Kosenki fossil skull, and and illustration of the Kosteni find

Ancient DNA shows earliest European genomes weathered the ice age, and shines new light on Neanderthal interbreeding and a mystery human lineage

06 November 2014

A genome taken from a 36,000 year old skeleton reveals an early divergence of Eurasians once they had left Africa, and allows scientists to better assess the point at which ‘admixture’ - or interbreeding - between Eurasians and Neanderthals occurred. The latest research also points to a previously unknown population lineage as old as the first population separations since humans dispersed out of Africa.

Read More
Delegation from Tagai State College in front of the Torres Strait display at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Museum embarks on cultural exchange

25 November 2013

From 11 – 14 November 2013 the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, welcomed five students from the Torres Strait Islands. The secondary school pupils, from Waybeni Koey Ngurpay Mudh Tagai State College (Thursday Island Secondary campus) visited the museum as part of a cultural and educational exchange and to embark on their own historical research

Read More

Beachcombing for early humans in Africa

31 May 2013

From the earliest modern humans to the present day, our species has evolved dramatically in both biological and behavioural terms. What forces prompted these momentous changes?

Read More

Pages