Smithsonian's Human Origins Program

10/15/2026

Interested in learning more about the REAL paleodiet? Register this free online International Archaeology Day 2026 Archaeological Institute of America Archaeology Hour talk by our own Briana Pobiner! It will take place next week on Wednesday, October 21, at 8pm Eastern/7pm Central/6pm Mountain/5pm Pacific.

10/14/2026

Join us tomorrow at 11:30 am Eastern time for our monthly HOT Topic speaker series! This month we welcome Dr. Trent Holiday from Tulane University who will talk about Neanderthal cold adaptations. Q&A to follow. This Zoom webinar is free, but registration is required. Learn more and register for the event at the link below!

While primates are tropical in origin, Neanderthals survived in the brutally cold climates of Eurasia through multiple glacial phases. How did they endure these extreme environments? Dr. Trent Holliday, Professor of Anthropology at Tulane University, will present evidence for cultural and biological...

10/13/2026

Early modern humans began to make cave art by around 60,000 years ago, with the practice really ramping up around 30-40,000 years ago. Why did they do it, and what have they left behind for us to find? Check out what its like to experience El Castillo Cave in northern Spain in the Smithsonian Magazine article below to learn more!

As archaeologists study the work of ancient artists, they notice that the images aren’t simply static; some are painted into the contours of the rock, and others are set in motion in torchlight

10/09/2026

For today's Friday fun reading: what is it like to step back into the footsteps of Neanderthals? John Hawks at University of Wisconsin-Madison tells us in a recent blog post. Visiting Vanguard Cave in Gibraltar, one can see the spaces where Neanderthals lived and worked, including hearths to make some of the earliest pitch glue from plant resins. Check out more in the blog post below!

The site has seen remarkable discoveries over 30 years, and excavations have opened a new unexplored chamber.

10/07/2026

New fossils from Drimolen Cave, South Africa, give clues to the origin of 𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑜 𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑠 and contemporaneity with 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑠. An adult mandible dated to 2 million years ago, published by La Trobe University's Jesse Martin and colleagues, is among the oldest 𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑜 𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑠 fossils in the world, and shows that the first hominin species to leave Africa was widespread from the beginning. Furthermore, the contemporaneous 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑠 fossils illustrate microevolution in that genus, potentially hinting at the divergence between the ecological niches of the genus 𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑜 and 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑠.

La Trobe archaeologists have described 18 new hominin fossils, including a second Homo erectus skull fragment that confirms the species first appeared in southern Africa 2.0 million years ago—200,000 years earlier than traditionally thought.

10/06/2026

Curious what foods and diets fueled human evolution over the last 7 million years? You're in luck! CARTA (Center for Academic Research & Training in Anthropology) is hosting a public symposium on hominin diets October 30th, 1pm Pacific Time, featuring experts on meat, microbiomes, cooking, and more! Visit the link below to learn more or register.

Access to the live webcast for this symposium will be provided here on Friday, October 30 starting at 1:00 PM (Pacific Time). All talks will be recorded and posted below. Check this page or follow our social media (links in page footer) for recording updates.

10/02/2026

For today's Friday fun reading: When early humans were on the Paleolithic predator menu. Roberta McClain with Science News Explores discusses leopard tooth marks on bones showing that our ancestors were not always the hunters - they were often the hunted. Read or listen to the article below, including quotes from our own Briana Pobiner!

Bite marks on a 2-million-year-old human jaw suggest leopards once hunted people as prey. People likely survived by learning to team up.

09/30/2026

What do lemurs and opera singers have in common? A new study by Filippo Carugati at Università degli Studi di Torino and colleagues looked at how indri lemurs, the only other singing primates, used their mouths as they vocalized. The team found that the indri opened their mouths to fine tune and modulate the frequency of their singing, a technique known as formant tuning, that is used in some other mammals, birds, and (human) opera singers. If you want to hear the indri sing, check out more in the link below!

University of Warwick scientists have spent years studying indri lemurs.

09/29/2026

Early humans’ transition from climbing in trees and walking on all fours like other apes to walking exclusively on two legs is one of the key physiological features that makes modern humans unique. New research from Kristian Carlson at University of Southern California and colleagues shows a stark difference in limb bones between 𝐴𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑠 and early 𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑜. 𝐴𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑠 walked on two legs, but maintained strong arms for climbing in trees. At some point between 3 and 1.8 million years ago, our ancestors evolved weaker arms and transitioned to only walking on two legs.

Little Foot study points to major shift in how human ancestors moved 17 September 2026 - Wits University Study suggests that a major change in how our ancestors moved through their environment took place between about three million and 1.8 million years ago. New research on the limb bones of the fam...

09/25/2026

Do chimps teach each other how to use tools? Maybe - but not in the way we might expect teaching to occur in humans. A new study by Andreu Sánchez-Megías at Universitat de Barcelona and colleagues shows that at sites where tool use is common in chimpanzees, they will sometimes pass the tool on to another less experienced user, which about a third of the time is between mother and offspring. While there is no language or changing of behavior, the recipients appear to use the tool more often and more effectively after receiving it, implying that that some knowledge transference is essential to chimps learning how to use tools.

Social learning boosts feeding success of young’uns