Human Origins

The ancient, big-bodied relatives of modern-day humans not only ate freshwater shellfish, but engraved their shells and used them as tools, a new study finds.

A second look at a century-old shell collection uncovered remarkable engravings made on a freshwater shellfish shell in Java, Indonesia.

The ancestors of modern humans began evolving the ability to digest alcohol about 10 million years ago, new research finds.

The skeleton of a child who lived 100,000 years ago shows signs of severe brain damage from a head trauma, new research suggests.

Humans are getting taller; they're also fatter than ever and live longer than at any time in history. And all of these changes have occurred in the past 100 years, scientists say.

People unsuspectingly choose friends who share parts of the same DNA, a new genetic analysis finds.

The remains of an ancient human in China not thought to be Neanderthal unexpectedly possesses an inner ear much like that of humans' closest extinct relatives, according to a new study.

Traces of 50,000-year-old poop found at a Neanderthal campground in Spain suggest that modern humans' prehistoric cousins may have had a healthy dose of plants in their diet, researchers say.

Hominin skulls discovered in a Spanish cave showed a mix of traits from Neanderthals and more primitive human lineages, suggesting Neanderthal features evolved separately at different times.