Ann Gibbons

“Completely surprising” discovery based on ancient pollutants suggests mining and smelting continued apace for centuries

The world’s greatest concentration of ancestral human remains, in South Africa, poses a 2-million-year-old riddle of coexistence

High nitrogen in Neanderthal bones doesn’t mean they were uber-carnivores

Ancient remains suggest at least two types of early humans roamed Europe about 1 million years ago

Mice modified to have “human” version of a protein made more complex squeaks

Researchers seek common patterns in adolescence, in chimps, elephants, and dolphins

About 1.5 million years ago, early members of our genus Homo walked along a lakeshore in Africa within hours of another kind of hominin, likely Paranthropus

Small-brained member of Homo that lived 1.8 million years ago may signal a step toward long, drawn-out childhoods

Ancient DNA study gives a Neanderthal-eye view of prehistory, offers clues to how our cousins vanished

200,000-year-old DNA from Siberian cave shows our elusive, extinct cousins mated repeatedly with Neanderthals