Various studies have investigated cognitive mechanisms underlying culture in humans and
other great apes. However, the adaptive reasons for the evolution of uniquely sophisticated …

The oldest Oldowan tool sites, from around 2.6 million years ago, have previously been
confined to Ethiopia's Afar Triangle. We describe sites at Nyayanga, Kenya, dated to 3.032 …

Advanced geoscience techniques are essential to contextualize fossils, artefacts and other
archaeologically important material accurately and effectively. Their appropriate use will …

For much of the Pliocene and Pleistocene, multiple hominin species coexisted in the same
regions of eastern and southern Africa. Due to the limitations of the skeletal fossil record …

Systematic tool production and use is one of humanity's defining characteristics, possibly
originating as early as> 3 million years ago. 1–3 Although heightened manual dexterity is …

The assembly of Africa's iconic C4 grassland ecosystems is central to evolutionary
interpretations of many mammal lineages, including hominins. C4 grasses are thought to …

Collective ritual is virtually omnipresent across past and present human cultures and is
thought to play an essential role in facilitating cooperation, yet little is known about its …

A dynamic model and an agent-based simulation model implementing the assumptions of
the confrontational scavenging hypothesis on early protolanguage as an adaptive response …

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Human Evolution, we re-evaluate the
fossil record for early Homo (principally Homo erectus, Homo habilis, and Homo rudolfensis) …

The production of sharp-edged stone flakes is often viewed as a unique adaptation specific
to the hominin lineage. The discovery of large stone cores and flakes dated to 3.3 Ma has …