Making fire on demand was a milestone in the lives of our early ancestors. But the question of when that skill first arose ...

Ancient DNA from Denisovans left humans a powerful genetic advantage — a gene that helped early Americans survive new ...

In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have unearthed 6,000-year-old human skeletons in Colombia that possess a DNA profile unlike any other known to science. This unique genetic lineage, which has ...

It is fair to say that the family tree of ancient humans is not written in stone. Just take the case of the Denisovans, the enigmatic ancient humans who were, until recently, known only from a few ...

Ancient bones can surprise anyone who assumes the past always lines up neatly. Scientists pulled fragments of DNA from people ...

Artifacts discovered in a cave in Mexico are about 30,000 years old. This is an Inside Science story. The Americas may have been home to humans for more than 12,000 years longer than previously ...

David Bustos heard about the “ghost tracks” when he first went to White Sands National Park in New Mexico to work as a wildlife scientist in 2005. When the ground was wet enough at certain times of ...

Follow ancient humans’ journey into an icy and perilous new land. Follow ancient humans’ perilous journey into the Americas, where a frigid Ice Age landscape, mammoths, and other fearsome beasts ...

Humans were isolated in southern Africa for about 100,000 years, which caused them to "fall outside the range of genetic variation" seen in modern-day people, a new genetic study reveals. The finding ...

Ancient humans crossing the Bering Strait into the Americas carried more than tools and determination—they also carried a genetic legacy from Denisovans, an extinct human relative. A new study reveals ...