'Sex, biology, behavior, evolution: moving beyond binary approaches to humans and other animals' Speaker at the AIAS Seminar: Agustin Fuentes, Professor of Anthropology, Princeton University, USA.

The use of binary framings and dyadic models are ubiquitous in much theory, method, and practice in the biological and social sciences. However, contemporary study of bodies, ecologies, and behavior pushes against such approaches. aias.au.dk/events/show/...

It’s a myth that baby boys are less social than girls – a new look at decades of research shows all babies are born to connect Pulling together the results of 40 experiments done by different teams over decades, researchers found that infant boys and girls equally tune in to human faces and voices.

It’s a myth that baby boys are less social than girls – a new look at decades of research shows all babies are born to connect
theconversation.com/its-a-myth-t...

How human evolution has been speeding up Providing some of the missing background for new research on natural selection from ancient DNA

In this piece I go into a 20-year history of looking at selection on human genes. It's a foundation for the recent work on ancient DNA showing fast evolutionary change. That's been a well-supported conclusion from anthropology for a very long time.

www.johnhawks.net/p/how-human-...

A Short Silence, A Long Journey, and a New Beginning To my wonderful community here,

Sorry it’s been a bit quiet lately on the Deep History Refuge Substack!

Big news and good reason!

Returning to normal posting soon!

A massive thank you to all those who made this possible!

open.substack.com/pub/deephist...

Evidence of birch bark tar shows Neanderthals created the world’s first synthetic material. To make this adhesive, they mastered "underground ovens" to maintain precise, oxygen-free heat.

This is ingenuity at its finest. What other "modern" behaviors are we still missing from the history record? 🦴

Sensory Archaeology: A Zen Guide to the Neanderthal Mind We often talk about the who, the how, and the when of deep history.

Standing in the "Great Silence." 🦴New post on the sensory world of Neanderthals. Moving beyond the numbers to understand the breath, the touch, and the flicker of the marrow lamp. Read here: open.substack.com/pub/deephist... #WOPA #HumanOrigins #DeepHistory

“The Echo in the Stone” Ch. 1 - The Living Stone A Journey into Deep History: Serializing My New Novel

I’m thrilled to share Chapter 1 of my new novel, "The Echo in the Stone." We’re moving beyond the fossils and into the minds of those who lived it—exploring Neanderthal symbolic behavior and the evolution of art.

Dive into the deep here:
open.substack.com/pub/deephist...

#Neanderthals

The Tinshemet Crossover: Breaking the Wall Between "Us" and "Them" The Levant Crossover: A New Dawn for Deep History

🚨 NEWS: Tinshemet Cave is rewriting human history! 🦴

Evidence from Israel shows Neanderthals & Sapiens shared tools, rituals, & burials 110k years ago. It wasn't just survival; it was a cultural melting pot! 🤝✨

Read the full breakdown:
open.substack.com/pub/deephist...

#WOPA #DeepHistory

This. Read book and review. Now.

The 1902 Committee: Bringing Global Rock Art to Print, organized by The 1902 Committee Who We Are The 1902 Committee is an international collect… The 1902 Committee precisa do seu apoio para The 1902 Committee: Bringing Global Rock Art to Print

The 1902 Committee is going from digital to tangible! 🏛️🎨

We’re raising funds to publish our first physical volumes of global rock art research and keep our digital hub ad-free and open-access. Help us preserve the "first signatures" of humanity.

Donate: gofund.me/3083618d5

The Tinshemet Crossover: Breaking the Wall Between "Us" and "Them" The Levant Crossover: A New Dawn for Deep History

🚨 NEWS: Tinshemet Cave is rewriting human history! 🦴

Evidence from Israel shows Neanderthals & Sapiens shared tools, rituals, & burials 110k years ago. It wasn't just survival; it was a cultural melting pot! 🤝✨

Read the full breakdown:
open.substack.com/pub/deephist...

#WOPA #DeepHistory

I am very happy to be able to let you all know that the volume "Alterity and Human Evolution: Deep-Time and Multispecies Perspectives on Difference and Variation" has now been officially published by @berghahnbooks.bsky.social!

www.berghahnbooks.com/title/Abadia...

/1

The Tinshemet Crossover: Breaking the Wall Between "Us" and "Them" The Levant Crossover: A New Dawn for Deep History

🦴 Breaking: Tinshemet Cave (Israel) reveals #Neanderthals & #Sapiens didn't just coexist—they SHARED a culture. From hybrid tools to hunting Persian Fallow Deer, the "Gap" is a myth. 🦌

Read my full Deep Dive: open.substack.com/pub/deephist...

#Paleoanthropology #Hominins #Evolution #Culture

The United States is destroying itself | Rebecca Solnit The daily news can’t adequately convey the administration’s sabotaging of our government, economy, alliances and environment

"The United States is being murdered, and it’s an inside job." please read and share this from the always amazing @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social in the @theguardian.com ...it should be repeated loudly and frequently. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Two images. On left, a stone flake with an encrusted reddish-brown area on the right side of the surface we see. On right, a close-up image of some of the encrustation.

In 2015, the late Paola Villa and collaborators described a stone flake from Sibudu Cave, 49,000 years old, encrusted with an ancient paint made from powdered red ochre and milk from an antelope. They speculated the milk came from a kill of a lactating female.

