Smithsonian's Human Origins Program

Smithsonian's Human Origins Program The Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian is dedicated to understanding the scientific evidence for how the traits that make us human evolved.
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Wondering about our cover photo? These 4 skulls represent 4 species of early human, all found in East Africa (northern Kenya), which overlapped in time. While we are the only species of human left on earth, our family tree was once diverse. The skulls are (from left to right):

KNM-ER 1813, Homo habilis, about 1.9 million years old
KNM-ER 3733, Homo erectus, about 1.8 million years old
KNM-ER 1470, Homo rudolfensis, about 1.9 million years old
KNM-ER 406, Paranthropus boisei, about 1.7 million years old

Are you in South Carolina this weekend? Members of the Smithsonian team will be at the Spartanburg County Public Librari...
06/02/2026

Are you in South Carolina this weekend? Members of the Smithsonian team will be at the Spartanburg County Public Libraries's Planetarium Learning Center (at the Headquarters Library) for public programs on June 5 and 6 for the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program traveling exhibit. See below for details, and come check it out!

The 1,200-square-foot traveling exhibition includes more than 40 educational panels, interactive kiosks, hands-on displays, videos, 3-D skull casts and presentations representing groundbreaking research in the scientific study of human origins. “Exploring Human Origins: What Does It Mean to Be Hum...

For today's Friday fun reading: would you survive a supervolcanic eruption? Archaeologists are working on answering that...
05/29/2026

For today's Friday fun reading: would you survive a supervolcanic eruption? Archaeologists are working on answering that question right now, with reference to the Toba supervolcano in Indonesia which erupted 74,000 years ago with a force 10,000 times larger than the 1980 Mount St. Helen's eruption in the United States. Jayde Hirniak at Arizona State University is using microscopic volcanic glass to track the eruption around the world and how humans responded to changes in environment. Read more in The Conversation US below!

Researchers can study volcanic deposits at archaeological sites to piece together how ancient people responded to catastrophic events.

Humans use their hands and arms differently from any other primate, so did we evolve from ape ancestors that used their ...
05/28/2026

Humans use their hands and arms differently from any other primate, so did we evolve from ape ancestors that used their hands more freely, like orangutans, or ones that knuckle-walked, like modern chimps and gorillas? Laura Hunter at The University of Chicago, also a former predoctoral Fellow at Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and colleagues looked at wrist bones of humans and apes - and concluded that our wrists are more similar to chimps and gorillas than any other primate, suggesting that we share a knuckle-walking ancestor.

Analysis charts evolution of the joint that made our species so nimble

"Waste not, want not" said Neanderthals… probably. A new study by Alicia Sanz-Royo at Muséum national d'Histoire naturel...
05/27/2026

"Waste not, want not" said Neanderthals… probably. A new study by Alicia Sanz-Royo at Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle and colleagues looked at the use of rhino remains in Middle Paleolithic sites, not for meat consumption or using their hides, but using the rhino's teeth to shape stone tools. A combination of microscopy and experimental archaeology suggests that the hard and flat surfaces of rhino teeth were ideal for shaping and sharpening stone tools.

Finds at sites in Spain and France suggest that Neandertals used the teeth of ancient rhinos for heavy-duty fabrication.

Looking back into the past, is the picture of human migration and population history like that of a branching tree, or i...
05/22/2026

Looking back into the past, is the picture of human migration and population history like that of a branching tree, or is it more complicated - with branches twisting and turning around and into each other? For today's Friday fun viewing, check out the video from Harvard University's David Reich explaining how ancient DNA helps scientists reconstruct these patterns.

We used to think human migration was a simple branching tree. Ancient DNA proved it's something far stranger. Harvard Geneticist David Reich explains.

The earliest members of our genus, 𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑜, may have been typified by flexibility. A new paper by Frances Forrest from Fair...
05/21/2026

The earliest members of our genus, 𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑜, may have been typified by flexibility. A new paper by Frances Forrest from Fairfield University and colleagues describes flexible foraging behavior in early 𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑜 from Koobi Fora, Kenya 1.6 million years ago. These finds are consistent with behaviors at earlier Koobi Fora sites, underscoring the importance of consistent, flexible foraging behavior in early 𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑜 body and brain evolution.

Foraging behavior in early humans By Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Mon, May 4, 2026 SHARE ON: TwitterFacebook Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences—A study* explores foraging behavior in early humans. High-quality foods, particularly meat, were key to the cognitive and ...

Technological innovation is typically presumed to have a single origin and then spread outwards from that point, but thi...
05/20/2026

Technological innovation is typically presumed to have a single origin and then spread outwards from that point, but this is not always the case. Published by University of Tübingen's Patrick Scmidt and The University of Queensland's Peter Hiscock: the oldest known heat treatment of chert may have independently arose in Australia. The site of Nauwalabila I shows systematic heat treatment of chert to be used in stone tools without any of the prerequisite steps known from this site - or older sites.

A recent archaeological study has identified the earliest lithic heat treatment of chert in the world. Discovered in Australia, this discovery is nearly twice as old as any previously identified chert heat treatment in Eurasia. The study is published in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology.

Neanderthals may have been capable of providing dental care to each other. Published by Russian Academy of Science's Ali...
05/19/2026

Neanderthals may have been capable of providing dental care to each other. Published by Russian Academy of Science's Alisa Zubova and colleagues, a Neanderthal molar from Chagyrskaya Cave in Russia shows evidence of premortem drilling, likely to remove a cavity from the occlusal (chewing) surface of the tooth. This would imply that Neanderthals were able to identify pain, find the cause, think of solutions, and effectively execute them: a complex cognitive process.

Neanderthals had the know-how to identify a tooth infection and the motor skills to drill out the damage, according to a study published May 13, 2026, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Alisa Zubova of Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Russian Academy of Sciences (Kunstkame...

A bonus story for Friday, hot off the press: 𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑜 𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑠 proteomes from China! Earlier this week Qiaomei Fu from the Ch...
05/15/2026

A bonus story for Friday, hot off the press: 𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑜 𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑠 proteomes from China! Earlier this week Qiaomei Fu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and colleagues published new protein sequences from the enamel of six 𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑜 𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑠 individuals. The team identified two amino acid variants: one unique to 𝐻𝑜𝑚𝑜 𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑠, and one that may have been passed on to Denisovans through interbreeding - and then later to modern humans through Denisovans. Check out the CNN article below including quotes from our own Dr. Ryan McRae!

Scientists retrieved proteins from six teeth unearthed in China that reveal a potential link between Homo erectus and later human species, including Homo sapiens.

Join us next Thursday, May 21st, from 11:30am-12:30pm Eastern Time for our monthly Smithsonian National Museum of Natura...
05/14/2026

Join us next Thursday, May 21st, from 11:30am-12:30pm Eastern Time for our monthly Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic event! This month, Dr. Bernard Wood from The George Washington University will discuss how paleoanthropologists identify our evolutionary relatives; Q&A to follow. This Zoom webinar is free and online, but requires advanced registration - the link to register is on the page below.

HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic Virtual Program: How Do Paleoanthropologists Identify Our Evolutionary Relatives? (ONLINE) Acknowledgments Events Human Origins Program Team Broader Social Impacts Committee What We Do Members & Member Resources Members Thoughts on Science, Religion & Human Origins (v...

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