Updates 2023

New Eklipse evidence report released: “Biodiversity and pandemics: Interdisciplinary research and action priorities.”
The report outlines science policy recommendations regarding biodiversity and pandemics with the goal of developing transformative policies for human, animal, and ecosystem health more
RESILIENT Project Launches at Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology
The project will bring an interdisciplinary approach to understanding how natural environments impact urban development in the Amazon more
Dalberg-Prize awarded to Dr. Carli Peters
Further information available in German more
A New Legacy:  Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry to Explore Potential of Legacy Collections in Natural History Museums
A recent study revisits 19th-century museum collection to test the utility of ZooMS proteomic techniques to taxonomically identify bone fragments and ultimately provide new insights into human-animal interactions trough time
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Points in Time and Space: New Method for Estimating Age of Lidar-detected Structures
In a new study titled published in Scientific Reports, a team of researchers led by the Max Plank Institute of Geoanthropology applied statistics and machine learning to develop a predictive model for the foundation of new structures. more
New Insights Into 2.5-million-year-old Environments On The Casablanca Coast Of Morocco In North Africa
A novel study combines analysis of wear marks and biochemistry of fossil animal teeth at the site of Ahl al Oughlam (dating to 2.5 million years ago) to study past Moroccan ecosystems in deep time. more
Homeless Dogs

Homeless Dogs

August 04, 2023
MDR features documentation about saved dogs by the animal welfare. More information in German. more
Biochemical Evidence Reveals Subtle Environmental Changes on the Islands of Near Oceania During the Last Glacial Maximum
A new study, led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, the University of Otago, and the Australian National University uses chemical information from excavated animal teeth to study the impact of climate change on human-occupied island environments in the Bismarck Archipelago. more
Somebody Used Stone Tools to Butcher Hippos 2.9 million years ago
Excavations at Nyayanga, Kenya have revealed the oldest-yet Oldowan tools in close proximity to butchered animal bones and molars from the human relative Paranthropus more
Ricardo Fernandes wins First Place in Max Planck Day Science Slam
On Friday evening, 23 June 2023, six scientists from across the Max Planck Society competed in a Science Slam as part of the celebrations surrounding the 75th anniversary of the Max Planck Society. The public event was held in Göttingen’s Old Town Hall, with the goal of presenting scientific research in an engaging, entertaining way more
Hunter-Trapper-Gatherers: People at Panga ya Saidi used Remote Capture Technology for Small Game
Researchers use animal bone remains from Panga ya Saidi, a cave in southeastern Kenya, to argue that people in the Middle and Later Stone Age used archaeologically invisible tools like snares, traps and nets to capture small game in forested environments more
WARSAW COMMUNIQUÉ ON CLIMATE CHANGE IN EUROPE
Attendees of the European Climate Conference in Warsaw, including Prof Jürgen Renn of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, jointly drafted the following communiqué. The European Climate Conference was co-organized by the Polish Academy of Sciences and Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Sciences more
Of Forests and Grasslands: Human-Animal Interactions and Paleoecology in Late Pleistocene-Holocene Sri Lanka
New study provides detail into human hunting strategies in tropical Sri Lankan forests more
Isotope Data Reveal Millennia of Ecological Change in the Mountains of Lesotho, Southern Africa
A new paper in Communications Earth & Environment uses plant wax biomarkers from archaeological sediments to understand human-environment interactions in mountain ecosystems for the past 60,000 years more
Geochemical Insights Into Tropical Island Adaptations on Zanzibar Island
A new study reveals that the inhabitants of Kuumbi Cave in Zanzibar Island utilized forest dominated mosaic habitats that served as a refuge for foragers during glacial periods more
An ape that lived 21 million years ago was used to a habitat that was both grassy and wooded. Corbin Rainbolt
A new article, co-authored by Rahab Kinyanjui from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and published in the journal Science, reports the earliest evidence for regionally widespread Cgrasses in eastern Africa and shows how these grasses, along with open habitats, influenced early ape evolution. For more information, please follow the link more
Tracing the Anthropocene
From FAZ (paywalled): Geoanthropology researches the influence of humans on the rest of the Earth's systems. At the Max Planck Institute in Jena, work is underway on the great synthesis more
Research Confirms Socioeconomic Hierarchies, Elite Mobility in Late Medieval Southern Italy
A high-resolution Bayesian multi‑proxy approach validates the conventional image of a multi-cultural hierarchical society in late medieval Capitanata, southern Italy. more
Foraging under Extreme Events
Hydrothermal vent animals adapt differently to drastic biogeochemical disturbance more
Humans Lived in Africa's Rainforests Much Earlier Than Thought
Evidence from modern day Nigeria indicates that humans relied on rainforest resources as early as 14,000 years ago, millennia before the dawn of farming. more
Rivers and Lakes Enabled Early Hominin Dispersals in Iran
A new model of paleoclimate and hydrology in Iran reveals favorable routes for Neanderthals and modern human expansions eastwards into Asia more
Tropical Forests Reveal the Roots of the Anthropocene
A new paper in Nature Ecology & Evolution shows how interdisciplinary research into human-environment interactions can be used to understand the origins of the Anthropocene and address its contemporary challenges more
New Special Issue Discusses Isolated Indigenous Groups in the Amazon
A new thematic special issue of the Brazilian Journal for Anthropological Linguistics focuses on isolated and recently contacted Tupi-speaking Indigenous groups from the Amazon forest, highlighting the potential of archaeology to provide new insights into the history and adaptation of these populations more
Of Lizards and Love Potions

Of Lizards and Love Potions

January 20, 2023
Documents from the Spanish Inquisition reveal a cultural melting pot in 17th Century Manila more
Reeds from Great Wall Reveal Climate of Ancient Northwestern China
Plant remains used in some of the earliest Great Wall segments show climatic and environmental changes across northwestern China since the Han Dynasty more
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