Anthropology

Here are three big ways that Jane Goodall transformed science

The anthropologist was famous for her pioneering research with chimpanzees and her influence on conservation

Genetic and anatomical data reveal how the human pelvis acquired its unique shape, enabling our ancestors to walk on two legs

Forty years after the first effort to extract mummy DNA, researchers have finally generated a full genome sequence from an ancient Egyptian, who lived when the earliest pyramids were built

A Denisovan skull has been identified for the first time. The find was based on proteins and calcified dental plaque

Phoenician civilization spread its culture and alphabet across the Mediterranean but not, evidently, its DNA

The third confirmed location of extinct hominins known as Denisovans shows these human cousins adapted to an impressive range of environments

Roughly 8,000-year-old remains unearthed from present-day Tunisia held a surprise: European hunter-gatherer ancestry

From periods of rapid aging in our 40s and 60s to ancient brains that don’t decompose, here are some of the year’s most intriguing stories about human biology

The oldest human genomes ever sequenced reveal that our Neandertal ancestry came from one “pulse” of interbreeding and pins down the timing

Misfolded proteins may preserve postmortem brains well after other tissues have decayed

Two sets of fossilized footprints from early human species were made within a few hours of each other about 1.5 million years ago, researchers suggest