I'm a paleoanthropologist. I explore human fossils and genomes to understand where we came from and what we share with our ancestors.
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Our team has released three preprints on @biorxivpreprint today. One of these describes engraved panels on the rock walls of the Dinaledi subsystem of the Rising Star cave system, where we have abundant fossil remains of Homo naledi. doi.org/10.1101/2023.0…
I spent a long time trying to understand why so many archaeologists are hesitant to accept Neandertal marking of cave walls. I think the problem is a wrong conception of visual culture and its importance. johnhawks.net/weblog/neander…
“What color were Neandertals?” For a hundred years, artists and scientists have depicted them basically like Europeans. Now genomes are providing new evidence about their pigmentation, but most is still unknown. A look at the developing science. johnhawks.net/weblog/what-co…
Remarkable map from @sommer_geo @ROCEEH_news showing the density of known archaeological assemblages across the time from 3 million to 40,000 years ago. Our knowledge of the deep past comes from a handful of regions, with so many areas completely unknown. doi.org/10.1080/174456…
A stunning proposal for revision of the age of the Sterkfontein Australopithecus africanus fossils: Instead of 2.6–2.1 million, they may be 3.7–3.3 million years old. This would reconfigure the role of South Africa in early hominin evolution. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2…
A comprehensive analysis of the tools and ornaments made from animal bones and teeth at Bacho Kiro cave, representing people who lived just after Neandertals, by @mellonome and coworkers. doi.org/10.1016/j.jhev…
The combination of paleontology and genetics are quickly revealing how many varied lineages coexisted in the Pleistocene, not only hominins but across mammals. We live today in a world pruned of lineage diversity. This, on ginormous camels: doi.org/10.3389/feart.…
"The notion that modern human art began in Europe some 40,000 years ago has been 'a crumbling edifice'." pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn… "What was the first 'art'? How would we know?" This piece is from last fall, very good. @PNASNews @amygmcdermott
A logical paper by @wilderwohns and coworkers, with inferences of ancestral location for nodes connecting the genes of people today and some ancient people. A fascinating result is how multiregional the nodes were before 100,000 years ago. doi.org/10.1126/scienc…
Remarkable synthesis of forensic evidence from Sima de los Huesos in The Anatomical Record by Nohemi Sala and coworkers. This is important work more than 40 years in the making. Incredible record of survival with cranial injuries. @AnatomyOrg @CENIEH doi.org/10.1002/ar.248…
Great new article in American Biology Teacher "Explore Paleoanthropology Fieldwork: A Virtual Expedition to Rising Star Cave (South Africa) with DinalediVR" @PerotMuseum @BeccaPeixotto doi.org/10.1525/abt.20…
This is a provocative paper describing a possible non-Neandertal tooth and blade/bladelet-based assemblages at a time when our assumption would be that only Neandertals should be present. science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
"At least 2,500 years ago, hunters in West Texas drove hundreds of bison off a cliff. Now archaeologists are uncovering new clues at the world’s southernmost—and possibly oldest—bison jump site." texasmonthly.com/being-texan/se…
"Why the volcanic eruption in Tonga was so violent, and what to expect next" theconversation.com/why-the-volcan…
A critical letter in this week's @ScienceMagazine questions the age of the early American footprints from Lake Otero, New Mexico, USA which last year were placed around 22,000 years ago. Letter: doi.org/10.1126/scienc… Reply: doi.org/10.1126/scienc…
A colleague asked me today how many Neanderthal fossils there are. We don't have a full accounting, and I wrote a piece a few years ago to give an impression of the volume of fossil evidence. medium.johnhawks.net/how-much-evide…
Great to have our research on the new "Leti" skull of #Homonaledi out in the open access journal PaleoAnthropology today. paleoanthropology.org/ojs/index.php/…
It is not clear how the Skhūl cave #hominin sample is connected to recent humans or Neandertals. Theodosius Dobzhansky once argued that the sample represents a hybrid population. Today this hypothesis remains possible. #paleoanthropology
