Archaeology
- Animals
Mysterious kunga is the oldest known human-bred hybrid animal
People bred these animals — part donkey, part wild ass — some 4,500 years ago, probably for use in fighting wars.
- Archaeology
Vikings were in North America 1,000 years ago
Wooden objects provide the most precise dating yet for a Viking settlement on the coast of Newfoundland in Canada.
- Humans
Genetics show humans likely trace back to Africa
Our history began looking ever more complex once geneticists revealed our ancestors picked up new DNA as they traveled across time and continents.
- Archaeology
A medieval grave may have held a powerful nonbinary person
A 1,000-year-old grave in Finland, once thought to hold a respected woman warrior, may belong to someone who didn’t have a strictly male or female identity.
- Archaeology
Skeletons point to world’s oldest known shark attacks
The newfound remains came from people who had lived thousands of years ago in Peru and Japan, half a world apart.
- Humans
How torchlight, lamps and fire illuminated Stone Age cave art
Experiments with stone lamps and torches are helping scientists see 12,500-year-old cave art with fresh eyes.
- Archaeology
Fossils unearthed in Israel reveal possible new human ancestor
They come from a previously unknown Stone Age group that may represent a complex mashup of early members of our genus Homo.
- Archaeology
Tennessee site yields oldest known American tattoo tools
Native Americans may have used sharpened turkey leg bones as tattoo needles between 5,520 and 3,620 years ago.
- Genetics
Europe’s ancient humans often hooked up with Neandertals
DNA from ancient bones shows humans and Neandertals were regularly mixing genes by about 45,000 years ago.
- Archaeology
Unusual mud shell covers an Egyptian mummy
In ancient Egypt, commoners may have been mummified and then encased in mud to repair damage to the body or to imitate royal techniques used with royals.
- Archaeology
Harsh Ice Age winters may have helped turn wolves into dogs
In the Ice Age, Arctic hunters may have turned to some game for their fatty bones. Much of those animals’ meat might have been left to domesticate dogs.
- Math
What the mummy’s curse reveals about your brain
A man died soon after opening a mummy’s tomb. But don’t assume the mummy killed him. Statistics help explain why coincidences may not be meaningful.
