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Dog studies

Participants wanted!

We are investigating the cognitive abilities of dogs, and we are looking for participants. All studies are done in a playful way. [more]

Latest publications

Dengler Haunreiter, V.; Boumasmoud, M.; Häffner, N.; Wipfli, D.; Leimer, N.; Rachmühl, C.; Kühnert, D.; Achermann, Y.; Zbinden, R.; Benussi, S. et al.; Vulin, C.; Zinkernagel, A. S.: In-host evolution of Staphylococcus epidermidis in a pacemaker-associated endocarditis resulting in increased antibiotic tolerance. Nature Communications 10, 1149 (2019)

MPG.PuRe

DOI

publisher-version

Hausmann, N.; Prendergast, A. L.; Lemonis, A.; Zech, J.; Roberts, P.; Siozos, P.; Anglos, D.: Extensive elemental mapping unlocks Mg/Ca ratios as climate proxy in seasonal records of Mediterranean limpets. Scientific Reports 9, 3698 (2019)

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publisher-version

Lang, M.; Purzycki, B. G.; Apicella, C. L.; Atkinson, Q. D.; Bolyanatz, A.; Cohen, E.; Handley, C.; Klocova´, E. K.; Lesorogol, C.; Mathew, S. et al.; McNamara, R. A.; Moya, C.; Placek, C. D.; Soler, M.; Vardy, T.; Weigel, J. L.; Willard, A. K.; Xygalatas, D.; Norenzayan, A.; Henrich, J.: Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286 (1898), 20190202 (2019)

MPG.PuRe

Will, M.; Tryon, C.; Shaw, M.; Scerri, E. M. L.; Ranhorn, K.; Pargeter, J.; McNeil, J.; Mackay, A.; Leplongeon, A.; Groucutt, H. S. et al.; Douze, K.; Brooks, A. S.: Comparative analysis of Middle Stone Age artifacts in Africa (CoMSAfrica). Evolutionary Anthropology (2019)

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Vasylyeva, T. I.; du Plessis, L.; Pineda-Peña, A. C.; Kühnert, D.; Lemey, P.; Vandamme, A.-M.; Gomes, P.; Camacho, R. J.; Pybus, O. G.; Abecasis, A. B. et al.; Faria, N. R.: Tracing the Impact of Public Health Interventions on HIV-1 Transmission in Portugal Using Molecular Epidemiology. The Journal of Infectious Diseases (2019)

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pre-print

Vardy, T.; Atkinson, Q. D.: Property damage and exposure to other people in distress differentially predict prosocial behavior after a natural disaster. Psychological Science (2019)

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Wedage, O.; Amano, N.; Langley, M. C.; Douka, K.; Blinkhorn, J.; Crowther, A.; Deraniyagala, S.; Kourampas, N.; Simpson, I.; Perera, N. et al.; Picin, A.; Boivin, N. L.; Petraglia, M. D.; Roberts, P.: Specialized rainforest hunting by Homo sapiens ~45,000 years ago. Nature Communications 10, 739 (2019)

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publisher-version

Rozzi, R.; May, R. H.; Chapin, F. S.; Massardo, F.; Gavin, M. C.; Klaver, I. J.; Pauchard, A.; Nuñez, M. A.; Simberloff, D.: From biocultural homogenization to biocultural conservation: A conceptual framework to reorient society toward sustainability of life. In: From Biocultural Homogenization to Biocultural Conservation, pp. 1 - 17 (Eds. Rozzi, R.; May Jr., R. H.; Chapin III, F. S.; Massardo, F.; Gavin, M. C. et al.). Springer International Publishing, Cham (2019)

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Gruber, R.; Schiestl, M.; Boeckle, M.; Frohnwieser, A.; Miller, R.; Gray, R. D.; Clayton, N. S.; Taylor, A. H.: New Caledonian Crows use mental representations to solve metatool problems. Current Biology 29 (4), pp. 686 - 692 (2019)

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publisher-version

Woodbridge, J.; Roberts, N. C.; Palmisano, A.; Bevan, A.; Shennan, S.; Fyfe, R.; Eastwood, W. J.; Izdebski, A.; Çakırlar, C.; Woldring, H. et al.; Broothaerts, N.; Kaniewski, D.; Finné, M.; Labuhn, I.: Pollen-inferred regional vegetation patterns and demographic change in Southern Anatolia through the Holocene. The Holocene (2019)

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DOI

A complete list of publications you can find here.

