27/12/2025
A long read for Twixtmas, looking at how anatomy can help us to interpret evolution & the diverse human family tree
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140,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers made camp in Skhul Cave, hunting deer and aurochs, foraging olives and mustard, and burying their dead with boar jaws and elk antlers. They were human, but not quite like us.
These archaic Homo sapiens combined modern and primitive traits – domed skulls, high foreheads, massive brow ridges, strong jaws. They made tools, strung shells into necklaces, and perhaps believed in spirits. Yet, despite their intelligence and spread across Africa, the Middle East and Europe, they vanished. Why did modern humans become the last Homo sapiens standing?
This excellent essay is an editor’s favourite and the perfect companion to a quiet Boxing Day. https://aeon.co/essays/why-one-branch-on-the-human-family-tree-replaced-all-the-others
