Prehistoric humans ate bone marrow like canned soup 400,000 years ago

Researchers have uncovered evidence of the storage and delayed consumption of animal bone marrow at Qesem Cave near Tel Aviv. The research provides direct evidence that early Paleolithic people saved animal bones for up to nine weeks before feasting on them inside the cave.

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Early humans evolved in ecosystems unlike any found today

To understand the environmental pressures that shaped human evolution, scientists must reconstruct the ecosystems in which they lived. Because putting together the puzzle of millions-of-years-old ecosystems is a difficult task, many studies draw analogies with present-day African ecosystems, such as the Serengeti. A new study calls into question such approaches and suggests that the vast majority of human evolution occurred in ecosystems unlike any found today.

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Big data reveals extraordinary unity underlying life's diversity

Limits to growth lie at the heart of how all living things function. The diversity of life is staggering. From microscopic algae to elephants, life has devised countless ways to thrive in every environment on the planet. But while biologists have tended to focus on the many varied forms that species have evolved, the age of 'big data' offers an unprecedented view of some surprisingly common features shared by all creatures, great and small.

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Oldest miniaturized stone toolkits in Eurasia

Microliths are often interpreted as being part of composite tools, including projectile weapons, essential to efficient Homo sapiens hunting strategies. In Europe and Africa, these lithic toolkits are linked to hunting medium and large-sized animals in grassland or woodland settings, or as adaptations during periods of climatic change. The presence of microliths in Sri Lanka suggests the existence of more diverse ecological contexts for these technologies by some of the earliest members of our species.

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African evidence support Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis

A team of scientists from South Africa has discovered evidence partially supporting a hypothesis that Earth was struck by a meteorite or asteroid 12,800 years ago, leading to global consequences including climate change, and contributing to the extinction of many species of large animals at the time of an episode called the Younger Dryas.

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