Anthropology

A Denisovan skull has been identified for the first time. The find was based on proteins and calcified dental plaque

Phoenician civilization spread its culture and alphabet across the Mediterranean but not, evidently, its DNA

The third confirmed location of extinct hominins known as Denisovans shows these human cousins adapted to an impressive range of environments

Roughly 8,000-year-old remains unearthed from present-day Tunisia held a surprise: European hunter-gatherer ancestry

From periods of rapid aging in our 40s and 60s to ancient brains that don’t decompose, here are some of the year’s most intriguing stories about human biology

The oldest human genomes ever sequenced reveal that our Neandertal ancestry came from one “pulse” of interbreeding and pins down the timing

Misfolded proteins may preserve postmortem brains well after other tissues have decayed

Two sets of fossilized footprints from early human species were made within a few hours of each other about 1.5 million years ago, researchers suggest

The 3.2-million-year-old human ancestor known as Lucy sparked a revolution in scientists’ understanding of the origins of clever hands and stone tools

The far side of the moon offers grounds for compromise between advocates and opponents of lunar development

In 1974 we beamed a radio transmission into space that changed the way we think about our place in the cosmos

The 3.2-million-year-old human ancestor known as Lucy rose to fame through an incredible combination of circumstances