human origins
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Astonishing Denisovan Fossil Discovery Traced Back To Unknown Buddhist Monk
The archaeology world is abuzz today with news of the first Denisovan fossil found outside of Siberia. The 160,000-year-old jawbone was uncovered by a Buddhist monk in a Chinese cave nearly 40 years ago—an aspect of this story that’s as intriguing as it is frustrating.
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Neanderthals Weren’t The Violent Brutes We Thought, New Research Finds
The stereotype of a typical Neanderthal life is that it was extraordinarily difficult, violent, and traumatic. But a comparative analysis of the remains left behind by Neanderthals and contemporaneous humans is finally overturning this unwarranted assumption.
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Ancient Human Groups Mated With The Mysterious Denisovans At Least Twice
Genetic analysis suggests two populations of Denisovans – an extinct group of hominids closely related to Neanderthals – existed outside of Africa during the Pleistocene, and that both of these populations interacted and interbred with anatomically modern humans.