Illness carried by humans may have killed the Neanderthals 30,000 years ago

September 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Studying the ratio between the index and ring fingers of two Neanderthals and one Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, University of Liverpool researchers have shown that human ancestors conflicted on monogamy. Lead researcher Emma Nelson says that the ratio between the index and ring fingers is thought to be a telltale marker for how much an individual was exposed to the androgen class of hormones-specifically testosterone-while in the womb.

September 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of researchers is probing the links between modern humans and Neanderthals. Homo neanderthalensis nearly made it through two Ice Ages in Europe, and disappeared roughly 30,000 years ago.

September 14th, 2009 LONDON - Archaeologists have discovered teeth and bones from late Ice Age animals, including hyenas, deer and woolly rhinos at a cave in Devon, UK, which may yield clues as to why Neanderthals became extinct. According to a report by BBC News, the dig, organised by the University of Durham and the University of Sheffield, is part of a study into Neanderthals.

September 4th, 2009 LONDON - Early farmers probably migrated to central and eastern Europe about 7,500 years ago, bringing domesticated plants and animals with them, which replaced stone age hunting, says a new study. Researchers analysed DNA from hunter-gatherer and early farmer burials, and compared those to each other and to the DNA of modern Europeans.

August 19th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has concluded that one key part of the immune system survived in the humans and other primates for almost 60 million years. Researchers at the Oregon State University (OSU) and the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in the US carried out the study.

August 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A University of Arizona (UA) anthropologist has discovered that humans living at a Paleolithic cave site in central Israel between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago were as successful at big-game hunting as were later stone-age hunters at the site, but that the earlier humans shared meat differently. "The Lower Paleolithic (earlier) hunters were skilled hunters of large game animals, as were Upper Paleolithic (later) humans at this site," said UA anthropology professor Mary C.

August 13th, 2009 Ancient toolmakers discovered fire treatmentWASHINGTON — Maybe it was an accident or perhaps an ancient experiment. Many thousands of years ago, early humans somehow figured out they could make better stone tools by treating the rocks with fire.

August 4th, 2009 SYDNEY - Australian scientists have developed new theory about the 'Hobbit' species in the Indonesian island of Flores, that they existed alongside humans. Archaeologists found the 'hobbit' in 2003, while excavating in a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores.

July 31st, 2009 SYDNEY - A new research by Australian scientists has said that the bones of the "hobbit", found in Indonesia, suggest that the species is not related to homo sapiens, and evolved separate to humans. Discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003 and dubbed 'the Hobbit', the species triggered a worldwide debate about its origins.

July 23rd, 2009 LONDON - Challenging the long held belief that chimps are unlikely to develop AIDS, a new study has revealed that animals carrying SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus), the precursor to HIV-1, are likely to contract or die of the disease. The study led by University of Minnesota researchers has shown that infected chimpanzees are 10-16 times more likely to die than those who were uninfected.

July 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - The wound that killed a Neanderthal man between 50,000 and 75,000 years was most likely caused by a thrown spear, the kind modern humans used but Neanderthals did not, according to the latest research. "What we've got is a rib injury, with any number of scenarios that could explain it," said Steven Churchill, professor at Duke University.

July 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has determined that the wound that ultimately killed a Neanderthal man between 50,000 and 75,000 years was most likely caused by a thrown spear, the kind modern humans used, thus indicating a possible case of interspecies homicide. Analysis by Steven Churchill, an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, indicates that the wound was from a thrown spear, and it appears that modern humans had a thrown-weapons technology and Neanderthals didn't.

July 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new study, a scientist is analyzing how humans came to develop clothing, and how that innovation might have in turn given our species an evolutionary edge over other hominids. According to a report in Science Alert, the scientist in question is Ian Gilligan, a doctoral researcher from the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at ANU (Australian National University).

July 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study by an international team of researchers has suggested that fish may have become an important part of the year-round diet for early humans in China as far back as 40,000 years ago. Freshwater fish are an important part of the diet of many peoples around the world, but it has been unclear when fish became an important part of the year-round diet for early humans.

June 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has determined that necessity compelled Neanderthals to dry hunks of big game meat for easy transport. According to a report in Discovery News, the findings help to explain how Neanderthals could transport meat over long distances without it rotting, as well as how they survived the often chilly conditions of Northern Europe.