Prehistory
Denny (Denisova 11): A Neanderthal-Denisovan Hybrid Child
Genome analysis showed that Denisova 11 was the first-generation child of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father, direct proof that the two groups interbred.
Region
Asia
Prehistory
Toba Supereruption: The Volcano and the Human Bottleneck Debate
A colossal eruption spread ash from the South China Sea to Africa, but most current evidence suggests it did not cause a near-extinction of humans.
Prehistory
Homo luzonensis: The Callao Cave Humans of the Philippines
Fossils from Callao Cave were named a new human species in 2019, showing that a distinct, small-toothed hominin lived on Luzon before or as modern humans arrived.
Prehistory
Sulawesi Cave Art: The World's Oldest Figurative Paintings
Dating of Sulawesi's rock art showed that figurative painting and narrative scenes existed in Southeast Asia earlier than in any known European cave.
Prehistory
Bhimbetka Rock Shelters: India's Prehistoric Painted Caves
Recognised as one of the richest rock-art landscapes in the world, the shelters were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.
Prehistory
Beringia: The Bering Land Bridge Between Asia and America
Rising seas flooded the land bridge by about 11,000 years ago, after the ancestors of Native Americans had crossed into the Americas.
Prehistory
Mal'ta Figurines: Ice Age Ivory Art of Siberia Near Lake Baikal
Mal'ta became the best-known Ice Age art site in Siberia, and its child burial later revealed a lost population linked to Native Americans.
Prehistory
Jōmon Culture: Japan's Ancient Hunter-Gatherers and First Pottery
A long-lived culture of settled hunter-gatherers that produced some of the world's earliest pottery and gave way to the rice-farming Yayoi culture.
Prehistory
Wrangel Island Mammoths: The Last Survivors of Their Kind
An isolated mammoth population persisted for about 6,000 years after its island was cut off, then died out around 4,000 years ago for reasons that are still debated.
Prehistory
Shangshan Culture: Early Rice Cultivation in the Yangtze Basin
One of the earliest known village cultures in southern China, with pottery and evidence for the early stages of rice cultivation.
Prehistory
Jeulmun Pottery Period: Comb-Pattern Pottery of Prehistoric Korea
Foraging and fishing communities adopted pottery, village life and millet farming, before giving way to the rice-growing Mumun period around 1500 BC.
Prehistory
Mehrgarh: Early Farming Village of Neolithic South Asia
One of the earliest known farming settlements in South Asia, occupied for over four thousand years before the rise of the Indus civilisation.