News 2023

Further information available in German more

The world’s most diverse forest, the Amazon, may also host more than 10,000 records of pre-Columbian earthworks (constructed prior to the arrival of Europeans), according to a new study published in the journal Science. The new study combines cutting-edge remote sensing technology with archaeological data and advanced statistical modeling to estimate how many earthworks may still be hidden beneath the canopy of the Amazon rainforest and in which locations these structures are most likely to be found. more

A team of researchers led by Barbara Huber has recreated one of the scents used in the mummification of an important Egyptian woman more than 3500 years ago. The ancient aroma will be presented at the Moesgaard Museum in Denmark in an upcoming exhibition. more

On Friday evening, 23 June 2023, six scientists from across the Max Planck Society competed in a Science Slam as part of the celebrations surrounding the 75^th anniversary of the Max Planck Society. The public event was held in Göttingen’s Old Town Hall, with the goal of presenting scientific research in an engaging, entertaining way more

Excavations at Nyayanga, Kenya have revealed the oldest-yet Oldowan tools in close proximity to butchered animal bones and molars from the human relative Paranthropus more

Researchers use animal bone remains from Panga ya Saidi, a cave in southeastern Kenya, to argue that people in the Middle and Later Stone Age used archaeologically invisible tools like snares, traps and nets to capture small game in forested environments more

New study provides detail into human hunting strategies in tropical Sri Lankan forests more

A new paper in Communications Earth & Environment uses plant wax biomarkers from archaeological sediments to understand human-environment interactions in mountain ecosystems for the past 60,000 years more

Ancient protein evidence shows milk consumption was a powerful cultural adaptation that stimulated human expansion onto the highland Tibetan Plateau more

18 Jan - 26 April, 2023. Paleo Talks presents "Sapiens in South Asia: Multi-faceted story of peopling in the Indian continent" (SSA) in association with the Department of Archaeology, MPI-GEA. This series aims to discuss current narratives of modern human arrival and expansion in the Indian subcontinent. more