News archive for SAPIENCE
The SapienCE paper about a trapped artefact became the top ten most downloaded articles in the journal Geoarchaeology this year. The study demonstrates how the creative use of unconventional research methods turned an unfortunate archaeological sampling event into a scientific success story.
The SapienCE annual report for 2021 is now available with an insight to our exciting projects and activities which have taken place throughout the calendar year.
Cutting-edge technology makes it possible for scientists to retrieve DNA recovered decades ago. An international team of researchers, including scientists from SapienCE, were able to isolate ancient DNA from blocks of sediment embedded in plastic resin commonly used for micromorphological analyses.
One of the earliest forms of symbolic behaviour is the use of ochre. A new SapienCE project will explore how iron-rich rocks shaped the lives of early modern humans along the coast of South Africa.
The earliest human burial in Africa has been discovered at an archaeological site near Mombasa. Excavations revealed the body of a three-year-old child, deliberately buried around 78,000 years old.
The 2020 SapienCE Annual report is now published. The report presents stories, field reports and articles based on a selection of scientific publications issued throughout the year.
New type of analysis show for the first time how people who lived between 100,000 and 70,000 years ago organised their campsites and settlements. The results can explain why these people developed the ability to make jewellery and objects of art.
Humans are the only species that uses symbols to express quantities, and researchers now want to find out why number systems vary so much between cultures.
“We are very proud that SapienCE’s Origins of Early Sapiens Behaviour exhibition has been updated to a new format and found a new home at the Origins Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg,” Christopher Henshilwood, director of SapienCE says.
The hominin line shares most of its genetic makeup and a great deal of its behavioral repertoire with its closest primate relatives. At some point in the past, however, it set off on a different evolutionary trajectory, culminating in cognitive skills that are impressive both in extent and in the speed at which they have evolved. One goal of SapienCE is to shed light on when this process began... Read more
Daily excavations, surveys, sampling and archaeological experiments. The SapienCE team were right in the middle of their yearly field expedition in South Africa, when the pandemic became a reality forcing the world into lockdown.
The report provides an insight to our exciting activities taking place throughout the calendar year.
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has elected Professor Christopher Henshilwood as new member.
The archaeologists who found the world's oldest man-made drawing are back in the South African fields in search of new discoveries. Follow their day-to-day blog and see what happens when they experiment with heat and fire to get a better understanding of how humans lived 100 000 years ago.
New research proves that our ancestors cooked starchy rhizome 170 000 years ago. The study also implies that the food was shared as a social act around the fire.
The archaeologists who found the World's oldest man-made drawing are back in Blombos Cave in search of new discoveries. Professor Henshilwood welcomes us to the cave to show us his team at work as they dig for clues that can tell us how early humans lived.
New digital technology makes it possible to recreate the lives led by our ancestors 100,000 years ago.
“You really could go on and on about this! It is very interesting to learn a bit about you work here”, EU Ambassador Thierry Béchet said when he was visiting the SapienCE Centre.
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