News | Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

One million artists can’t be wrong about cultural evolution

Collaborative art project on the popular web platform Reddit reveals the structure of cultural change. more

The evolution of language? There’s an app for that

A smartphone game designed by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History aims to study how languages evolve. more

New book: Skin, Kin and Clan - The dynamics of social categories in Indigenous Australia

Piers Kelly is co-editor of this new edited volume on Australian kinship systems. Australia is unique in the world for its diverse and interlocking systems of Indigenous social organisation. Arising from the large-scale AustKin project, this book presents recent original research by a range of authors in the field on the kinship and social category systems in Australia. more

"How Does Writing Reflect Deep Human Preferences for Certain Shapes?"

In a new video from Latest Thinking, Olivier Morin explains his recent reserach, in which he examined the letters of 116 writing systems from all over the world. more

Legibility emerges spontaneously, rather than evolving over time

The orientation of strokes within letters reveals surprising patterns that hardly changed in 3000 years. more

In search of a golden age - The hunt for war treasure in the Philippines has hidden meanings

Aug 09, 2016
Press release to: Piers Kelly

Excavating a hidden bell story from the Philippines: a revised narrative of cultural-linguistic loss and recuperation. Journal of Folklore Research 53 (2), 86-113 (2016)

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