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December 2, 2008 4:34:48 AM CST

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9 Stories

In Remote Amazon, Complex Towns Once Flourished

Archaeologists see advanced civilization in areas since overtaken by rain forest

BBC BBC Aug 29, 08 2:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Researchers have unearthed remains of densely populated, complex urban towns in a remote region of the Amazon River Basin, the BBC reports. In an area of western Brazil thought to be virgin forest, researchers found extensive and advanced human activity, including roads, farming, wetland management, and what appear to be fish farms built prior to Europeans landing in the 15th century. More »

More about:  Brazil • archaeology • Amazon rainforest • rainforest • anthropology • ancient cities

Save a Food From Extinction: Eat It for Dinner

'Food coalitions' aim to keep ingredients, recipes key to US heritage in circulation

New York Times New York Times May 1, 08 7:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - Vanishing culinary breeds are getting a new lease on life, thanks to the efforts of an ethnobotanist with an interest in America's foodie past, the New York Times reports. While Makah ozette potato sounds like a "Final Jeopardy" answer, the once-endangered vegetable is one of the many culinary artifacts Gary Paul Nabhan aims to bring back to America's dinner tables. More »

More about:  food • endangered species • agriculture • crops • anthropology • gourmet dining • chickens • potato • Makah tribe

Peru Dig Yields 4000-Year Old Gold Necklace

Oldest bling in the Americas shows primitives liked prestige

LiveScience LiveScience Mar 31, 08 8:06 PM CDT
(Newser) - Researchers have dug up the oldest piece of crafted gold in the Americas, a 4,000-year old gold necklace, LiveScience reports. Found at a pre-Inca burial site in Peru, the bling proves that primitive societies sought displays of wealth. It signals "the social process towards some kind of inequality," said Mark Aldenderfer, a University of Arizona anthropologist. More »

More about:  archaeology • Peru • discovery • gold • jewelry • anthropology

 New Fossil Rocks Human History

Indicates man settled in Europe far earlier than thought

Bloomberg Bloomberg Mar 27, 08 8:05 AM CDT
(Newser) - An incredibly old jawbone discovered in a Spanish cave could rewrite human history, scientists say. The bone with teeth is 1.2 million years old and belongs to a long-extinct human ancestor called Homo antecessor. It's at least 300,000 years older than any other human fossil found in Europe. The discovery, along with stone tools and animal bones at the site, suggests that early humans colonized Europe much earlier than thought, Bloomberg reports. More »

More about:  Europe • archaeology • fossil • anthropology • Neanderthals • origins of humanity • jawbone • Homo antecessor

Not So Bad for Dirt-Eaters to Dig In: Study

Research finds
unusual diet may
rid body of toxins

Der Spiegel Der Spiegel Dec 30, 07 9:23 AM CST
(Newser) - New research is giving new meaning to the term Mother Earth: Scientists say loam in the soil may provide vital protection against poisonous agents in the body. People around the world, especially pregnant women, have eaten dirt for hundreds of years. Now researchers have found that earth not only provides sustenance during famine but may cleanse tissue, Der Spiegel reports. More »

More about:  Africa • anthropology • nutrients • dirt

Army Deploys Anthropologists on Front Lines

Uncle Sam enlists social scientists; colleagues object

Time Time Dec 13, 07 11:53 AM CST
(Newser) - The US military has been employing anthropologists in Iraq and Afghanistan to help troops work more effectively with locals. The results have been so promising they've just launched a $40 million program to embed social scientists with all 26 combat brigades. But the response back home has been ugly, with academics accusing their colleagues of compromising their integrity, and threatening to throw them out of their professional society, reports Time . More »

More about:  Iraq • Afghanistan • US Army • anthropology

American Languages Nearly Extinct

Hundreds of tongues are down to their last few speakers

Smithsonian Smithsonian Dec 2, 07 1:44 PM CST
(Newser) - Johnny Hill Jr., a 53-year-old Arizonan, talks to himself in Chemehuevi, a language once spoken by many Southwestern Native Americans. He does that because there's rarely anyone for him to speak Chemehuevi with; Hill tried to teach the language to his stepson without success. There is every chance that the tongue will die with him, Smithsonian magazine writes, in a feature on Native American languages at risk of extinction. More »

More about:  language • Native American • anthropology

'Hobbits' Were, Indeed, a Different Kind
of Human

Wrist-bone analysis shows link to apes

Daily Telegraph (UK) Daily Telegraph (UK) Sep 21, 07 1:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - A new study of three wrist bones from an 18,000-year-old fossil shows that the so-called hobbits of Indonesia were, indeed, a separate human species. When the bones were discovered in 2003, scientists trumpeted the find as evidence of a smaller species, Homo floresiensis. But skeptics argued that the hobbit, at 3 feet tall with a brain the size of a grapefruit, was in fact a human afflicted by microcephaly, a brain-shrinking disorder. More »

More about:  Indonesia • archaeology • fossil • human evolution • anthropology • skeleton • hobbits • Homo erectus • homo sapien

Kenyan Fossil Rattles Human
Family Tree

Skull suggests two precursors were actually concurrent

National Geographic National Geographic Aug 9, 07 8:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Two of our ancestors apparently lived alongside each other in Africa rather than evolving from one to the next on the path to Homo sapiens , as scientists once believed. National Geographic reports that a Homo habilis skull dug up in Kenya is surprisingly young, making its 1.4 million-year-old owner a neighbor to Homo erectus rather than an evolutionary forerunner. More »

More about:  Africa • Kenya • evolution • archaeology • fossil • human evolution • anthropology • origins of humanity • homo sapiens • Homo erectus

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