Feature Channels: Archaeology and Anthropology

Filters close
Released: 7-Jun-2023 12:50 PM EDT
The evolutionary origins and advantages of masturbation
University College London

Masturbation is common across the animal kingdom but is especially prevalent amongst primates, including humans.

   
Newswise: Professor Receives Prestigious U.S. Fulbright Award to Explore the ‘Big Questions of Democracy and Development in Nepal’
Released: 5-Jun-2023 3:30 PM EDT
Professor Receives Prestigious U.S. Fulbright Award to Explore the ‘Big Questions of Democracy and Development in Nepal’
University of Northern Colorado

Richard Bownas has a personal connection to Nepal. Rather than keeping that to himself, Bownas will be focusing his work and research around the Nepalese Civil War traveling to the country from January to July 2024 to conduct an oral history project. He's able to do this through a U.S. Fulbright award.

Newswise: Early toilets reveal dysentery in Old Testament Jerusalem
Released: 26-May-2023 12:35 PM EDT
Early toilets reveal dysentery in Old Testament Jerusalem
University of Cambridge

A new analysis of ancient faeces taken from two Jerusalem latrines dating back to the biblical Kingdom of Judah has uncovered traces of a single-celled microorganism Giardia duodenalis – a common cause of debilitating diarrhoea in humans.

   
Newswise: The Roman Empire smelled of patchouli
Released: 25-May-2023 10:40 AM EDT
The Roman Empire smelled of patchouli
University of Cordoba

A research team at the University of Cordoba has identified, for the first time, the composition of a Roman perfume more than 2,000 years old thanks tothe discovery of a small vessel of ointment in Carmona.

Released: 19-May-2023 6:30 PM EDT
Humanity’s earliest recorded kiss occurred in Mesopotamia 4,500 years ago
University of Copenhagen

Recent research has hypothesised that the earliest evidence of human lip kissing originated in a very specific geographical location in South Asia 3,500 years ago, from where it may have spread to other regions, simultaneously accelerating the spread of the herpes simplex virus 1.

   
Newswise: World-Renowned Paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey To Be Honored at Week-Long Conference at Stony Brook University
Released: 18-May-2023 2:30 PM EDT
World-Renowned Paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey To Be Honored at Week-Long Conference at Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University

Stony Brook University will honor the life and legacy of eminent paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician Richard E. Leakey by hosting “Africa: The Human Cradle: An International Conference Paying Tribute to Richard E. Leakey” from June 5 - 9, 2023 at the university’s Charles B. Wang Center. The Turkana Basin Institute (TBI) and Stony Brook are hosting the conference, in partnership with the National Geographic Society. Thought leaders from around the world will celebrate the immeasurable, life-long contributions by Leakey to furthering the appreciation of Africa’s centrality in the narrative of human evolution.

Newswise: New study: Surprising diversity of ethnic groups in the US Virgin Islands before Columbus
Released: 17-May-2023 1:20 PM EDT
New study: Surprising diversity of ethnic groups in the US Virgin Islands before Columbus
University of Southern Denmark

When Christopher Columbus arrived at the present-day US Virgin Islands on his second voyage across the Atlantic in 1493, the islands were already inhabited – but how and when the islands of St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas were originally populated remains uncertain.

Released: 15-May-2023 1:05 PM EDT
Socio-economic development on the West African coast is a key factor for increasing flood risks
Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD)

Anthropogenic factors on the West African coast are contributing more than global climate change to the rapid increase in vulnerability and flood risks in the region.

Newswise: New Museum of the Eye Exhibit Explores the Eye as a Cultural Symbol, From Ancient to Modern Times
Released: 10-May-2023 12:00 PM EDT
New Museum of the Eye Exhibit Explores the Eye as a Cultural Symbol, From Ancient to Modern Times
American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO)

The Truhlsen-Marmor Museum of the Eye®, the world’s only free, public museum dedicated to the science of sight, today announced the opening of Decoding the Eye: Signs and Symbols, a new exhibit exploring how the eye appears as a symbol throughout time.

