anthropology – Smithsonian Science News –

Animal species can become endangered, but what about languages? Around 80 percent of the world’s population speaks just 20 percent of its 7,000 languages. That

https://insider.si.edu/2018/04/why-languages-become-endangered-and-how-we-can-keep-them-alive/

Cats are notoriously fickle—purring in your lap one second, then swiping you with an indignant claw the next. One thing is certain however when it

https://insider.si.edu/2017/09/eons-cute-kitten-videos-went-viral-ancient-egyptians-also-adored-cats/

Corn, known also as maize, is a vital crop in the U.S. and throughout the Americas. First domesticated in Mexico some 9,000 years ago, scientists

https://insider.si.edu/2017/08/study-dates-corn-staple-crop-central-america-beginning-4300-years-ago/

In a new study in which one of humankind’s most high-tech tools was used to analyze one of its most primitive, scientists have uncovered evidence

https://insider.si.edu/2017/07/laser-beams-unveil-secrets-locked-inside-primitive-stone-spear-points/

Finding clean ways to store water is a challenge that humans have faced for millennia. In a new paper in Environmental Health, anthropologist Sabrina Sholts

https://insider.si.edu/2017/06/study-shows-ancient-california-indians-risked-toxins-bitumen-coated-bottles/

To the Hopewell Culture, ancient Native Americans who sought out the exotic from near and far, metal was a rare and precious resource. Copper, found

https://insider.si.edu/2017/05/ancient-native-american-beads-traced-otherworldy-source-meteorite/

If you’ve seen the movie Jurassic Park, you know that amber played a significant role in rebuilding a lost world: A mosquito trapped within its

https://insider.si.edu/2017/05/resin-shipwreck-hints-trade-routes-botany-ancient-asia/

A bite mark on a homicide victim’s skin is not an unusual discovery. A criminal’s teeth marks are also occasionally found on food at a

https://insider.si.edu/2016/08/crime-bite-dna-half-eaten-food-may-someday-send-crooks-jail/

Oysters are keystone organisms in estuaries around the world, influencing water quality, constructing habitat and providing food for humans and wildlife. Yet their populations in

https://insider.si.edu/2016/05/finding-a-more-sustainable-future-for-oysters-in-the-past/

One of the primary features that distinguish hominids such as chimpanzees, gorillas and humans from the rest of the animal kingdom are uniquely dexterous hands.

https://insider.si.edu/2016/05/did-ripening-fruit-help-hominids-develop-complex-hands/

Nocturnal, solitary and fiercely territorial the adult Egyptian pigmy shrew—one of the smallest mammals on earth—weighs just 7 grams. French zoologist Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire first

https://insider.si.edu/2016/04/sacred-shrew-mummies-reveal-species-distribution-ancient-egypt/

Prehistoric human populations of hunter-gatherers in a region of North America grew at the same rate as farming societies in Europe, according to a new

https://insider.si.edu/2015/12/research-shows-same-growth-rate-for-farming-non-farming-societies/

A new analysis of the fossil record by scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has revealed that the structure of plant and

https://insider.si.edu/2015/12/smithsonian-scientists-trace-anthropocene-root-to-early-human-activity/

The debate about the world’s oldest tattoos is over—they belong to Ötzi, the European Tyrolean Iceman who died and was buried beneath an Alpine glacier

https://insider.si.edu/2015/12/debate-over-worlds-oldest-tattoo-is-over-for-now/

New research by a team of archaeologists has revealed a curious connection between our traditional Thanksgiving dinner and the taste buds of prehistoric mammoths and

https://insider.si.edu/2015/11/dull-mastadon-taste-buds-once-helped-pumpkins-wild-ancestor-thrive/

Tattoos really are more than skin deep—and that raises questions about their safety. Many people enjoy the aesthetic beauty of tattoos. But the brightly colored

https://insider.si.edu/2015/10/is-tattoo-ink-safe/

From patterns etched into the skin of an ancient mummy to the colorful designs that adorn people today, tattoos are not just skin deep; they

https://insider.si.edu/2015/08/tattoos-telling-stories-in-the-flesh-qa-with-lars-krutak/

Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were widespread across Europe and Western Asia for a long time, starting about 400,000 years ago. But things began to change when

https://insider.si.edu/2015/08/why-did-neanderthals-go-extinct/

Within the 1608 church where Pocahontas and John Rolfe married, the skeletal remains of four early settlers were uncovered during a 2013 archaeological dig at

https://insider.si.edu/2015/07/jamestown-skeletons-identified-as-colony-leaders/

Like other kids at summer camp, a group of youngsters in the cities of Miami, Okla. and Fort Wayne, Ind. play games, work on crafts

https://insider.si.edu/2015/07/digitized-searchable-archives-help-revive-sleeping-languages/

The Inka Empire is one of the greatest civilizations in the Western Hemisphere, spanning from the 13th century until the Spanish invasion in 1532. To

https://insider.si.edu/2015/05/5-reasons-the-inka-road-is-one-of-the-greatest-achievements-in-engineering/

Studies show that on average, the weight of cremated remains for men is about 7.13 pounds (plus or minus 1.2 pounds) and for women, 4.9

https://insider.si.edu/2015/05/hi-tech-analysis-cracks-curious-case-of-contaminated-cremains/

While studying the social dynamics of the bearded saki, a primate living in the rainforests of Suriname, primatologist Tremaine Gregory of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology

https://insider.si.edu/2015/04/study-male-bonding-brings-peace-allows-primates-to-live-in-bigger-groups/

Point your smartphone at the skeleton of a vampire bat mounted in a museum case, wait a minute and you will see it wiggle, jump

https://insider.si.edu/2015/03/new-app-adds-virtual-flesh-to-victorian-era-bone-exhibit/

A new DNA study of ancient corn kernels and cobs from archaeological sites across North America has settled a long debate as to exactly where

https://insider.si.edu/2015/02/corn-entered-southwest-u-s-first-along-highland-route-dna-study-shows/

Native Americans and America’s early colonists ate many more blue crabs than modern researchers previously thought, according to a team of scientists studying crab remains

https://insider.si.edu/2015/02/american-indians-colonists-healthy-appetite-crabs-study-shows/

Millions of people across the United States will sit down Nov. 27 to a traditional Thanksgiving meal, including turkey, potatoes, squash, corn and cranberries. These

https://insider.si.edu/2014/11/favorite-thanksgiving-day-food-originate-anthropology-answer/

Left-handed snails, giant wombats, spiny trilobites, zombie ants, glyptodonts…these are a few of the fascinating animals and plants whose fossils spring to life across the

https://insider.si.edu/2014/10/new-book/

Archived feed of this symposium » The world is changing at a rapid pace. Scientists have documented significant changes during the past century in climate,

https://insider.si.edu/2014/10/live-symposium-anthropocene/

Investigators from Rock County, Wisconsin, are one step closer to solving the mystery surrounding the death of an unknown teenager thanks to Smithsonian scientists. Christine

https://insider.si.edu/2014/07/bones-can-talk-police-ask-smithsonian-scientists-help-20-year-old-mystery/

Many traits unique to humans were long thought to have originated in the genus Homo between 2.4 and 1.8 million years ago in Africa. A

https://insider.si.edu/2014/07/human-evolution-rewritten-flexible-response-climate-change/

Termites and ants are not something you’re likely to pour into a cereal bowl for breakfast or munch with toast and tea, but your ancient

https://insider.si.edu/2014/04/eat-live-termites-breakfast-ancestors-might/

Matthew C. Larsen, associate director for climate and land-use change at the U.S. Geological Survey, has been appointed the Director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research

https://insider.si.edu/2014/04/matthew-larsen-lead-smithsonian-tropical-research-institute/

The largest fully preserved great ape collection in the world is about to make its online debut.

https://insider.si.edu/2014/03/unlocking-secrets-technology-allows-scientists-to-peer-inside-great-apes/

