For decades, scientists who studied early modern humans believed that our ancestors initially inhabited only small areas of Africa, the savannas of the eastern and southern part of the continent, and ...

Our human species emerged in Africa around 300,000 years ago but scientists don't yet have a clear picture of what kind of natural environment we evolved in. Until recently, the dominant idea was that ...

Archaeology has witnessed a number of recent new discoveries that make this an exciting time to be studying human evolution. In this piece, for example, Dr. Chris Stringer discusses how technology is ...

Scientists have discovered human fossils originating from around the time of one of evolution’s most decisive turning points. Unearthed in Morocco, the bones date to roughly the time when our ...

Important, previously unrecognized genetic changes common to all ancient and modern Homo sapiens spread in Africa more than 300,000 years ago, a new study finds. After that, the same investigation ...

The fossil and genetic evidence agree that modern humans originated in Africa. The most genetically diverse human populations—the groups that have had the longest time to pick up novel mutations—live ...

The discovery clashes with the traditional image of humans evolving on the savannas of East Africa. By Carl Zimmer For generations, scientists looked to the East African savanna as the birthplace of ...

Small settlements and the scourge of slavery left gaps in Africa's archaeological record. Yet sites and artifacts are revealing clues to the continent’s more recent history. An archaeologist explains ...

(Reuters) -Small bands of Homo sapiens made a few failed forays leaving our home continent before the species finally managed to launch a major dispersal out of Africa roughly 50,000 years ago, going ...

At the heart of scientific questions about the origins of humanity lie questions of human nature. Are Homo sapiens intrinsically lovers or fighters, predators or prey, lucky survivors or inevitable ...