Blog
Mystery solved: footprints from Site A at Laetoli, Tanzania, are from early humans, not bears
Journal Article, In the News The oldest unequivocal evidence of upright walking in the human lineage are footprints discovered at Laetoli, Tanzania in 1978, by paleontologist Mary Leakey and her team. The bipedal trackways date to 3.7 million years ago. Another set of mysterious footprints was partially excavated at nearby Site A in 1976 but dismissed as possibly being made by a bear. A recent re-excavation of the Site A footprints at Laetoli and a detailed comparative analysis reveal that the footprints were made by an early human
Grantee Spotlight: Sebastián Ramírez Amaya
Grantee Spotlight Sebastián Ramírez Amaya is a PhD candidate who is studying chimpanzees in Uganda in order to learn about the evolution of pair-bonding in humans.
Grantee Spotlight: Tessa Cicak
Grantee Spotlight Tessa Cicak is a PhD candidate studying whose research is testing ideas about how primates respond to competition over food resources.
What our skeletons say about the sex binary
Guest Post Society increasingly accepts gender identity as existing along a spectrum. The study of people, and their remains, shows that sex should be viewed the same way.
I was part of the team that found the Homo naledi child’s skull: how we did it
Journal Article, From the Field, In the News An international team of researchers, led by Professor Lee Berger, a palaeoanthropologist from South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand, has revealed the first partial skull of a Homo naledi child from the Rising Star cave.
Live This Month: November
Lecture, Lunch Break Science Join The Leakey Foundation for three exciting virtual events this November!
A study of skull growth and tooth emergence reveals that timing is everything
Journal Article Paleoanthropologists have wondered for a long time how and why humans evolved molars that emerge at these specific ages and why those ages are so delayed compared to living apes. New research solves this mystery.
Archaeologists find the oldest-known shell beads
Journal Article Shell beads found in a cave in Morocco are at least 142,000 years old. The archaeologists who found them say they're the earliest-known evidence of a widespread form of human communication.
Grantee Spotlight: Patrick Gathogo
Grantee Spotlight Dr. Patrick Gathogo is a geologist and research associate at Stony Brook University who is developing a new approach to geochronology that will extend the capability of the standard methods for dating hominid sites.
Live this Month: October
Lunch Break Science Join The Leakey Foundation for two exciting virtual programs this October!
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