CategoryPaleontology
Tales From the Neanderthal Nights: Why They Really Disappeared
A new paper offers an assessment that does not need the Neanderthal to be the subhuman whose disappearance is explained by evolution. Arithmetic will suffice
Human Tools Found From a Tumultuous Period 2.7 Million Years Ago
The authors talk much about “evolutionary” and “evolution.” But actually, it doesn’t sound as if there was much evolution at all. It sounds more like one enduring insight
At Psych Mag: How Your Brain Allegedly Invented God…
Not THIS again, you say? Yes, this again. Straight out of the 1970s, as if the last fifty years of research never happened
Ancient Burials Are in the News Again — for Good Reason
Archaeologists are reporting on a group culture around death from 100,000 years ago, maybe involving both Neanderthals and modern humans
Why Did Our Very Ancient Ancestors Collect Ball-Shaped Stones?
Over a million years ago, it seems that some of our ancestors hiked through valleys in East Africa, searching for volcanic spheres
Abstract Reasoning in Human Ancestors: Earlier Than Thought?
Researchers say, bone tools were being mass produced 1.5 million years ago in the in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania
A Catholic Priest Talks About Human Evolution
Fr. Martin Hilbert approaches the topic from the perspective of evidence, reason, and faith — and realism about what is at stake in the discussion
Neanderthals Used a “High Tech” Method for Making Glue
High tech for the times they lived in, that is. They had to figure out why the lower tech method got poor results and develop a more sophisticated one
Researchers: Did Neanderthal Children Collect “Stuff”?
The items that raise the question are small marine shells found in caves. They were carefully preserved but have no known function. A baby tooth was found in the same area
Can We Really Study the Minds of Ancient Humans?
The design inference helps sort things out in human paleontology
Evolutionary Theorists Stymied by the Human Mind
No one actually knows how our ancestors began to think like humans
Could Neanderthals Speak? It Depends on Who You Talk To
Theorists who will, sadly, never converse with a living Neanderthal imagine things they could and couldn’t do linguistically
The wildly varying intelligence of big, bad, extinct T. Rex
After centuries with the “stupid” label, T. rex was found in one 2023 study to be as smart as a primate. But then…
Why Did Our Ancestors Start Drawing in Caves and Making Jewelry?
For that matter, why did they choose to develop artworks around fossilized dinosaur footprints?
Thinking Back to the Very Beginnings of Art
It just appears, from great antiquity, and we really don’t know why. All we know is that animals don’t do it
Asked at Psychology Today: Were Neanderthals Religious?
We can’t poll long-dead Neanderthals on life, death, and the hereafter but the evidence we’ve dug up suggests they were thinking about that kind of thing
Scientists Spar Over What a Netflix Science Documentary Should Be
Should “Ancient Apocalypse” be relabeled “science fiction” if archeologists don’t think the documentary writer’s claims are valid?
Deciphering the Hidden Meanings of Cave Art
In many cases, there are more dots and lines than animals, which suggests some sort of early information system