Between the world wars of the early Twentieth Century, an age of adventure travel and cultural exploration flourished when newly developed transport and recording technologies–particularly

https://insider.si.edu/2013/10/new-book-recreating-first-contact-expeditions-anthropology-and-popular-culture/

Roses, carnations and lilies are today among the most popular flowers people use to express sympathy and condolence. The simple act of sending flowers to

https://insider.si.edu/2013/09/28455/

Katie Cramer is a MarineGEO Post-Doctoral Fellow and travels to Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama throughout the year to conduct research. Her recent paper

https://insider.si.edu/2013/08/qa-katie-cramer-on-the-long-term-human-impact-on-coral-reefs-in-carribbean-panama/

A team of researchers has for the first time mapped the above ground carbon density of an entire country in high fidelity. They integrated field

https://insider.si.edu/2013/07/research-team-creates-first-carbon-map-of-an-entire-country-panama/

What can you do to bring some of the Smithsonian’s 137 million objects to life? Put them in 3-D! This is a full-time job for

https://insider.si.edu/2013/05/3d-scanning-at-the-smithsonian/

There is little doubt that human activity is affecting planet Earth, but just how much? And is it all negative? Rick Potts is the director

https://insider.si.edu/2013/05/smithsonian-anthropologist-rick-potts-answers-questions-about-the-anthropocene/

Douglas Owsley, the division head for physical anthropology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, presented today a forensic analysis of 17th-century human remains

https://insider.si.edu/2013/05/forensic-analysis-of-17th-century-human-remains-at-jamestown-va-reveal-evidence-of-cannibalism/

Cheeseburgers. Ice cream. French fries. These are a few of the culprits, doctors warn us, responsible for atherosclerosis, a disease commonly known as hardening of

https://insider.si.edu/2013/04/ancient-mummies-reveal-atherosclerosis-is-very-likely-just-a-part-of-aging/

With the tap of a finger, keepers are introducing the Zoo’s six orangutans to iPads, which provide unique stimuli.

https://insider.si.edu/2013/01/national-zoo-orangutans-turn-high-tech-with-apps-for-apes/

Archaeologists working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama have discovered a cluster of 12 unusual stones in the back of a small, prehistoric rock-shelter near the town of Bo...

https://insider.si.edu/2013/01/4000-year-old-shamans-stones-discovered-near-boquete-panama/

The newly reported reconstruction of Amazonian prehistory by a Smithsonian scientist, Dolores R. Piperno, and her colleagues suggests that large areas of western Amazonia were sparsely inhabited.

https://insider.si.edu/2012/06/report-paints-a-different-picture-of-early-human-impact-on-the-amazon-river-basin/

The only explanation for such symmetry across these vast distances, explains Smithsonian anthropologist Dennis Stanford, is that the method of creating the points was handed down from person to p...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/05/3d-imaging-adds-remarkable-dimension-to-understanding-of-north-americas-clovis-stone-points/

Some of the earliest humans to inhabit America came from Europe according to a new book "Across Atlantic Ice: The Origin of America's Clovis Culture."

https://insider.si.edu/2012/03/ice-age-mariners-from-europe-were-the-first-people-to-reach-north-america/

People living along the coast of Peru were eating popcorn 2,000 years earlier than previously reported and before ceramic pottery was used there, according to a new paper in the Proceedings of th...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/01/ancient-popcorn-discovered-in-peru/

As a coastal archaeologist and expert in prehistoric and historic settlement sites in the Chesapeake Bay region, Darrin Lowery of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and Univer...

https://insider.si.edu/2012/01/rising-seas-development-are-altering-prehistoric-artifacts-along-the-chesapeakes-coast/

Small monkey groups may win territorial disputes against larger groups because some members of the larger, invading groups avoid aggressive encounters.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/12/members-of-small-monkey-groups-more-likely-to-fight/

Viewed from inside the SOMATOM Emotion 6CT scanner used at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, the skeleton and internal organs of this well-preserved

https://insider.si.edu/2011/11/peruvian-mummy-as-seen-by-a-somatom-emotion-6ct-scanner/

