Homo erectus

A massive, well-preserved skull discovered in China in the 1930s belongs to a new species called Homo longi, researchers report, but experts remain skeptical about the evidence.

Impressions that ancient brains left in fossilized skulls reveal that the first human ancestors to migrate out of Africa had much more primitive brains than previously thought.

Sharp drops in global temperatures helped seal the fate of three extinct hominin species, including our close relatives, the Neanderthals, according to thousands of archaeological specimens and a model of past climate conditions.

Africa’s sparse fossil record alone cannot reveal our species’ evolutionary history.

Modern human genomes and bones left behind from ancient hominins in Africa tell a complex story about the origins of our species.

A mass death event claimed the hominins’ lives and likely resulted from changing environmental conditions.