Events calendar

March 2019

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11 The History of the Dogon and Pre-Dogon Settlements in West Africa	12	13	14	15	16	17
18 Resilience, environmental change and society: Perspectives from History and Prehistory	19 Resilience, environmental change and society: Perspectives from History and Prehistory	20 Resilience, environmental change and society: Perspectives from History and Prehistory International Applications of Archaeological Sciences 2019	21 International Applications of Archaeological Sciences 2019	22 International Applications of Archaeological Sciences 2019	23 International Applications of Archaeological Sciences 2019	24 International Applications of Archaeological Sciences 2019
25 International Applications of Archaeological Sciences 2019	26 International Applications of Archaeological Sciences 2019	27 International Applications of Archaeological Sciences 2019	28 International Applications of Archaeological Sciences 2019 Forsche Schüler Day 2019	29 International Applications of Archaeological Sciences 2019	30 International Applications of Archaeological Sciences 2019	31 International Applications of Archaeological Sciences 2019 Reconstructing the Human Past - EMBO\|EMBL Symposium

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Prof. (Univ. of Auckland) Russell Gray, PhD (Univ. of Auckland) FRSNZ, Director

Institute building

Dr. Nicole Boivin
Director

Campus at Night

Prof. Dr. Johannes Krause
Director

City of Jena

Institute Profile

The Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH) in Jena was founded in 2014 to target fundamental questions of human history and evolution since the Paleolithic. From the vantage point of three interdisciplinary research departments – the Department of Archaeogenetics (Director Johannes Krause), the Department of Archaeology (Director Nicole Boivin), and the Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution (Director Russell Gray) – the MPI-SHH pursues an integrative approach to the study of human history that bridges the traditional divide between the natural sciences and the humanities. [more]

News

First Anatolian farmers were local hunter-gatherers that adopted agriculture

The first farmers from Anatolia, who brought farming to Europe and represent the single largest ancestral component in modern-day Europeans, are directly descended from local hunter-gatherers who adopted a farming way of life. [more]

International Applications of Archaeological Sciences 2019

Participants from around the world will attend to learn about the latest cutting-edge techniques in archaeological science.
Date: 20-31 March 2019
Host: Department of Archaeology

[more]

Unique diversity of the genetic history of the Iberian Peninsula revealed by dual studies

Two studies, one looking at Iberian hunter-gatherers between 13,000 and 6000 years ago and another looking at Iberian populations over the last 8000 years, add new resolution to our understanding of the history and prehistory of the region. [more]

Diet-Induced Changes Favor Innovation in Speech Sounds

Diet-induced changes in the human bite resulted in new sounds, such as “f”, in languages all over the world, a study by an international team led by researchers at the University of Zurich has shown. The findings contradict the theory that the range of human sounds has remained fixed throughout human history. [more]

Sea otters’ tool use leaves behind distinctive archaeological evidence

Researchers used an interdisciplinary approach combining ecology and archaeological methods to study sea otters' past behavior. [more]

Resilience, environmental change and society - Perspectives from History and Prehistory

PS&H (formerly ByzRes), the Department of Archaeology and Princeton University co-host annual Climate Change and History Research Initiative (CCHRI) 2019 Colloquium, which aims to bring together for the first time interdisciplinary projects on climate and environmental change that work on two different “human pasts”: history and prehistory. [more]

Johannes Krause publishes book about newest research

The journey of our genes - A story about us and our ancestors
Where are we from? Who are we? What distinguishes us from others? These questions are more urgent today than ever before. Johannes Krause and Thomas Trappe go back to prehistory and tell us how Europeans became who they are today. [more]

Workshop: Anthropocene. Archaeology of the Present

Researchers from four world-renowned institutions meet at the ancient city of Cahokia to discuss the factors that led to the Anthropocene. [more]

Vast record of past climate fluctuations now available thanks to laser imaging of shells

