News Anthropology

How ancient, recurring climate changes may have shaped human evolution

Shifting habitats implicate a disputed ancestor in the rise of Homo sapiens and Neandertals

Homo heidelbergensis skull

The climate change–induced travels of a disputed hominid species called Homo heidelbergensis, represented here by a roughly 600,000-year-old East African skull, led to the evolution of H. sapiens in southern Africa and Neandertals in Europe, a new study claims.

Ryan Somma/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

By Bruce Bower

- More than 2 years ago

Recurring climate changes may have orchestrated where Homo species lived over the last 2 million years and how humankind evolved.