Evolution
How Hobbits Happened: The Evolution of Homo floresiensis
New fossils shed light on the origin of the unusual human relative known as ‘the hobbit’. This video was reproduced with permission and was first published on June 8, 2016. ..
"anthropology"
Arts & Culture
Ancient Sculpture Garden Was Built by Neandertals
In a cave in France archaeologists have found some of the oldest human constructions ever discovered — but no one knows what they are. Nature Video takes a look. This video was reproduced with permission and was first published on May 25, 2016...
The Sciences
Piltdown Man Came from The Lost World... Well, No, It Didn't
In 1908, amateur geologist and solicitor Charles Dawson claimed the discovery of a new and exciting fossil that, so it was thought, shed substantial light on the ancestry of humans. Dubbed Piltdown man, and technically named Eoanthropus dawsoni , it was (... spoiler ...) eventually shown to be a hoax – one of the most nefarious, infamous and successful scientific hoaxes of all time.You know all of this already...
The Sciences
Piltdown Man and the Dualist Contention
One of the most fascinating episodes in the history of palaeontology is that of Piltdown man, an alleged human ancestor discovered in 1908 at Piltdown in Sussex, England. Formally named Eoanthropus dawsoni in 1912, Piltdown man matched early 20 th century expectations of what a human ancestor might be like...
The Sciences
Rice and Beans: Shaping the Customer's Choice
As more cultural commodities enter the market, cultural distinctions will become muted to suit the appetites of a wider clientele
The Sciences
Rice and Beans: The Private Role of Food
The signfiicance of selling a personal substance in the public market.
Mind
Learning to Make a Stone Age Axe Gives Clues to How the Brain Evolved
For many decades, scientists have tried to understand the past by doing as our forebears did. One important endeavor in what is called experimental archaeology involves moderns crafting Stone Age tools by chipping away at rocks...
Can anthropology defeat self-deception to build better apps?
Last September, I participated in the relaunch of Ignite NYC. These mini-presentations test your game by only allowing you five minutes and 20 slides to share your idea with audience.
Arts & Culture
The Obligation of Gifts
For those of you with Christmas trees, they probably look a little barren following the unwrapping of presents. What did you get for Christmas?
How Networks Are Revolutionizing Scientific (and Maybe Human) Thought
Science and common sense are alike grounded in human experience. Yet these ways of thinking about things are often in conflict. Sometimes the simplicity of most commonsense explanations can make it hard to win people over to the complexity and uncertainties of most scientific arguments...
Anthropologist Finds Flaw in Claim that Chimp Raids Are “Adaptive”
Since September, I’ve posted three columns, including two written by others, on whether lethal chimpanzee raids–and by implication, human warfare—are adaptive and hence innate...
Thanksgiving and the Slanderous Myth of the Savage Savage
The approach of Thanksgiving, that quintessential American holiday, has me brooding once again over slanderous scientific portrayals of Native Americans as bellicose brutes.* When I was in grade school, my classmates and I wore paper Indian headdresses and Pilgrim hats and reenacted the "first Thanksgiving," in which supposedly friendly Native Americans joined Pilgrims for a [...]..
Evolución
Electron Beam Points to Origins of Teotihuacan Stone Faces
El nuevo método de análisis microscópico de los artefactos de la antigua ciudad también puede identificar piezas falsificadas en los museos.
Electron Beam Points to Origins of Teotihuacan Stone Faces
New microscope analysis of artifacts from the ancient city also can find fakes in museums
Evolution
Why Humans Are Important to Studies of Primate Diversity
It is not in the least bit controversial to picture humans* within the context of the placental mammal group that we belong to, the primates.
What can teeth tell us about our prehistoric ancestors?
Our distant past is just that: the distant past. It’s this murky place that science is slowly filling in but the landscape still largely exists just on the periphery of our imagination, and it’s dominated by raw, somewhat violent natures...
“Rethinking Home” with Citizen Anthropologists
There is something to be said for having a space that you call home. It grounds you in social and cultural ways. As much as your home is a reflection of who you are, it also becomes a mirror for larger social observances...
The Sciences
Decoding Mexico's City of Gods
Long cloaked in mystery, the ancient Teotihuacán culture is at last giving up its secrets
Behavior & Society
Why are we sleeping with our phones?
When you woke up this morning, did you reach for your cell phone? Was it right next to the bed? Or under your pillow? Did you use it as an alarm clock?
True Calling Interview: Anthropology in a Non-Traditional Path
Last week I was interviewed by Renee Masur of Sokanu as part of the “True Calling” series, which looks at people who have found careers (allegedly) doing things they love.
