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The oldest layers of the Gruta de Oliveira, which includes a number of passages, date back to about 120,000 years ago, the most recent to about 40,000: It is believed that Neanderthals inhabited this place between 100,000 and 70,000 years ago...In this case however, what caught the attention of archaeologists were the traces of hearths intentionally built and used in the cave. The archaeologists found about a dozen hearths at various stratigraphic levels in an excavation area of about 30 square meters and six meters deep. The unmistakable basin-like, circular structures were filled with remains.Findings from inside and near the...

For tonight's meal, make one of these cozy, low-carb dinner recipes. Each dish is full of tasty seasonal produce like butternut squash, mushrooms and Brussels sprouts while having no more than 15 grams of carbohydrates per serving. Plus, you only need one pot or pan to make these delicious dinners. Recipes like Vegan Butternut Squash Soup and Creamy Lemon-Basil Chicken are seasonal, healthy and perfect for weeknight dinners.

In vitro tests showed that meat-substitute peptides were less water-soluble than those from chicken, and they also were not absorbed as well by human cells. With this new understanding, the researchers say the next step is to identify other ingredients that could help boost the peptide uptake of plant-based meat substitutes

...In 1991, researchers first revealed that the fossilized bones of Neanderthals had high ratios of nitrogen 15 compared with nitrogen 14 -- usually the signature of a high-meat diet... bigger meat eaters than even hypercarnivorous hyenas and lions. Butchered animal bones at archaeological sites reinforced the view that our close relatives relied heavily on meat from big game hunting....archaeologist John Speth of the University of Michigan... described accounts by missionaries and Arctic explorers of people who fell sick with "rabbit starvation" -- an illness that afflicts those who eat mainly lean, high-protein game meat and too little fat...Speth's paper offered...

What does it really mean to have German ancestry? If you’ve taken a DNA test and seen the "Germanic" label, your story is far richer, older, and more dynamic than any single result. Groundbreaking genetic research reveals that Germans descend from a tapestry of Ice Age hunters, early farmers, horse-riding steppe migrants, Celtic warriors, and global travelers. Each left its enduring mark, blending survival, innovation, and migration into the DNA of modern Germans. Why German Genetic Origins is Different | 22:17 Evo Inception | 52.4K subscribers | 47,642 views | July 18, 202500:00 – Introduction: Beyond the "Germanic" Label 00:21...

New evidence from a Pleistocene site in southwestern China reveals the oldest known use of intricately crafted wooden tools in East Asia, dating back over 350,000 years. Credit: Liu et al., 10.1126/science.adr8540. ====================================================================== Newly uncovered wooden tools from Pleistocene China reveal complex, plant-focused technology far earlier than expected in East Asia. Researchers working at the Pleistocene-era Gantangqing site in southwestern China have uncovered a diverse set of wooden tools dating from approximately 361,000 to 250,000 years ago. This discovery represents the oldest known example of advanced wooden tool technology in East Asia. Analysis of the tools suggests they were not...

For thousands of years, animal teeth have been used as jewelry or ornaments on clothing by human societies around the world. Until now, however, archaeologists have given little thought to the process of how people obtained these animal teeth, especially since keeping them unbroken was difficult but essential. According to a statement released by the University of Helsinki, researchers recently used experimental archaeology to determine the methods likely used thousands of years ago before modern tools. The team examined evidence from the Zvejnieki cemetery in Latvia, where more than 2,000 animal teeth were found in graves dating to between 7500...

The world's oldest boomerang is older than previously thought, casting new light on the ingenuity of humans living at the time.The tool, which was found in a cave in Poland in 1985, is now thought to be 40,000 years old.Archaeologists say it was fashioned from a mammoth's tusk with an astonishing level of skill.Researchers worked out from its shape that it would have flown when thrown, but would not have come back to the thrower.It was probably used in hunting, though it might have had cultural or artistic value, perhaps being used in some kind of ritual....new, more reliable radiocarbon...

Long before the days of electricity and fridge freezers, meat was preserved by smoke. A new study suggests the practice could stretch back almost 2 million years, and may even be a primary reason our ancestors started making fires in the first place. While the generation of flames is inextricably linked with the rise of humans, in the earliest days it would've required significant time and effort to ignite and keep fires lit. The benefits of preserving meat may have been a key reason why that time and effort was worth it. The study is the work of two researchers...

For about 400,000 years, humans have consistently relied on fire for various purposes, especially for cooking, a process that helps kills off harmful bacteria and parasites in our food while also making it easier to digest. According to a statement released by Tel Aviv University (TAU), however, cooking was not the motivating factor for why early hominins learned to control fire. Instead, TAU archaeologists Miki Ben-Dor and Ran Barkai propose, its original purpose was to preserve meat in order to extend its shelf life and to ward off scavengers intent on stealing humans’ hard-won prey. The research examined the earliest...

