Long before factories, mines, and cars filled the air with pollution, our distant ancestors were already living with a silent toxin: lead. A groundbreaking study reveals that hominids — from early ...

Dazzling new scientific techniques are allowing anthropologists to track the movements and menus of extinct hominids through the seasons and years as they ate their way across the African landscape, ...

According to a new study, exposure to lead by ancient humans could have given modern humans a survival advantage over other species – more specifically, their ability to better resist lead's harmful ...

UC San Diego researchers have found high levels of lead in the teeth of both Neanderthals (left) and modern humans (right). However, a gene mutation may have protected modern human brains, allowing ...

Even early humans knew a thing or two about dental hygiene. Our ancestors used grass stalks as tooth picks, experimental findings suggest. The teeth of ancient hominids commonly have curved grooves on ...