Archaeology

Shotgun proteomics on a corpse can determine whether someone was actually suffering from a disease rather than just carrying it. Evelyn Lamb reports

The development of Chinchorro burial rituals 7,000 years ago in South America coincided with a wet climate and a related population boom

Three shark species once found in the central Pacific Ocean are now missing, a study of swords, tridents and other weapons reveals

Black Drink, a caffeinated brew of toasted leaves and twigs of the holly plant, was apparently popular far from any holly. Cynthia Graber reports

Biotechnology reveals how the woolly mammoth survived the cold and other mysteries of extinct creatures

Fifty-thousand-year-old dental plaque reveals that Neandertals may have used certain plants for their medicinal qualities. Christopher Intagliata reports

Analysis of seafloor sediment reveals lower oxygen levels in the ocean when the planet heated up 55.9 million years ago

This year's doomsday angst owes much to public ignorance about pre-Columbian civilizations

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

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.

Milk fat compounds found on pottery shards indicate that Africans were engaged in dairy farming by about 7,000 years ago. Cynthia Graber reports

A new technique can estimate a body's volume and weight based on laser scans of its skeleton. Sophie Bushwick reports