils’ beauty, their strange stories, and the ways they make us question our ideas. Despite these points, critics often ask: do the discoveries of these bits of bone actually make any difference? In other words, why is paleoanthropology important;…
Unless you’ve been living under a rock recently (or you’re avoiding the news, understandably), you might have noticed some big announcements came out of South Africa this week. A team of researchers, led by Lee Berger and John Hawks, announced 1) the age of Homo naledi 2) a new chamber discovered with fossils in it 3)…
There’s a moment, I’ve realized, for each scientist I study, when they transform from an abstract, historical figure into a human being. This character-to-human transition happens quickly, and the shift is striking—as if they’ve transcended the two dimensional world left behind in their written letters and suddenly sprung to life. In this moment, without warning, I feel empathy…
It is no exaggeration to say that Arthur Keith spent much of his life thinking about skulls. “If after death any image is found engraven on my brain, I am sure it will prove to be that of a human skull,” he declared in his autobiography. “The days I have spent—I almost wrote, wasted—in seeking…
It almost goes without saying, but 2016 has been a tough year. However, we did learn a lot in the realm of paleoanthropology this year (as we do every year)! And because focusing on the positive is a good coping strategy, I think a look back the incredible science announced this year is in order. Last…
While many of us were reeling from recent political events, the Homo naledi team was quietly flooding us with new information about one of the most interesting hominin species of all time. As many of you will remember, naledi was announced in 2015, after being found deep in a cave in South Africa. From the beginning,…
It seems as though every time a hominin fossil is discovered, sensational headlines follow. Major news sources claim that a discovery is unprecedented, or that some new fossil rewrites everything we know about human origins. So is this excitement warranted? Should we be making such a big deal over the fossils? In the case of the Homo…
Fossil History 