Innovation is often assumed to be the work of a talented few, whose products are passed on
to the masses. Here, we argue that innovations are instead an emergent property of our …

Neandertals are the best-studied of all extinct hominins, with a rich fossil record sampling
hundreds of individuals, roughly dating from between 350,000 and 40,000 years ago. Their …

The behavioral origins of Homo sapiens can be traced back to the first material culture
produced by our species in Africa, the Middle Stone Age (MSA). Beyond this broad …

South Africa and Lesotho (SAL) have been inhabited by tool-producing hominins for at least
two million years. Most of the information we have about the activities and technological …

Africa's Middle Stone Age (MSA) may have lasted almost half a million years, but its earliest
expression is not yet well understood. The MSA is best known for innovations that appear in …

Circadian rhythms influence most of our life activities, notably getting up and going to sleep
every day. The new edition of this book delves into the mechanisms surrounding how these …

The possibility of fingerprinting ancient organisms using the DNA they leave behind is a
revolution in our understanding of the past. Paleogenetic studies are rewriting our …

The later Pleistocene archaeological record of southernmost Africa encompasses several
Middle Stone Age industries and the transition to the Later Stone Age. Through this period …

Combustion features inform archaeologists about the prehistoric use of space, subsistence
behaviors, and tempo of site visitation. Their study in the field is difficult because burned …

The transition from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) to the Later Stone Age (LSA) in South Africa
was not associated with the appearance of anatomically modern humans and the extinction …