Newswise: Tooth enamel provides clues to hunter-gatherer lifestyle of Neanderthals
Released: 9-May-2023 1:20 PM EDT
Tooth enamel provides clues to hunter-gatherer lifestyle of Neanderthals
University of Southampton

A study by an international team of researchers, led by the University of Southampton, has given an intriguing glimpse of the hunting habits and diets of Neanderthals and other humans living in western Europe.

Newswise: Nose shape gene inherited from Neanderthals
Released: 8-May-2023 11:10 AM EDT
Nose shape gene inherited from Neanderthals
University College London

Humans inherited genetic material from Neanderthals that affects the shape of our noses, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.

Newswise:Video Embedded map-reveals-ancient-australian-landscape-from-60-000-years-ago
VIDEO
Released: 5-May-2023 11:15 AM EDT
Archaeologists map hidden NT landscape where first Australians lived more than 60,000 years ago
Flinders University

Scientists at Flinders University have used sub-surface imaging and aerial surveys to see through floodplains in the Red Lily Lagoon area of West Arnhem Land in Northern Australia.

Newswise: Oldest human remains in Puerto Rico expand knowledge of island’s roots
Released: 2-May-2023 10:35 AM EDT
Oldest human remains in Puerto Rico expand knowledge of island’s roots
University of Miami

The remains from the Ortiz site, Puerto Rico’s oldest burial ground, were carefully analyzed by a University of Miami bioarcheologist and an undergraduate student researcher, revealing cultural insights from thousands of years ago.

Newswise: Prolonged droughts likely spelled the end for Indus megacities
Released: 26-Apr-2023 2:05 PM EDT
Prolonged droughts likely spelled the end for Indus megacities
University of Cambridge

New research involving Cambridge University has found evidence — locked into an ancient stalagmite from a cave in the Himalayas — of a series of severe and lengthy droughts which may have upturned the Bronze Age Indus Civilization.

Released: 26-Apr-2023 2:05 PM EDT
New insight into the mystery of ancient Gaza wine
University of York

Research into grape pips found from an excavated Byzantine monastery in Israel hints at the origins of the ‘mysterious’ Gaza wine and the history of grapevine cultivation in desert conditions.

Newswise: Fossilized soot and charcoal from torches dating back more than 8,000 years make it possible to reconstruct the history of the Nerja Cave
Released: 25-Apr-2023 2:15 PM EDT
Fossilized soot and charcoal from torches dating back more than 8,000 years make it possible to reconstruct the history of the Nerja Cave
University of Cordoba

A new study reveals that Nerja is the European cave containing Paleolithic Art in with the most confirmed and recurrent visits during Prehistory

Newswise:Video Embedded live-event-for-april-21-sleeping-pill-reduces-levels-of-alzheimer-s-proteins
VIDEO
Released: 21-Apr-2023 3:10 PM EDT
TRANSCRIPT AND VIDEO AVAILABLE Live Event for April 21: Sleeping pill reduces levels of Alzheimer’s proteins
Newswise

Researcher will discuss the study which involved a sleeping aid known as suvorexant that is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for insomnia, hints at the potential of sleep medications to slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

       
Released: 20-Apr-2023 5:05 PM EDT
Archaeology: Insights into sealed ancient Egyptian animal coffins
Scientific Reports

The contents of six sealed ancient Egyptian animal coffins — which were imaged using a non-invasive technique — are described in a study published in Scientific Reports.

Released: 19-Apr-2023 1:00 PM EDT
UC Irvine’s Leo Chavez elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
University of California, Irvine

Acclaimed anthropologist, author and professor Leo Chavez from the University of California, Irvine – best known for his work in international migration, particularly among Latin American immigrants – has been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The 243rd class of inductees includes nearly 270 people from around the world, recognized for their accomplishments and leadership in academia, the arts, industry, public policy and research.

Newswise: Stony Brook PhD Candidate and Biologist, Fanny M. Cornejo, Wins Inaugural Indianapolis Prize
Released: 19-Apr-2023 11:05 AM EDT
Stony Brook PhD Candidate and Biologist, Fanny M. Cornejo, Wins Inaugural Indianapolis Prize
Stony Brook University

Stony Brook University graduate student Fanny M. Cornejo has been named the winner of the newly-created “Emerging Conservationist Award" presented by the Indianapolis Prize. This award recognizes professional wildlife conservationists, biologists and scientists under 40-years of age who are working to make strides in saving animal species from extinction. Cornejo was selected from among 10 finalists and will receive $50,000 provided by the Kobe Foundation to continue Yunkawasi’s conservation work.