Using 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional CT scans, Natural History Museum anthropologists found that the brain and major organs were removed and rolls of linen filled out the abdominal cavity. This ...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/08/video-a-mummy-grows-with-ct-scans-and-3d-digital-technology/

This image of lawyer Clarence S. Darrow (center) talking with group of men in Dayton, Tenn., in July 1925 is one of 10 photographs from

https://insider.si.edu/2011/07/scopes-trial-photographs-released-on-web-by-smithsonian-archives/

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian is hosting a series of public satellite broadcasts featuring a multinational team of researchers, engineers and archaeologists who are w...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/07/american-indian-museum-to-host-public-broadcasts-focusing-on-the-inka-road/

New excavations in Indonesia and dating analyses by scientists at the Smithsonian and their colleagues show that modern humans never co-existed with Homo erectus.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/07/scientists-show-that-modern-humans-never-co-existed-with-homo-erectus/

To prevent the loss of Inupiaq words for ice and the knowledge that it embodies, Igor Krupnik, ethnologist at the Arctic Studies Center of the National Museum of Natural History, and Wales native...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/07/new-dictionary-captures-traditional-ice-knowledge-of-inupiaq-in-wales-alaska/

Researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Florida have announced the discovery of a bone fragment, approximately 13,000 years old, in Florida with an incised image of a m...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/06/bone-fragment-may-contain-only-known-ice-age-artwork-from-america-to-depict-a-proboscidean/

The new research reveals that from the period between 1100-1600 small agricultural settlements up and down the Delaware River Valley caused a 50-percent increase in sediment runoff into the Delaw...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/05/native-americans-were-changing-environment-in-north-america-long-before-european-settlers-arrived/

A remarkable 5,000-year-old deposit of bones representing an entire herd of Persian gazelles recently discovered in northeastern Syria is firm evidence, scientists say, of an ancient hunting prac...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/04/mass-hunting-of-persian-gazelles-5000-years-ago-marked-beginning-of-end-for-this-species/

The new book Subsistence Economies of Indigenous North American Societies provides a comprehensive and in-depth documentation of how Native American societies met the challenges of

https://insider.si.edu/2011/04/the-subsistence-economies-of-indigenous-north-american-societies-a-handbook/

Looking at more than 200 skulls dating to 20th and 16th century Spain, as well as approximately 50 skulls from 20th century Portugal, the researchers found that craniofacial differences between c...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/04/study-finds-facial-structure-of-men-and-women-has-become-more-similar-over-time/

The April 5 exhibits, “In the Mummy’s Tomb,” “Making a Mummy” and “What’s in a Face,” focus on Egyptian burial rites.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/03/mummies-featured-in-new-smithsonian-exhibition/

Meet Sahelanthropus tchadensis. This newly unveiled bust by artist John Gurche is now on view in the the Hall of Human Origins at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/03/new-bust-of-early-human-ancestor-unveiled-in-the-smithsonians-hall-of-human-origins/

In recent research on Santa Rosa Island off the coast of Southern California, isotope readings of carbon and nitrogen found in the bones of Chumash Indians and domestic dogs excavated from archae...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/03/strong-bond-between-humans-and-dogs-revealed-in-isotopic-signatures-of-ancient-bones/

Evidence for a diversified sea-based economy among North American inhabitants dating from 12,200 to 11,400 years ago is emerging from three sites on California's Channel Islands.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/03/californias-channel-islands-may-have-once-held-north-americas-earliest-seafaring-economy/

A. sediba was discovered in 2008 in the Malapa Cave at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site located outside Johannesburg.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/02/casts-of-australopithecus-sediba-early-human-ancestor-donated-to-national-museum-of-natural-history/

The Smithsonian Research Online program recently surpassed the mark of 10,000 publications in the Digital Repository. This collection of digital publications by Smithsonian staff represents a bro...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/02/digital-repository-now-contains-10000-items/

