O_2_12 — Great Rift Valley: Continental Splitting and Hominid Cradle

The East African Rift System (EARS) — commonly called the Great Rift Valley — is one of Earth's most geologically dramatic and scientifically significant features: an active continental rift zone stretching approximately

L_1_10 — Neanderthal Genome and Legacy in Modern Humans

The sequencing of the Neanderthal genome ranks among the most significant achievements in modern biology. Beginning with the draft genome of Green et al. (2010) and refined by later high-coverage genomes from the Altai,

H_2_19 — Forbidden Archaeology — Cremo & Thompson Claims

Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race (1993, revised edition 1998, 914 pages), authored by Michael A. Cremo and Richard L. Thompson, is the most comprehensive compendium of anomalous archaeological a

M_5_09 — Denisova Cave: Archaeological Wonders and Genetic Revelations

Denisova Cave (Денисова пещера), located in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia, Russia, is one of the most extraordinary archaeological sites in the world — the only known location where three distinct hominin speci

INTERDOC_13 — Out of Africa vs. Multiregional: The Synthesis That Changed Everything

The two dominant models of human origins battled from the 1980s through the 2010s. Chris Stringer and Peter Andrews championed the Recent African Origin (RAO) model (1988, Science): anatomically modern humans evolved exc

L_1_00 — Human Evolution Species: Subfolder Summary

L_1_17 — Homo Floresiensis

Homo floresiensis is one of the most controversial hominin discoveries of the 21st century. Found in Liang Bua cave on the Indonesian island of Flores by Mike Morwood and Thomas Sutikna in September 2003 (announced Octob

L_1_13 — Homo Naledi: Underground Burial and Primitive Morphology

Homo naledi is one of the most unexpected and controversial hominin discoveries of the 21st century. Announced in 2015 by Lee Berger (University of the Witwatersrand) and an international team, the species was recovered

L_1_04 — Archaic Human Species Synthesis

The human evolutionary tree is far more complex than the older linear model suggested. Fossils, ancient DNA, and proteomics now show that Homo sapiens overlapped with several other hominin lineages, including Neanderthal

L_1_14 — Homo Erectus: The Most Successful Human Species

Homo erectus (including regional variants sometimes classified as H. ergaster, H. georgicus, H. soloensis, and H. pekinensis) is arguably the most successful hominin species in evolutionary history — persisting for nearl

L_1_12 — Ghost DNA: Unknown Archaic Hominin Admixture

"Ghost DNA" refers to genetic signals — segments of the genome, deviations in allele frequency distributions, or anomalous phylogenetic patterns — that indicate admixture (interbreeding) between anatomically modern human

L_0_00 — Genetics & Human Origins: Section Summary

F_1_22 — Peopling of the Americas: Routes & Chronology

The peopling of the Americas — when, how, and by whom the Western Hemisphere was first colonized by modern humans — is one of the most actively debated questions in archaeology, genetics, and paleoanthropology, with the

F_4_24 — Homo floresiensis: The "Hobbit" of Flores

Homo floresiensis — popularly known as "the Hobbit" — is an extinct species of small-bodied hominin whose discovery on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003 was one of the most startling finds in the history of paleoan