In 1924, a 3-year-old childs skull found in South Africa forever changed how people think about human origins.
Even since the turn of the 21st century, human origins textbooks have been rewritten over and over again.
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Photo by Brett Eloff.
Courtesy Prof Berger and Wits University, CC BY-SA
Perspectives on our own species have also changed.
Thisraises doubts that our species emerged in any single place.
This century has also brought unexpected discoveries from Europe and Asia.
Just this year, researchers reported anew species from the Philippines.
Anthropologists are realizing that ourHomo sapiensancestors hadmuch more contact with other human speciesthan previously thought.
Today, human evolutionlooks less like Darwins treeand more like amuddy, braided stream.
The rise of biomolecular archaeology means new opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration among field- and lab-based scientists.
This is why many people todaypossess some Neanderthal DNA.
Genetic methods are also reconstructingindividualandfamily relationships, and connectingancient individuals to living peoplesto enddecadeslong debates.
The applications go far beyond humans.
Paleogenomics is yielding surprising discoveries aboutplantsandanimalsfromancient seeds and skeletonshidden in the backrooms of museums.
Scientists analyze modern and fossil animal skeletons to ask questions about the past using ancient proteins.
Calculus can help scientists understandancient diseasesand how the humangut microbiome has changed over time.
Drones flying over sites helpinvestigate how and why they were madeandcombat looting.
Archaeologists increasingly use technology to understand how sites fit into their environment and to document sites at risk.
As a result, ancient cities are emerging from dense vegetation in places likeMexico,CambodiaandSouth Africa.
More and more, archaeologists are able to do their workwithout even digging a hole.
Geophysical survey methods enable archaeologists to detect buried features without digging large holes, maximizing knowledge while minimizing destruction.
New connections are raising new possibilities
These advances bring researchers together in exciting new ways.
With the wealth of high-resolution satellite imagery online, teams are also turning tocrowdsourcingto find new archaeological sites.
Telling the human story requires a community of voices to do things right.
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