Tag Archives: human evolution

Small, sharp blades mark the change from Middle to Later Stone Age in coastal Kenya

Posted on April 9, 2021 by Amy McDermott

The transition between the Middle and Later Stone Age is a controversial topic among archeologists. Recent findings offer a possible answer, suggesting that the shift occurred between 67,000 and 71,000 years ago, and has as its hallmark a sudden abundance … Continue reading →

Categories: Anthropology | Journal Club | Tagged archaeology, human evolution, Levallois cores, paleolithic, Panga ya Saidi, Prismatic blade, stone age, stone tools | Leave a comment

Journal Club: Newly found mutation contributes to irregular chromosome number, a major cause of pregnancy loss

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Charles Choi

When a baby does not make it to term, an irregular number of chromosomes in the embryo is often the root cause. The phenomenon, known as aneuploidy, is surprisingly common: it can be detected in roughly three-quarters of human embryos … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Age of ‘Little Foot’ provides twist in story of hominid evolution

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Joel Shurkin

An early hominid named Little Foot has been dated to 3.67 million years old, making the timeline of human evolution even more complicated. Little Foot was found in a cave at Sterkfontein in South Africa, an hour’s drive from Johannesburg … Continue reading →

Categories: Anthropology | Evolution | Journal Club | Tagged fossil, hominid, human evolution, isochron burial dating | Leave a comment

Journal Club: High-throughput sequencing transforms the study of human evolution

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Charles Choi

In the last five years, great strides have been made in the field of human evolution, such as the sequencing of the Neanderthal genome that revealed that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred, and the discovery of an extinct branch of … Continue reading →