Fossils from Atapuerca, Spain reveal Homo antecessor, the earliest known humans in Western Europe. Dating back 1.2 million ...

Ochre is an iron-rich mineral pigment that was used by many ancient civilizations for color, decoration and practical tasks ...

The most exciting is a roughly 4.5-centimeter-long, 1.2-centimeter-thick (1.8 and 0.5-inch) fragment of yellow ocher that was ...

Recent scientific findings suggest that Neanderthals were more susceptible to lead poisoning than their Homo sapiens ...

A tiny bone from Starosele Cave, Crimea, has yielded ancient DNA showing it belonged to a Neanderthal dubbed “Star 1”.

DNA and stone tool comparisons suggest Eastern European Neandertals trekked 3,000 kilometers to Siberia, where they left a genetic and cultural mark.

The fossils indicate that P. boisei ’s human-like hand proportions would have allowed it to handle stone tools with dexterity ...

Scientists found that ancient lead exposure shaped early human evolution. The toxin may have played a surprising role in the development of modern cognition and language. An international team of ...

Scientists found that one tiny DNA change in the NOVA1 gene helped modern humans resist lead exposure that harmed ...

Lead poisoning isn’t just an industrial-age problem. A new study reveals our ancestors, including Neanderthals, were exposed ...

Long before factories, mines, and cars filled the air with pollution, our distant ancestors were already living with a silent ...

Lead exposure may have spelled evolutionary success for humans—and extinction for our ancient cousins—but other scientists ...