Anthropology

Humans have been cultivating the cannabis plant for thousands of years, but we know very little about when it was first used for its psychoactive properties.

The findings shed new light on the history of human migration in the region and the ancestry of the people who first settled the Americas.

Many people think climate change caused Classic Maya civilization to collapse abruptly around 900 A.D. An archaeologist says that view is too simplistic and misses the bigger point.

"The finding of these sites extends by several millennia the history of human occupation of southwestern Amazonia," José Capriles said.

The Neanderthal tooth was found alongside a cave bear bone that may have been carved for a symbolic purpose.

Scientists shed light on the mysterious group.

Researchers have been unable to agree when human settlement on the island began.

Providing healthcare was a fundamental collaborative survival strategy for Neanderthals, according to researchers.

Scientists found ancient residues of beer in stone mortars.

Wild animals played a significant role in ancient Mesoamerican culture.

The "hashtag" predates the earliest previously known ancient abstract and figurative human drawings from Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia by at least 30,000 years.

"Decorating our bodies isn't just a trivial activity."

The traditional narrative of the island's history suggests that the local people destroyed their own society through infighting and overexploitation of natural resources, while a new study suggests a society with a high level of collaboration.

Ötzi is the oldest naturally preserved ice mummy.

These products would eventually go on to serve as universal currencies across the different Maya regions and were used to finance state activities, as well as household needs.

But brutal rulers like Genghis Khan could also be to blame.

Scientists have been pondering the Pacific Coast route for about 50 years as an alternative to the idea that humans sneaked past the ice further inland, to the east.

If you lived in New Guinea 100 years ago, that is.

Modern humans first emerged between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago.

The ancestors of modern humans once had a very pronounced ridge on their brow, however, over time, our foreheads gradually became smoother and the eyebrows more visible and versatile.

The fossil is 25,000 years older than traditional theories would expect.

The disease this early man had still affects people today.

The tracks of two adults and a child, researchers say, were left some 13,000 years ago.

The weapon tips may be the earliest known evidence of the inhabitants of this region.

The practice may have played a role in facing the Incas.

The new findings suggest that Neanderthals were more like us than previously thought.

Carbon left from their high-seafood diet made dating the skeletons impossible until now.

The definition of a 'modern' human just became more contentious.

A pattern on the shard links the artifact to a region far from where it was found.

Anthropologists interviewed 800 households in five different villages.