neanderthals

Scientists experimenting on mice have found evidence that key parts of the modern human brain take more time to develop than those of our long extinct cousin, the Neanderthal.Like the hare and the tortoise, slow and steady is the winner here. The extra time is caused by protein differences that also appear to reduce chromosome errors, ultimately resulting in a healthier, more robust population.  The study's results imply that this step in the development of our neocortex (the wrinkled outer layer responsible for higher…

Two hundred years ago, an earthquake revealed the entrance to a large cave system in southern Spain; sealed within the dark chambers were artworks made tens of thousands of years ago by early modern humans and Neanderthals, our closest relatives. Now, excavations and scientific analyses have revealed the precise age of many of the cave’s artworks and the chronology of the system’s use.The cave is called Cueva de Ardales, and it contains over 1,000 artworks depicting animals, humans, handprints, and abstractions. Though…

If archaeology has shown us anything, it's the sobering impermanence of our lives.Human settlements come and go. We may remain in specific regions, but the cladding on that region changes, the past often buried in ruins hidden beneath our feet. But one place seems to have been so special that humans used it, if somewhat sporadically, for 50,000 years.  That place is Cueva de Ardales, a cave in Málaga in southern Spain, famed for the extensive prehistoric art daubed and inscribed on its walls. Over 1,000 such works have…

Deep in the forests of Laos, in a cave in the Annamite Mountains, lay a single child's tooth. That tooth – an unassuming molar - could be from a mysterious species of human we know little about, and of which few remains are known to exist.  "Analyses of the internal structure of the molar in tandem with palaeoproteomic analyses of the enamel indicate that the tooth derives from a young, likely female, Homo individual," researchers write in a new study. The tooth, from the Tam Ngu Hao 2 cave, "most likely represents a…