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Welcome to the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Dear visitors, as Germany continues to deal with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History is committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of its employees. In order to limit the spread of Covid-19, we have encouraged our employees to work from home. Our services and availability to the public during this time are limited. We thank you for your understanding.

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We work all over the world

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Press Releases

Livestock and Dairying Led To Dramatic Social Changes in Ancient Mongolia, U-M Study Shows

May 11, 2022

DIY Digital Archaeology: New Methods for Visualizing Small Objects and Artefacts

April 13, 2022

The Astonishing Origins of a Rebel Language in the Philippines

April 07, 2022

Smells like Ancient Society: Scientists Find Ways to Study and Reconstruct Past Scents

March 28, 2022

More Press Releases

Updates

Spread of Black Rats was Linked to Human Historical Events

May 03, 2022

Marine Mollusc Shells Reveal how Prehistoric Humans Adapted to Intense Climate Change

April 22, 2022

Rice Terracing Facilitated Village Growth in Pericolonial Highland Ifugao, Philippines

April 08, 2022

Enduring Centers of Human Habitation in Africa Identified

March 07, 2022

More Updates

Videos and Audios

Barbara Huber studies old plant remains by using biochemical and biomolecular approches

Video

Barbara Huber is a Joachim Herz Foundation Add-On Fellow for Interdisciplinary Life Science. In her PhD research at the Max Planck Institute she studies old plant remains by using biochemical and biomolecular approches to find out how people used plants in the past

A Journey to the West: The Ancient Dispersal of Rice out of East Asia

Video

Rice is one of the most culturally valued and widely grown crops in the world today, and extensive research over the past decade has clarified much of the narrative of its domestication and early spread across East and South Asia. By better understanding the adoption of this water-demanding crop in the arid regions of West Asia, we explore an important chapter in human adaptation and agricultural decision making.

glyph - An online game to crowdsource the science of letter shapes

Video

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Harvard, and PSL University, have designed a gaming applet where players compete to classify the letter shapes of the world's writing systems. Researchers will better understand how letter shapes evolve to be distinctive and informative thanks to this crowdsourced typology

International Dog Day: "Having a Dog is Healthy"

Podcast

Biologist Juliane Bräuer researches dogs as head of the DogLab at the Max Planck Institute. Unlike many other animal species, the sympathy between humans and dogs is based on mutuality, the expert explains. (Audio in German)

Finding Rico - Recruitment Video

Video

Juliane Kaminski (Dog Cognition Centre, University of Portsmouth) and Juliane Bräuer (DogStudies, MPI for the Science of Human History, Jena) are looking for special dogs, that are able to distinguish objects by name.

Mtoto: The Sleeping Child

Video

The National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH) in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the National Museums of Kenya, co-leads a study on the oldest human burial in Africa, dating back to 78,000 years old

Events

May 2022

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The Key Role of the European Parliament Intergroup on ‘Climate Change, Biodiversity & Sustainable Development’ (Ccbsd) In Bridging the Science-policy Nexus

at 15:00

Science for Policy Ecosystems in the EU and Its Member States: Policies, Institutions, and Competences

at 15:00

Mapping science-for-policy ecosystems in Europe and Germany

at 15:00

Mapping Science-for-Policy Ecosystems in Europe and Germany

May 31, 3:00 pm CEST

Science for Policy Ecosystems in the EU and Its Member States: Policies, Institutions, and Competences

May 17, 3:00 pm CEST

More Events

Latest Publications

Tjuka, A.; Nguyen, H. T. T.; van de Vijver, R.; Spalek, K.: Pitch contours of Northern Vietnamese tones vary with focus marking. (2022)

MPG.PuRe

DOI

pre-print

ZIP

Sobchuk, O.: Evolution of modern literature and film. (2022)

MPG.PuRe

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pre-print

Rivollat, M.; Thomas, A.; Ghesquière, E.; Rohrlach, A. B.; Späth, E.; Pemonge, M.-H.; Haak, W.; Chambon, P.; Deguilloux, M.-F.: Ancient DNA gives new insights into a Norman Neolithic monumental cemetery dedicated to male elites. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 119 (18), e2120786119 (2022)

MPG.PuRe

DOI

publisher-version

Bjorn, R.: Indo-European loanwords and exchange in Bronze Age Central and East Asia. (2022)

MPG.PuRe

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pre-print

Quante, E.; Pint, A.; Frenzel, P.: Nonmarine Ostracoda as proxies in (geo-)archaeology: a review. Geoarchaeology: an international journal, 21912 (2022)

MPG.PuRe

MPG.PuRe

Hilbert, Y. H.; Clemente-Conte, I.; Crassard, R.; Charloux, G.; Guagnin, M.; AlSharekh, A. M.: Traceological analysis of lithics from the Camel Site, al-Jawf, Saudi Arabia: an experimental approach to identifying mineral processing activities using silcrete tools. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 14 (5), 93 (2022)

MPG.PuRe

DOI

publisher-version

Nayak, A.; Basa, K. K.; Boivin, N. L.; Fuller, D. Q.; Mohanty, R. K.; Kingwell-Banham, E.; Murphy, C.; Roberts, P.; Lee-Thorp, J.; Bogaard, A.: A stable isotope perspective on archaeological agricultural variability and Neolithic experimentation in India. Journal of Archaeological Science 141, 105591 (2022)

MPG.PuRe

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All Publications