Newswise: Using Coral to Unravel the History of the Slave Trade on St. Croix
Released: 18-Apr-2023 2:40 PM EDT
Using Coral to Unravel the History of the Slave Trade on St. Croix
Georgia Institute of Technology

On the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix, the ruins of a Danish sugar plantation built from harvested coral bricks could be the key to understanding how and why the area was decimated by the 18th-century transatlantic slave trade.

Released: 17-Apr-2023 7:40 PM EDT
Sea-level rise in southwest Greenland as a contributor to Viking abandonment
Harvard University

Vikings occupied Greenland from roughly 985 to 1450, farming and building communities before abandoning their settlements and mysteriously vanishing. Why they disappeared has long been a puzzle, but a new paper from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS) determines that one factor – rising sea level – likely played a major role.

Newswise: Ancient DNA reveals the multiethnic structure of Mongolia’s first nomadic empire
Released: 17-Apr-2023 1:15 PM EDT
Ancient DNA reveals the multiethnic structure of Mongolia’s first nomadic empire
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Long obscured in the shadows of history, the world’s first nomadic empire - the Xiongnu - is at last coming into view thanks to painstaking archaeological excavations and new ancient DNA evidence.

Newswise: Ancient DNA reveals the multiethnic structure of Mongolia’s first nomadic empire
Released: 14-Apr-2023 7:25 PM EDT
Ancient DNA reveals the multiethnic structure of Mongolia’s first nomadic empire
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

To better understand the inner workings of the seemingly enigmatic Xiongnu empire, an international team of researchers at the Max Planck Institutes for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) and Geoanthropology (MPI-GEO), Seoul National University, the University of Michigan, and Harvard University conducted an in-depth genetic investigation of two imperial elite Xiongnu cemeteries along the western frontier of the empire: an aristocratic elite cemetery at Takhiltyn Khotgor and a local elite cemetery at Shombuuzyn Belchir.

Newswise: Chula Geologist and Team Discover New Evidence Pointing to Possible Existence of More Ancient Structures Hidden on Khao Phanom Rung
Released: 14-Apr-2023 8:55 AM EDT
Chula Geologist and Team Discover New Evidence Pointing to Possible Existence of More Ancient Structures Hidden on Khao Phanom Rung
Chulalongkorn University

Chula geology professor and team of surveyors discovered foreign materials, suspected to be “terracotta”, in the center of Khao Phanom Rung (Phanom Rung Mountain) forest, Buriram Province. The discovery provides significant evidence indicating that Prasat Hin Phanom Rung is not the only ancient building hidden on Khao Phanom Rung.

Newswise: New studies push back evidence for open habitats in Africa by more than 10 million years
Released: 13-Apr-2023 4:10 PM EDT
New studies push back evidence for open habitats in Africa by more than 10 million years
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering

Using rigorous and detailed collection methods, a University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led research team was able to place the remains of fossil apes, such as Morotopithecus, within detailed habitat reconstructions.

Newswise: Dairy foods helped ancient Tibetans thrive in one of Earth’s most inhospitable environments
Released: 12-Apr-2023 6:15 PM EDT
Dairy foods helped ancient Tibetans thrive in one of Earth’s most inhospitable environments
Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology

A new study in the journal Science Advances reveals that dairy was a key component of early human diets on the Tibetan Plateau. The study reports ancient proteins from the dental calculus of 40 human individuals from 15 sites across the interior plateau.

Newswise: University of Kentucky researcher offers solution to coal conundrum on famous pirate shipwreck
Released: 12-Apr-2023 4:30 PM EDT
University of Kentucky researcher offers solution to coal conundrum on famous pirate shipwreck
University of Kentucky

A researcher at the University of Kentucky is helping solve a mystery on the coast of North Carolina: Where did coal found on the shipwrecked Queen Anne’s Revenge come from? About 300 years ago, a band of pirates captured a French slave ship. Among those pirates was a man named Edward Thatch (also spelled as Teach) who would be better known as Blackbeard.

