We can’t observe the brain activity of extinct human species. But we can observe modern brains doing the things that our distant ancestors did, looking for clues about how ancient brains worked.
Articles on Anthropology
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A century-old case of scientific fraud illustrates how hard it is to untangle the truth when access to new discoveries is limited.
From the Amazon to Nicaragua, there are humans who never learn numbers. What can these anumeric cultures teach us about ourselves?
The Dani people were part of a thriving agricultural society long before Westerners ‘discovered’ them in the 1930s.
Robots are strange creatures, and not only because they might steal our jobs. We humans actually have good reason to be a little worried about these machines.
A ‘witch hunt’ is what Trump called investigations into his campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election. An anthropologist explains the connection between witch hunts and social control.
Many are embarrassed to publicly show too much grief over the death of a dog. But research has shown just how devastating the loss can be.
Anthropologists gather clues about how our ancient ancestors lived from their teeth. What will future anthropologists make of us based on the fossilized pearly whites we’ll leave behind?
If people fall for Trump’s idea that we live in a constant crisis, they’ll never be able to think clearly enough to save themselves.
His landmark contributions to anthropology have faded from memory, despite real-world policy impact during the mid-20th century.
New ways of using forensic science in anthropology have been developed to advance our understanding of the past.
At many Spanish missions in the US and Latin America, the rising sun illuminates the altar on the winter solstice or other symbolic days. To the faithful, these events meant that Christ was with them.
The book Red Professor: the Cold War Life of Fred Rose tells of a progressive anthropologist who was stymied by non-Indigenous people in powerful positions. Sadly, it’s a narrative that still resonates today.
New research investigates how people sequentially add new color terms to languages over time – and the results hold surprises about assumptions linguists have made for 40 years.
With the refugee crisis, Brexit, and the rise of populist extremism, we must defend the teaching of anthropology. And in doing so, we might expand and rethink ideas of “the humanities”.
Researchers ran computer simulations that take into account environmental variability and geographical setting to investigate how early explorers made it to these tiny, remote islands in the Pacific.
An anthropologist argues for new ways to value sacred landscapes.
David Attenborough’s latest BBC documentary indulges wishful thinking over evidence.
Cancer is a deadly disease and would have been particularly lethal before the recent development of effective treatments. So why didn’t it – or our susceptibility to it – die out long ago?
Fossils claiming to be the missing link between ape and humans were manipulated in such a way that Charles Dawson, who discovered them, was most likely the forger.
Top contributors
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Honorary Associate Professor, UNSW
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Associate Research Professor of Anthropology, University of Colorado Denver
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Associate Professor of Anthropology, Rice University
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Curator of Human Evolution of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Research Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)
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Professor of Anthropology, UCL
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Research Fellow in Biological Anthropology, Monash University
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Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Birmingham; Independent Social Research Foundation
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Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University
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Associate Professor of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York
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Professor of Earth System Science, UCL
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Emeritus Professor, Department of Archaeology, Classics and History, University of New England
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Professor of Anthropology, UCL
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Assistant Professor of Arab Crossroads Studies and Anthropology , NYU Abu Dhabi, chercheuse associée LESC, Université Paris Nanterre
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Professor of Anthropology, University of South Florida
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Honorary Professor, University of Queensland