A central goal of paleoanthropology is understanding the role of ecological change in
hominin evolution. Over the past several decades researchers have expanded the hominin …

Evaluating the relationships between climate, the environment, and human traits is a key
part of human origins research because changes in Earth's atmosphere, oceans …

Humans possess an extraordinary capacity for cultural production, from the arts and
language to science and technology. How did the human mind—and the uniquely human …

Human evolutionary scholars have long supposed that the earliest stone tools were made
by the genus Homo and that this technological development was directly linked to climate …

The capacity of Homo sapiens for the intergenerational accumulation of complex
technologies, practices, and beliefs is central to contemporary accounts of human …

According to current evidence, Homo sapiens was unable to survive on a diet of raw wild
foods. Because cooked diets have large physiological and behavioral consequences, a …

Increasing body and brain size constitutes a key macro-evolutionary pattern in the hominin
lineage, yet the mechanisms behind these changes remain debated. Hypothesized drivers …

The habitual consumption of large-animal resources (eg, similar sized or larger than the
consumer) separates human and nonhuman primate behavior. Flaked stone tool use …

Besides Homo erectus (sensu lato), the eastern African fossil record of early Homo has been
interpreted as representing either a single variable species, Homo habilis 1, or two species …

Aridification is often considered a major driver of long-term ecological change and hominin
evolution in eastern Africa during the Plio-Pleistocene; however, this hypothesis remains …