Newswise: Early crop plants were more easily ‘tamed’
Released: 10-Apr-2023 7:05 AM EDT
Early crop plants were more easily ‘tamed’
Washington University in St. Louis

Plants are capable of responding to people and have behaviors comparable to tameness, according to authors of new research that calls for a reappraisal of the process of plant domestication, based on almost a decade of observations and experiments.

Newswise: The untold history of the horse in the American Plains, a new future for the world
Released: 30-Mar-2023 7:15 PM EDT
The untold history of the horse in the American Plains, a new future for the world
CNRS (Centre National de Recherche Scientifique / National Center of Scientific Research)

“Horses have been part of us since long before other cultures came to our lands, and we are a part of them,” states Chief Joe American Horse, a leader of the Oglala Lakota Oyate, traditional knowledge keeper, and co-author of the study.

Released: 30-Mar-2023 6:55 PM EDT
Researchers use 21st century methods to record 2,000 years of ancient graffiti in Egypt
Simon Fraser University

Simon Fraser University researchers are learning more about ancient graffiti—and their intriguing comparisons to modern graffiti—as they produce a state-of-the-art 3D recording of the Temple of Isis in Philae, Egypt.

   
Released: 30-Mar-2023 5:35 PM EDT
A reconstruction of prehistoric temperatures for some of the oldest archaeological sites in North America
Desert Research Institute (DRI)

Scientists often look to the past for clues about how Earth’s landscapes might shift under a changing climate, and for insight into the migrations of human communities through time.

Newswise:Video Embedded exquisite-sabertooth-skull-offers-clues-about-ice-age-predator
VIDEO
Released: 30-Mar-2023 8:05 AM EDT
“Exquisite” sabertooth skull offers clues about Ice Age predator
Iowa State University

The recent discovery of a complete sabertooth cat skull from southwest Iowa provides the first evidence of this animal in the state. It also offers clues about an iconic Ice Age predator before the species went extinct roughly 12-13,000 years ago. Researchers believe the skull belonged to a subadult male that may have preyed on giant ground sloths.

Released: 29-Mar-2023 7:20 PM EDT
Ancient African empires’ impact on migration revealed by genetics
University College London

Traces of ancient empires that stretched across Africa remain in the DNA of people living on the continent, reveals a new genetics study led by UCL researchers.

Released: 29-Mar-2023 11:25 AM EDT
Radar, AI identify Alaska Native Spanish flu victims burial site
Cornell University

A Cornell research scientist, working in partnership with an organization representing a consortium of 20 Native Alaska groups, used ground-penetrating radar and AI modeling to locate the communal graves of approximately 93 victims of the Spanish influenza at Pilgrim Hot Springs on the Seward Peninsula – a finding that helps clarify the historical record for the Indigenous communities devastated by the 1918-19 pandemic.

27-Mar-2023 3:45 PM EDT
Ancient DNA Reveals Asian Ancestry Introduced to East Africa in Early Modern Times
Harvard Medical School

The largest-yet analysis of ancient DNA in Africa, which includes the first ancient DNA recovered from members of the medieval Swahili civilization, has now broken the stalemate about the extent to which people from outside Africa contributed to Swahili culture and ancestry.

Newswise: The “Stonehenge calendar” shown to be a modern construct
Released: 24-Mar-2023 10:05 AM EDT
The “Stonehenge calendar” shown to be a modern construct
Politecnico di Milano

Stonehenge is an astonishingly complex monument, which attracts attention mostly for its spectacular megalithic circle and “horseshoe”, built around 2600 BC.

Released: 22-Mar-2023 5:05 PM EDT
Copper artifacts unearth new cultural connections in southern Africa
University of Missouri, Columbia

Chemical and isotopic analysis of copper artifacts from southern Africa reveals new cultural connections among people living in the region between the 5th and 20th centuries according to a University of Missouri researcher and colleagues.

Released: 16-Mar-2023 8:05 AM EDT
Forensic Study Sheds Light on the Remains of Infants, Children
North Carolina State University

A forensic science study sheds light on how the bones of infants and juveniles decay. The findings will help forensic scientists determine how long a young person’s remains were at a particular location, as well as which bones are best suited for collecting tissue samples to help ID the deceased.