Scientists were recently baffled by DNA evidence that revealed the existence of a genetically unknown group of early South American settlers. Archaeologists are continually adapting their models for how human populations spread from Asia through North America to South America, and this new research is bound to alter those theories once again. The Associated Press reports that the researchers analyzed ancient DNA from 21 individuals who lived in Colombia's Altiplano Cundiboyacense region thousands of years ago. Located near current-day Bogotá, this area was also close to the ancient land bridge connecting South and Central America, the route that early human...

Whales, as the largest mammals on Earth, have long been an important resource for human societies, whether it be for food, oil, or other materials. According to a report by Popular Science, hunter-gatherers in present-day Spain and France have been crafting essential tools from whale bones for much longer than previously thought. A new study analyzed 83 bone tools found at sites along the Bay of Biscay and 90 additional bones from the Santa Catalina cave in Spain. The investigation relied on mass spectrometry and radiocarbon dating to determine that humans living in the region have been making whale-bone tools,...

According to a Live Science report, European hunter-gatherers traversed the Mediterranean Sea in primitive boats and visited North Africa much earlier than previously thought. A new study sequenced the DNA from nine individuals who lived in modern-day Algeria and Tunisia between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. The surprising results revealed that some of them may have been descended from Mesolithic Europeans. The genome of one particular man buried at the site of Djebba in Tunisia indicated that at least six percent of his DNA could be traced back to European hunter-gatherers. These results suggest that the individual's local ancestors mixed...

According to a Phys.org report, an international team of researchers from Simon Fraser University, the Greek Ministry of Culture, and the University of Bologna analyzed the chemical composition of collagen samples taken from human remains recovered from Franchthi Cave, a site that now overlooks Greece's Bay of Koilada.The cave was occupied over a period of about 40,000 years beginning in the Upper Paleolithic period. The remains in the study have been dated to the Mesolithic period, between 8700 and 8500 B.C., and the Neolithic period, between 6600 and 5800 B.C.Previous studies of human bones from the cave have indicated that...

CT-scan of bovid femur, showing three bone arrowhead fragments and poison substance. (Dr Aliénor Duhamel/CC BY-NC-ND) In 1983 archaeologists excavating a cave in South Africa discovered an unusual femur bone. It belonged to an unspecified antelope and was found to be 7,000 years old. X-rays revealed that three modified bone arrowheads had been placed into the marrow cavity. At the conclusion of the 1983 excavation the bone, together with other artefacts recovered from the cave, was placed in the University of the Witwatersrand's Archaeology Department storerooms. It lay there until 2022. That's when new archaeological investigations began at the site...

Claims that we ought to subscribe to a low-carb, high-protein 'paleo diet' are typically based on assertions our ancestors avoided complicated plant processing in favor of simpler meals consisting of meats, nuts, fruit, and raw vegetables. "...nonsense ..."

The Caveman Diet, also known as the Paleo Diet, is a weight-loss craze where calorie-counters pick foods they think early humans may have eaten. For most followers, this means a meat-heavy diet. But a new study suggests that if you truly want to eat like a caveman, you should be steering clear of red meat. Contrary to popular belief, researchers from Bar-Ilan University say that early humans were not solely focused on animal protein. Instead, cavemen were mostly vegetarians whose diets featured plant-based foods including acorns, cereals, legumes, and aquatic plants. 'This discovery underscores the importance of plant foods in...

New research suggests that dozens of Bronze-Age era Britons were killed in an attack unlike any previous known to archaeologists studying that time period and location. The research on human remains from Charterhouse Warren in southwest England, conducted by a team of researchers from multiple institutions including Oxford University, was published in Antiquity, a journal of world archaeology. It found that at least 37 Bronze Age-era men, women and children were "killed and butchered" and then cannibalized, with their bodies then thrown down a nearly 50-foot deep natural shaft. While archaeologists have found the remains of Bronze Age and later...

Researchers found direct evidence that Clovis people relied heavily on mammoths for food, using isotopic analysis to confirm 40% of a Clovis mother's diet came from mammoths. The study highlights how hunting large animals supported the Clovis people's mobility and rapid spread, while also contributing to the extinction of Ice Age megafauna...The study, featured on the Dec. 4 cover of the journal Science Advances, employed stable isotope analysis to reconstruct the diet of the mother of an infant found at a 13,000-year-old Clovis burial site in Montana. Previously, researchers inferred prehistoric diets primarily through indirect evidence, such as stone tools...

An extremely rare example of megalithic rock art was recently identified in northern Israel's Yehudiya Nature Reserve inside a 4,200-year-old stone burial chamber. The unique discovery of a clearly composed, artistic rendering of a herd of animals is shifting the way archaeologists think about the little-understood peoples who created the thousands of massive stone burial chambers, or dolmens, that dot northern Israel's Golan and Galilee... "These megalithic structures were built more than 4,000 years ago. They are ancient burials and they were built by a group of people of whom the only thing we know is that they built their...