Horses Tamed Earlier Than We Thought

Rare, delicate pottery found at site

(NEWSER) - A huge cache of Bronze Age weapons were unearthed today in Essex, England, the BBC reports. Axe heads, spear tips, and other objects dating back some 3,000 years were found under a field, where they had been buried for safe-keeping by their original owners. "To find a hoard still located in its Bronze Age context, below the level of plowed soil, is very rare," says a local archaeologist. More»

A look into the origins of the human-canine connection

(NEWSER) - Today, they’re man’s best friend, but dogs may have originally come to humans as their best bet for dinner. Researchers in Sweden examined the DNA of dogs around the world and found that they all seemed to be of the same lineage, pointing to “a single domestication event” in southern China, a region with a history of eating dogs, the New York Times reports. More»

(NEWSER) - A nearly perfectly preserved 37,000-year-old baby mammoth is giving up tantalizing secrets about her species, scientists report. The creature, dubbed Lyuba by researchers, still sports clumps of hair and eyelashes, according to the Telegraph. Scientists have been able to examine stomach contents and the mineral makeup of the bones and teeth in the animal, found 2 years ago by reindeer herders in Siberia. More»

Skull suggests ancient humans cared for sick

(NEWSER) - Scientists have pieced together the skull of an ancient human who appears to have been deformed, but survived to at least age 5—suggesting he or she was cared for in spite of the handicap. That’s evidence for the existence of compassion in early humans, a trait other primates don’t show, Wired reports. The discovery points to a branching-off in human evolution up to half a million years ago. More»

DNA probe sheds light on early humans' doom

(NEWSER) - Analysis of DNA from a thigh bone is helping solve the longstanding question of what happened to Neanderthals. Did they simply die off, were they killed by more modern humans—or did the two groups interbreed? DNA from the Neanderthal bone is so different from that of modern humans that interbreeding now appears highly unlikely, the Independent reports, making it likely that our ancestors were to blame. More»