Ancient DNA Research Revolutionizes Scientists’ Understanding of Extinct Animals
Biotechnology reveals how the woolly mammoth survived the cold and other mysteries of extinct creatures
Archaeology & Paleontology1329 articles archived since 1845
Bottom Line: Ocean Floor Sediments May Be Window on World's Warmer Future
Analysis of seafloor sediment reveals lower oxygen levels in the ocean when the planet heated up 55.9 million years ago
Neither the Maya Calendar--nor the World--Ends on December 21, 2012
This year's doomsday angst owes much to public ignorance about pre-Columbian civilizations
Ancient Lives
Help scholars transcribe and catalog ancient Greek papyri fragments
Tragedy and Triumph: The Heroic Age of Polar Exploration
To the Ends of the Earth
Dinosaurs Might Have Had Warm-Blooded Animals' Fast Metabolism
Evidence is mounting against claims that dinosaurs could not have been endothermic, including a new analysis of fossil microstructures found in ruminants, lizards, dinosaurs and crocodiles...
Side Step: Asymmetrical Skull Links Modern Flatfish to Ancient Relatives
Even though it had been in a museum in Vienna for years, Heteronectes had not been recognized for what it was—an intermediate form between "normal" fishes, with eyes on opposite sides of the head, and modern flatfish such as halibut and flounder, with both eyes on the same side...
Africans Did Dairy Seven Millennia Ago
Milk fat compounds found on pottery shards indicate that Africans were engaged in dairy farming by about 7,000 years ago. Cynthia Graber reports
Lasers Help Weigh Dinosaurs
A new technique can estimate a body's volume and weight based on laser scans of its skeleton. Sophie Bushwick reports
Baby Boom: Did Retained Juvenile Traits Help Birds Outlive Dinosaurs?
Differences in developmental timing may have given birds their big eyes, big brains and smaller size
Ancient Time: Earliest Mayan Astronomical Calendar Unearthed in Guatemala Ruins
The ninth-century wall paintings predate existing Mayan astronomical records by hundreds of years
Recommended: Bird Sense
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Stonehenge Had Lecture Hall Acoustics
Rather than search for an acoustic motivation behind its structure, new research aims to better understand how ancient people might have used Stonehenge
Giant Flealike Pest Put the Bite on Dinosaurs
Compression fossils reveal that these Mesozoic insects with serrated mouthparts were 10 times bigger than today's fleas, but lacked jumping legs
Killer Chimps and Funny Feet: Report from the AAPA Conference
Scientific American editor Kate Wong talks about the recent conference of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Portland, Ore., where subjects included killer chimps, unprecedented fossil sharing among researchers and divergent hominid foot forms...
Dinosaurs Grew to Outpace Their Young
Ancient reptiles owed huge size more to their eggs than to a benign environment.
Melting Glaciers Liberate Ancient Microbes
The release of life-forms in cold storage for eons raises new concerns about the impacts of climate change
Bugs in the Ice Sheet
Melting glaciers could liberate ancient microbes
"Breathtaking" Mummy Coffin Covers Seized in Israel
The confiscated wooden covers are adorned with hieroglyphics and highlight what is a seemingly vast black market for mummies