Subjects watched demonstrators for varying amounts of time. When given the pipe, each of the subjects in both groups opened the door on their first attempt using the method they had seen demonstr...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/01/lemurs-exhibit-ability-for-social-learning-in-zoo-experiment/

For two weeks the team recorded and documented the community’s elders, families and llamas along a pilgrimage of remembrance in Pisaq, Peru.

https://insider.si.edu/2011/01/american-indian-museum-documents-chawaytiri-pilgrimage-in-peru/

The discovery of starch granules in the calculus on Neandertal teeth provides direct evidence that they made sophisticated, thoughtful food choices and ate more nutrient-rich plants, for example ...

https://insider.si.edu/2011/01/starch-grains-found-on-neandertal-teeth-helps-debunk-theory-their-extinction-was-caused-by-dietary-deficiencies/

For a thousand years, Cyprus was divided into at least 10 autonomous states. The inhabitants spoke three languages: Greek, Phoenician, and Eteocypriot, the original language

https://insider.si.edu/2010/12/cyprus-crossroads-of-civilizations/

Obsessive in his collecting and emotionally invested in contributing to science and perpetuating knowledge, Palmer lived the adventurous yet nomadic life of a collector.

https://insider.si.edu/2010/11/new-website-spotlights-edward-palmer-collections-in-u-s-national-herbarium/

Should global warming cause sea levels to rise as predicted in coming decades, thousands of archaeological sites in coastal areas around the world will be lost to erosion. With no hope of saving ...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/10/scientists-issue-call-to-action-for-archaeological-sites-threatened-by-rising-seas-urban-development/

This circa 1910 Yup'ik mask from Good News Bay, Alaska--made of driftwood, baleen, feathers, paint and cotton twine--is part of "Infinity of Nations: Art and History in the Collections of the Nat...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/10/yupik-mask-in-infinity-of-nations-exhibition-at-the-american-indian-museum/

Recent analysis using DNA sequencing of ancient Roman pills found aboard a ship that sank in Italy’s Gulf of Baratti between 140 -120 B.C, has revealed that the medicines consist of material fr...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/10/dna-sequencing-reveals-simple-vegetables-in-ancient-roman-medicines/

The Caddo people of Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma have maintained many of their traditional ways and actively work to preserve their unique tribal cultural today. One example is the pot...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/04/three-clay-vessels-by-native-american-potter-jeri-redcorn-added-to-smithsonian-collections/

Based on decades of cutting-edge research, the 15,000-square-foot Hall of Human Origins offers visitors an immersive, interactive journey through 6 million years of human evolution spelling out h...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/03/hall-of-human-origins/

The study found that infants whose mothers had higher levels of available milk energy soon after their birth, coped more effectively (moved around more, explored more, ate and drank) and showed g...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/03/new-study-sees-mothers-milk-as-a-communications-link-that-shapes-infant-temperament/

White, who was a student at Columbian College from Accomack County, Va., died of pneumonia and complications from a mitral heart defect. When his coffin was unearthed, his identity was a deep mys...

https://insider.si.edu/2010/02/new-acquisition-remains-of-william-taylor-white-1837-1852-donated-to-smithsonian-with-his-coffin-and-clothing/

The John Marshall Ju/'hoan Bushman Film and Video Collection, 1950-2000, was among 35 documentary heritage items of exceptional value added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2009.

https://insider.si.edu/2009/10/john-marshall-juhoan-bushman-film-and-video-collection-added-to-unesco-register/

A major new exhibition hall dedicated to the discovery and understanding of human origins will open next year at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History: The David H. Koch Hall of Hu...

https://insider.si.edu/2009/10/hall-of-human-origins-to-open-at-natural-history-museum-march-17-2010/

A recent study of dog bones excavated from archaeological sites on the Channel Islands of California has cast new light on the past ecology of the islands and the impact that domestic dogs--broug...

https://insider.si.edu/2009/07/science-briefdog-bones-reveal-ecological-history-of-californias-channel-islands/