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Humans

These ancient sand drawings could be a fifth type of palaeoart

Was this perfect circle with a central depression drawn by our ancestors in the sand, around 136,000 years ago? Palaeontologist Charles Helm certainly thinks so

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Professor Lee Berger, palaeontologist, explorer and member of The National Geographic Society, gestures as he explains the scientific relevance of discovering Homo Naledi in the Rising Star caves system in The Cradle of Human Kind, on May 11, 2023. The news shakes the foundations of human evolution: world-renowned paleontologist Lee Berger announced on Monday that he had discovered the oldest graves ever found in South Africa, pushing back the first traces of mortuary practices by some 100,000 years . The oldest tombs discovered so far were found in Israel and Egypt at the beginning of the 20th century. They date from around 100,000 years before our era and house the remains of Homo sapiens, the direct ancestor of man. The burials unearthed in South Africa date from -200,000 to -300,000 years. (Photo by Luca Sola / AFP) (Photo by LUCA SOLA/AFP via Getty Images)

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Cave of Bones review: Lee Berger on the discovery of Homo naledi

Culture

BEAMBN Tibetan plateau scenery en route from Shegar to Tingri, Tibet

Humans

How prehistoric people settled one of Earth’s most extreme places

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Humans

We are hopeless at telling when we have goosebumps

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Humans

Ancient humans hunted animals by throwing a stick like a boomerang

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Sunrise over Ahu Tongariki Moai in Easter Island, Chile

Humans

The societies proving that inequality and patriarchy aren't inevitable

Features

Humans

Artistic artefacts are rewriting the timeline of ancient South America

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Tam Pà Ling cave in northern Laos, where several human fossils dating back tens of thousands of years have been found

Humans

Fossils in Laos cave imply modern humans were in Asia 86,000 years ago

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Metin Eren at Kent State University demonstrates flintknapping to make stone tools

Humans

Ancient humans may have risked their lives making stone tools

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Humans

Humans were kissing at least 4500 years ago, reveal ancient texts

Many sources claim sexual kissing spread worldwide from South Asia 3500 years ago, but there is evidence it was practised in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt much earlier than that

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Society

Why we shouldn't fill our minds with endless tales of dystopia

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Life

Ancient bacteria genome reconstructed from Neanderthal tooth gunk

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Humans

DNA from 25,000-year-old tooth pendant reveals woman who wore it

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Humans

Can we ever know who invented the wheel?

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