Image: Villa and coauthors

Is Biological Sex Binary? Agustín Fuentes and Tomás Bogardus in Conversation at the University of Delaware anthropology.princeton.edu/news/biologi...

“The Echo in the Stone” Ch. 1 - The Living Stone A Journey into Deep History: Serializing My New Novel

I’m thrilled to share Chapter 1 of my new novel, "The Echo in the Stone." We’re moving beyond the fossils and into the minds of those who lived it—exploring Neanderthal symbolic behavior and the evolution of art.

Dive into the deep here:
open.substack.com/pub/deephist...

#Neanderthals

Sensory Archaeology: A Zen Guide to the Neanderthal Mind We often talk about the who, the how, and the when of deep history.

Standing in the "Great Silence." 🦴New post on the sensory world of Neanderthals. Moving beyond the numbers to understand the breath, the touch, and the flicker of the marrow lamp. Read here: open.substack.com/pub/deephist... #WOPA #HumanOrigins #DeepHistory

A star scientist showed that better genetics lessons could reduce racism. It was the death knell for his career Brian Donovan had persuaded high school teachers and education researchers that prejudice might be ended by changing how genetics is taught.

Read this. this is what the administration wants to happen. this is how they destroy science... www.statnews.com/2026/04/07/b...

Woo-Hoo! First comprehensive assessment of the evidence for Pleistocene mobile containers! A biocultural perspective viewing container use and manufacture as a process of niche construction! Jennifer C. French, Somaye Khaksar, me & @marckissel.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

"While there is no current consensus, we do not advocate for a single definition and contend that a lack of unanimity is not inherently problematic."

Evidence of birch bark tar shows Neanderthals created the world’s first synthetic material. To make this adhesive, they mastered "underground ovens" to maintain precise, oxygen-free heat.

This is ingenuity at its finest. What other "modern" behaviors are we still missing from the history record? 🦴

Did the “Ape Cradle” Just Move North? Meet Masripithecus. What you see depends on where you stand. For decades, our focus on the Rift Valley blinded us to the "Northern Corridor." Today, we explore how one small fossil from the Qattara Depression is teaching...

Did the "Ape Cradle" just move north? 🌍🦴

A new 17-million-year-old fossil from Egypt, Masripithecus, is redrawing the map of our deep history. It turns out the "Northern Corridor" was a major stage for evolution.

Read the full breakdown: open.substack.com/pub/deephist...

#HumanOrigins

The Digital Ancestor: Are We Resurrecting the Past or Just Mirroring Ourselves? Moving beyond the headlines to the marrow of human origins. Description: This is where we slow down. "The Deep Dive" is a dedicated space for paid subscribers to explore the technical, ethical, and ph...

Are we resurrecting the past or just mirroring ourselves? 🧬

In my latest Deep Dive for the paid tier, I explore the ethics of AI facial reconstructions. From Shanidar Z to "Miguelón," let's look at the "Digital Mask."

Read here: open.substack.com/pub/deephist...

#Paleoanthropology #Ethics

The Taphonomy of the Clipboard: Why I’m Building a Better Digital Shovel How do we solve logistics problems in archaeology?

Why is it easier to track a 20-ton truck than a 2cm lithic? I’m killing "Administrative Taphonomy" with a digital Chief of Staff for the trench. v12.0 is live & Public Beta is coming. Ready to swap clipboards for code? 🏛️⛏️

Full story: open.substack.com/pub/deephist...

Massive budget cuts for US science proposed again by Trump administration Budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing.

"NSF leaders announced that they would dissolve the agency’s Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences directorate based on the budget request, according to two NSF staff members who shared information anonymously in order to speak freely." what!!!! No. No. Nope. No. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Donate to The 1902 Committee: Bringing Global Rock Art to Print, organized by The 1902 Committee Who We Are The 1902 Committee is an international collect… The 1902 Committee needs your support for The 1902 Committee: Bringing Global Rock Art to Print

The 1902 Committee is moving from digital to tangible! 🏛️
We’re raising funds to publish our first physical volumes of global rock art research and keep our digital hub ad-free and open-access.
Help us preserve the "first signatures" of humanity: gofund.me/e3594480a
#RockArt #1902Committee

Landscapes of Imagination: Reframing Neanderthal Art and Symbolism YouTube video by World of Paleoanthropology

Were Neanderthals the first artists? 🦴🎨 We’re reframing the narrative on deep history. Dive into the "Landscapes of Imagination" and symbolic behavior in our latest video. Let’s move beyond the "caveman" trope together.
Watch here: youtu.be/GhkAiVt1eZY
#Paleoanthropology #WOPA

The Generational Ghost: Persistence, Ritual, and the “Deep History” of Des Cubierta To the untrained eye, Level 3 of Des Cubierta looks like a chaotic jumble of bone and rock. But through the lens of a researcher, this image reveals a lithostratigraphic masterpiece. Notice the densit...

Neanderthals didn't just survive; they remembered. New 2026 data from Des Cubierta shows a ritual skull tradition lasting generations—defying rockfall and time. It’s not prehistory; it’s Deep History.

Full dive: open.substack.com/pub/deephist...

Ancient handaxes made from geodes New work describes exceptional artifacts from the Sakhnin valley of Israel.

I took some time to wonder at the beautiful newly-described handaxes and other artifacts from near Sakhnin, Israel, where Acheulean artisans used geodes and fossil-bearing nodules for knapping.

www.johnhawks.net/p/ancient-ha...