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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.

We work in the field

We work in the lab

We work all over the world

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We work in collaboration with our partners

Press Releases

South American Musical Instruments Reflect Population Relationships

September 20, 2021

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Bone Tools from Morocco Indicate the Production of Clothing by 120,000 to 90,000 Years Ago

September 16, 2021

Milk Enabled Massive Steppe Migration

September 15, 2021

Life-sized Camel Carvings in Northern Arabia Date to the Neolithic Period

September 15, 2021

More Press Releases

Updates

67,000 Years of Coastal Resource Engagement at Panga ya Saidi, Kenya

September 07, 2021

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Plant Wax Biomarkers in Human Evolutionary Studies

August 12, 2021

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NoRaRe: A Multilingual Database of Word and Concept Properties

August 09, 2021

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Long-Term Resilient Foraging in Tropical Southern Mexico

August 07, 2021

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More Updates

Videos and Audios

The Genes of the Barbarians

Podcast

From Deutschlandfunk: July 27, 2021. Little is really known about the groups of people who roamed Europe, Asia and Africa between the 3rd and 8th centuries. Who were they? And what drove them? What we know and tell about them is based on a rather thin source material. DNA analysis could reveal some of their secrets. 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

A genome sequence from a modern human skull over 45,000 years old from Zlatý kůň in Czechia

Video

Apr. 7, 2021

Evolution of Cultural Diversity in Vanuatu - Research Project

Video

March 2021

The Power of Prejudice

Video

Feb 25, 2021 - Video in German

Archaeology During the Anthropocene

Podcast

Jan. 2021 - Director Nicole Boivin discussed on Deutschlandfunk how studying the past can help us shape the future. (In German)

Events

September 2021

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MINT-Festival Jena: Exploring the past with "invisible" traces

from 09:00 to 09:45

MINT-Festival Jena: Exploring the past with "invisible" traces

September 15, 9am CEST

Marija Gimbutas: Life - Research - Legacy

Exhibition opening on August 12, 3:30 CEST

More Events

Latest Publications

MPG.PuRe

DOI

publisher-version

Schünemann, B.; Keller, J.; Rakoczy, H.; Behne, T.; Bräuer, J.: Dogs distinguish human intentional and unintentional action. Scientific Reports 11 (1), 14967 (2021)

MPG.PuRe

DOI

publisher-version

supplementary-material

Papac, L.; Ernée, M.; Dobeš, M.; Langová, M.; Rohrlach, A. B.; Aron, F.; Neumann, G. U.; Spyrou, M. A.; Rohland, N.; Velemínský, P. et al.; Kuna, M.; Brzobohatá, H.; Culleton, B.; Daněček, D.; Danielisová, A.; Dobisíková, M.; Hložek, J.; Kennett, D. J.; Klementová, J.; Kostka, M.; Krištuf, P.; Kuchařík, M.; Hlavová, J. K.; Limburský, P.; Malyková, D.; Mattiello, L.; Pecinovská, M.; Petriščáková, K.; Průchová, E.; Stránská, P.; Smejtek, L.; Špaček, J.; Šumberová, R.; Švejcar, O.; Trefný, M.; Vávra, M.; Kolář, J.; Heyd, V.; Krause, J.; Pinhasi, R.; Reich, D.; Schiffels, S.; Haak, W.: Dynamic changes in genomic and social structures in third millennium BCE central Europe. Science Advances 7 (35), eabi6941 (2021)

MPG.PuRe

DOI

pre-print

Coelho, M. T. P.; Haynie, H. J.; Bowern, C.; Colwell, R. K.; Greenhill, S. J.; Kirby, K.; Rangel, T. F.; Gavin, M. C.: Demographic shifts, inter-group contact, and environmental conditions drive language extinction and diversification. (2021)

MPG.PuRe

DOI

publisher-version

Carlhoff, S.; Duli, A.; Nägele, K.; Nur, M.; Skov, L.; Sumantri, I.; Oktaviana, A. A.; Hakim, B.; Burhan, B.; Syahdar, F. A. et al.; McGahan, D. P.; Bulbeck, D.; Perston, Y. L.; Newman, K.; Saiful, A. M.; Ririmasse, M.; Chia, S.; Hasanuddin; Pulubuhu, D. A. T.; Suryatman; Supriadi; Jeong, C.; Peter, B. M.; Prüfer, K.; Powell, A.; Krause, J.; Posth, C.; Brumm, A.: Genome of a middle Holocene hunter-gatherer from Wallacea. Nature 596, pp. 543 - 547 (2021)

MPG.PuRe

DOI

publisher-version

Goldstein, S. T.; Crowther, A.; Henry, E. R.; Janzen, A.; Katongo, M.; Brown, S.; Farr, J.; Le Moyne, C.; Picin, A.; Richter, K. K. et al.; Boivin, N. L.: Revisiting Kalundu Mound, Zambia: implications for the timing of social and subsistence transitions in Iron Age Southern Africa. African Archaeological Review, s10437-021-09440-y (2021)

MPG.PuRe

DOI

publisher-version

Robinson, M.; Morcote-Rios, G.; Aceituno, F. J.; Roberts, P.; Berrío, J. C.; Iriarte, J.: ‘Moving South’: Late Pleistocene plant exploitation and the importance of palm in the Colombian Amazon. Quaternary 4 (3), 26, pp. 1 - 21 (2021)

MPG.PuRe

DOI

publisher-version

Faulkner, P.; Miller, J. M.; Morales Quintana, E. M.; Crowther, A.; Shipton, C.; Ndiema, E.; Boivin, N.; Petraglia, M. D.: 67,000 years of coastal engagement at Panga ya Saidi, eastern Africa. PLoS One 16 (8), e0256761 (2021)

MPG.PuRe

DOI

Sołtysiak, A.; Fernandes, R.: Much ado about nothing: assessing the impact of the 4.2 kya event on human subsistence patterns in northern Mesopotamia using stable isotope analysis. Antiquity, 117 (2021)

All Publications