5 Skulls That Shook Up the Story of Human Evolution

Skull finds can change the way we think about human origins — but often not without controversy.

By Gemma Tarlach
May 15, 2020 2:30 PMMay 18, 2020 11:38 PM
Sahelanthropus tchadensis Skull
(Credit: Didier Descouens/Wikimedia Commons)

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news
 

This story appeared in the June 2020 issue as "Head Cases." Subscribe to Discover magazine for more stories like this.


These are heady times for paleoanthropologists. In the opening decades of the 21st century, new discoveries have refined and revised the story of human evolution at an unprecedented rate. Researchers have added four new members to the genus Homo: South Africa’s Homo naledi, Asia’s Denisovans, Indonesia’s “hobbit” H. floresiensis and, just last year, its neighbor in the Philippines, H. luzonensis. Improvements in extracting and analyzing ancient DNA and preserved proteins have created molecular-level tools capable of determining relationships between both individuals and species.

Much of the new research involves high-tech analysis of fragmentary fossils or genetic code — but no single tooth, scrap of finger bone or shiny piece of lab equipment captures our attention quite like a skull.

“The head, and especially the face, is the part of a person that we most commonly engage with, and also usually self identify with,” says University of Tübingen paleoanthropologist Katerina Harvati, who co authored a 2019 study in Nature Ecology & Evolution on the evolutionary history of the human face.

0 free articles left
Want More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

0 free articlesSubscribe
Discover Magazine Logo
Want more?

Keep reading for as low as $1.99!

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

Stay Curious

Sign up for our weekly newsletter and unlock one more article for free.

 

View our Privacy Policy


Want more?
Keep reading for as low as $1.99!


Log In or Register

Already a subscriber?
Find my Subscription

More From Discover
Recommendations From Our Store
Shop Now
Stay Curious
Join
Our List

Sign up for our weekly science updates.

 
Subscribe
To The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Copyright © 2024 Kalmbach Media Co.