Mystery solved: footprints from Site A at Laetoli, Tanzania, are from early humans, not bears
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
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
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
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
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.