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Our findings at the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution are often world firsts.
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Latest news
Fossil skull casts doubt over modern human ancestry
02 Apr 2020
Griffith University scientists have led an international team to date the skull of an early human...
Fossil skull reveals ape-like brain but prolonged growth similar to humans
02 Apr 2020
Three-million-year-old brain imprints in fossil skulls of the species Australopithecus afarensis...
Singing away the coronavirus blues: making music in a time of crisis reminds us...
26 Mar 2020
Griffith experts say making music provides a means to regain control in a time of crisis.
Researcher dates last known Homo erectus remains
19 Dec 2019
Last known remains of modern human ancestors dated by Griffith archaeologist.
Media
Professor Tanya Smith
The evolutionary tales teeth tell
Griffith University Associate Professor Tanya Smith says teeth have plenty of evolutionary tales to tell - when we grow our teeth they are like living fossils. From recording birth, to marking diet changes and teaching us about evolutionary behaviour, ancient teeth are a treasure trove into our past.
The Conversation articles
- Psst… wanna buy a necklace? Humans have been faking jewellery for thousands of years, by M. Langley (02/05/2019)
- World’s oldest tattooist’s toolkit found in Tonga contains implements made of human bone, by M. Langley (05/05/2019)
- Des traces de présence humaine de 2,4 millions d’années découvertes en Algérie, [In French], by M. Duval and M. Sahnouni (30/11/2018).
- Stone tools date early humans in North Africa to 2.4 million years ago, by M. Duval and M. Sahnouni (30/11/2018).
- Borneo cave discovery: is the world’s oldest rock art in Southeast Asia?, by A. Brumm et al. (08/11/2018)
- What teeth can tell about the lives and environments of ancient humans and Neanderthals, by T. Smith (1/11/2018)
- Ancient teenager the first known person with parents of two different species, by M. Langley (23/08/2018)
- How ‘bling’ makes us human, by M. Langley (23/08/2018)
- Humankind’s odyssey from Africa began more than two million years ago, by M. Langley (11/07/2018)
- South-East Queensland is droughtier and floodier than we thought, by J. Coates-Marnane et al. (21/06/2018)
- The Dreamtime, science and narratives of Indigenous Australia, by D. Lambert (03/05/2018)
- Rhino fossil rewrites the earliest human history of the Philippines, by A. Brumm (02/05/2018)
- Ancient stone tools found on Sulawesi, but who made them remains a mystery, by A. Brumm (11/04/2018)
- Un nouvel éclairage sur les premiers peuplements préhistoriques en Europe [In French], by M. Demuro et al. (04/03/2018)
- Giant handaxes suggest that different groups of early humans coexisted in ancient Europe, by M. Demuro et al. (23/02/2018)
- World’s scientists turn to Asia and Australia to rewrite human history, by M. Langley (07/12/2017)
- Mungo Man returns home: there is still much he can teach us about ancient Australia, by M. Westaway and A. Durband (14/11/2017)
- The lengthy childhood of endangered orangutans is written in their teeth, by T. M. Smith (17/05/2017)
- Ice age art and ‘jewellery’ found in an Indonesian cave reveal an ancient symbolic culture, by A. Brumm and M. Langley (03/04/2017)
- Aboriginal Australians co-existed with the megafauna for at least 17,000 years, by M. Westaway et al. (11/01/2017)
- DNA reveals a new history of the First Australians, by M. Westaway et al. (21/09/2016)
- A 700,000-year-old fossil find shows the Hobbits’ ancestors were even smaller, by G. van der Bergh and A. Brumm (08/06/2016)
- New DNA study confirms ancient Aborigines were the First Australians, by D. Lambert et al. (08/06/2016)
Further reading and listening
- GC Skeptics in the Pub - Growing Up Neanderthal, by Professor Tanya Smith [slides and audio available] (14/10/2019).
- Science - Bringing home the ancestors (18/04/2019).
- The New York Times - ‘Spirits Won’t Rest’: DNA Links Ancient Bones to Living Aboriginal Australians (19/12/2018).
- El País - Un animal ensartado por una lanza es el primer dibujo figurativo de la humanidad [In Spanish] (07/11/2018).
- Science - Neanderthal children shivered and suffered in ancient Europe (31/10/2018).
- Nature Index - Movers and Shakers (19/09/2018): Griffith University named among the most improved institutions in the Nature Index between 2015 and 2017, with a special mention to the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution
- The Washington Post - Biological anthropologist’s book drills down into the scientific mysteries of our choppers (20/10/2018)
- Le Figaro - Le premier Européen, Homo antecessor, a au moins 800.000 ans [In French] (26/06/2018)
- ABC News - Oldest modern human fossil outside Africa discovered in Israel
- ABC News - What prehistoric toys can tell us about human evolution, by M.C. Langley (31/03/2018)
- El País - Los juguetes invisibles de la prehistoria [In Spanish] (22/03/2018)
- Nine News Queensland - A South-East scientist has played a critical role in re-writing the history of human evolution.
- Radio National - Fossilised finger bone found in Saudi Arabian desert sheds light on early human migration
- ABC Radio - The story of human evolution and migration
- Radio National - Fossilised finger bone found in Saudi Arabian desert sheds light on early human migration
- Radio National - New relatives on the human family tree
- Sapiens.org - Humanity’s Story Has No End of Surprising Twists
- Courier Mail - Archaeologists reveal their dirty secrets
Publications
World-first genomic study of Aboriginal Australians
Some of the most ancient secrets of Australia’s human past have been uncovered in a new study involving Griffith University researchers, which has found Indigenous Australians and Papuans are descendants of a single wave of migrants who left Africa around 70,000 years ago.
New fossils shed light in the origin of 'Hobbits'
Griffith University researchers are part of an international team of scientists that has announced the discovery of ancestors of Homo floresiensis—the enigmatic species of pygmy-like humans discovered more than a decade ago on the Indonesian island of Flores.
First Peoples were truly first
ARCHE researchers have found evidence that demonstrates Aboriginal people were the first to inhabit Australia, as reported in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Science journal.
The work refutes an earlier study that claimed to recover DNA sequences from the oldest known Australian, Mungo Man.