Newswise: Lasers and chemistry reveal how ancient pottery was made — and how an empire functioned
Released: 14-Mar-2023 11:30 AM EDT
Lasers and chemistry reveal how ancient pottery was made — and how an empire functioned
Field Museum

Peru’s first great empire, the Wari, stretched for more than a thousand miles over the Andes Mountains and along the coast from 600-1000 CE.

Not for public release

This news release is embargoed until 13-Mar-2023 3:00 PM EDT Released to reporters: 8-Mar-2023 2:45 PM EST

A reporter's PressPass is required to access this story until the embargo expires on 13-Mar-2023 3:00 PM EDT The Newswise PressPass gives verified journalists access to embargoed stories. Please log in to complete a presspass application. If you have not yet registered, please Register. When you fill out the registration form, please identify yourself as a reporter in order to advance to the presspass application form.

Newswise: The colors on these ancient pots hint at the power of an empire
Released: 7-Mar-2023 5:35 PM EST
The colors on these ancient pots hint at the power of an empire
Field Museum

In a new study, archaeologists compared the colors on pieces of ancient Peruvian pottery. They found that potters across the Wari empire all used the same rich black pigment to make ceramics used in rituals: a sign of the empire’s influence.

Newswise: Human temporal lobes are not very large in comparison with other primates
Released: 6-Mar-2023 7:35 PM EST
Human temporal lobes are not very large in comparison with other primates
Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)

It had been thought to date that the species Homo sapiens has disproportionately large temporal lobes compared to other anthropoid primates, the group including anthropomorphic monkeys and apes. A new study, one of whose authors is Emiliano Bruner, a paleoneurologist at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), contradicts that hypothesis.

Newswise: The world’s first horse riders
Released: 3-Mar-2023 7:05 PM EST
The world’s first horse riders
University of Helsinki

The researchers discovered evidence of horse riding by studying the remains of human skeletons found in burial mounds called kurgans, which were between 4500-5000 years old.

Newswise: Archaeological study of 24 ancient Mexican cities reveals that collective forms of governance, infrastructural investments, and collaboration all help societies last longer
Released: 3-Mar-2023 12:50 PM EST
Archaeological study of 24 ancient Mexican cities reveals that collective forms of governance, infrastructural investments, and collaboration all help societies last longer
Field Museum

Some cities only last a century or two, while others last for a thousand years or more. Often, there aren’t clear records left behind to explain why.

Newswise: Tree rings and strontium point researchers to the provenance of 400-year-old timber
Released: 3-Mar-2023 10:30 AM EST
Tree rings and strontium point researchers to the provenance of 400-year-old timber
University of Copenhagen

Tree-ring analysis – so-called dendrochronological analysis – has been part of archaeology for many years and has made it possible for archaeologists to date old wooden objects with great precision.

Released: 28-Feb-2023 6:55 PM EST
Steel was already used in Europe 2900 years ago
University of Freiburg

A study by an international and interdisciplinary team headed by Freiburg archaeologist Dr. Ralph Araque Gonzalez from the Faculty of Humanities has proven that steel tools were already in use in Europe around 2900 years ago.

Newswise: Deadly waves: Researchers document evolution of plague over hundreds of years in medieval Denmark
22-Feb-2023 10:50 AM EST
Deadly waves: Researchers document evolution of plague over hundreds of years in medieval Denmark
McMaster University

Scientists who study the origins and evolution of the plague have examined hundreds of ancient human teeth from Denmark, seeking to address longstanding questions about its arrival, persistence and spread within Scandinavia.

   
Released: 22-Feb-2023 6:20 PM EST
Bow-and-arrow, technology of the first modern humans in Europe 54,000 years ago at Mandrin, France
University of Connecticut

If the emergence of mechanically propelled weapons in prehistory is commonly perceived as one of the hallmarks of the advance of modern human populations into the European continent, the existence of archery has always been more difficult to trace.

Newswise: Archaeologists uncover early evidence of brain surgery in Ancient Near East
Released: 22-Feb-2023 5:30 PM EST
Archaeologists uncover early evidence of brain surgery in Ancient Near East
Brown University

Archaeologists know that people have practiced cranial trephination, a medical procedure that involves cutting a hole in the skull, for thousands of years.

   


close
1.56109