A research group led by the Nagoya University Museum and Graduate School of Environmental Studies in Japan has clarified differences in the physical characteristics of rocks used by early humans during the Paleolithic. They found that humans selected rock for a variety of reasons and not just because of how easy it was to break off. This suggests that early humans had the technical skill to discern the best rock for the tool.

The researchers have published the results in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology.

Scientists should seek answers hidden in the dirt using proven and state-of-the-art archaeological science techniques to support new discoveries about human evolution following recent controversies at a cave site in Africa, says a group of international experts.

Their recommendations follow claims published in June of this year that Homo naledi—a small-brained human species—buried their dead in Rising Star Cave, South Africa, between 335,000 and 241,000 years ago and may also have decorated the cave walls with engravings. These claims were accompanied by a Netflix documentary, "Unknown: Cave of Bones."

In a scientific commentary published today in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, led by Associate Professor Mike Morley at Flinders University (Australia), a group of archaeological scientists strongly advocate for the use of modern scientific techniques to support claims such as those made about Homo naledi.

"Many scientists—including the authors of our comment out today—remain unconvinced by the evidence provided in three papers published online prior to peer review," says Associate Professor. Mike Morley, Director of the Flinders Microarchaeology Laboratory.

"Fortunately, there are a range of state-of-the-art techniques that scientists can use to study the many forms of evidence for human evolution—the fossils, artifacts, and even the sediments (or dirt) from which they have been recovered. These techniques are crucial when attempting to identify features such as the burials they claim to have found at Rising Star Cave."

The double burial of an adult woman and an infant, dating to about 7000–6800 BCE, discovered in 1934 during construction works at the spa gardens of Bad Dürrenberg, is regarded as one of the outstanding burial finds of the Mesolithic in Central Europe. Because of the unusual equipment with the woman, who was buried in a seated position, and her bodily anomalies, the burial is interpreted as that of a shaman.

Genetic research now reveals the relation of the woman and the child: the boy is not her son, but is a fourth- or fifth-degree relation. The phenotypic variants analyzed in the woman's genome inform us that she had a relatively dark skin complexion, dark, straight hair, and blue eyes.

In a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers from the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (SHEP) at the University of Tübingen show that early humans of the Middle Paleolithic had a more varied diet than previously assumed.

The analysis of a site in the Zagros Mountains in Iran reveals that about 81,000 to 45,000 years ago, the local hominins hunted ungulates as well as tortoises and carnivores. Birds may also have been on the menu.