Refined techniques for laser imaging of shell growth rings are tapping into previously hidden data of marine climate change. By examining human and ecological responses to those changes, researchers can learn more about what to expect from climate change in the future. [more]

DLCE & DAG Workshop: The History of the Dogon and Pre-Dogon Settlements in West Africa

Date: March 11, 2019
Room: Oval Office 103
Host: Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution & Department of Archaeogenetics [more]

Distinguished Lecture by Sabine Reinhold: "Bridging Eurasia and the Near East - Recent developments in the archaeology of the Caucasus"

Date & Time: 27 February 2019, 3pm
Speaker: Sabine Reinhold
Room: Villa V14
Host: Department of Archeology [more]

The Monkey Hunters: Humans colonize South Asian rainforest by hunting primates

New study provides direct evidence for the hunting of tree-dwelling monkeys and other small mammals by Homo sapiens 45,000 years ago in the rainforest of Sri Lanka. [more]

Forsche Schüler Day 2019

Students have the opportunity to discover the science of human history through exciting hands-on experiments.
Date: March 28th, 2019
Time: 9:00-13:00
Host: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History [more]

Honorary Professorship at the University of Mainz awarded to Prof. Dr. habil. Martine Robbeets

Prof. Dr. habil. Martine Robbeets has been awarded an honorary professorship at the University of Mainz. She will give her Inaugural Lecture titled "Building on Mainzer traditions in Transeurasian linguistics" on 15 February 2019. Congratulations!

"Terra X: Die Reise der Menschheit" (The Journey of humanity" wins Deutschen Fernsehpreis"

The 3-part program by ZDF, Arte and Gruppe 5, featuring Russell Gray and Johannes Krause, has won the German Television Prize for Best Documentary of 2018! Congratulations! [more]

"Mongolian-American Joint Northern Mongolian Archaeology Project" wins Research Project of the Year at the Mongolian Archaeology Conference 2018

The joint project, which includes MPI-SHH researchers William Taylor and Nils Vanwezer, explores Mongolia’s earliest prehistory, from the Paleolithic through the first pastoral peoples of the Bronze Age. [more]

"What New Insights Can Archeology Provide Into Homo sapiens’ Emergence from Africa?"

In a new video from Latest Thinking, Michael Petraglia describes his research, which includes the use of satellite imagery to identify ancient rivers and lakes in present-day desert regions, and demonstrates that modern humans emerged from Africa much earlier than previously thought. [more]

DA Workshop: Global Markers of the Anthropocene

Date: 18-20 February 2019
Location: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Organized by the Department of Archaeology

[more]

What Can We Learn from Studying Homo sapiens’ First Moves into Tropical Forests?

For a long time the tropical forest has been assumed to represent an environment inhospitable to humans. In a new video by Latest Thinking Patrick Roberts explains why he challenges this view. [more]

The Caucasus: complex interplay of genes and cultures

Genetic studies of ancient populations in the Caucasus region testify to the complex interaction of populations from the Eurasian steppe and the Caucasus Mountains in the Bronze Age. [more]

New studies reveal deep history of Denisovans and Neanderthals in southern Siberia

More than 150 new dates provide the first robust chronology for Denisova Cave, the only site in the world known to have been occupied by both Neanderthals, Denisovans, and later by modern humans. [more]

Distinguished Lecture by Katerina Harvati-Papatheodorou: "Neanderthals and early modern humans: New results from the lab and field"

Date & Time: February 6, 2019, 16:00
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Katerina Harvati-Papatheodorou
Room: Villa V14
Host: Department of Archaeology [more]

Humans colonized diverse environments in Southeast Asia and Oceania during the Pleistocene

New review compares the regional adaptations of humans and those of other hominin species to add support to the argument that our species is ecologically unique. [more]

Professorships at The University of Queensland Awarded to Nicole Boivin and Michael Petraglia

The Honorary Professorships were awarded in the School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Australia, with which the Department of Archaeology already enjoys close collaborative relationships. [more]

New book "Tropical Forests in Prehistory, History, and Modernity" reveals long-term human use and habitation of critically endangered habitats

This new text is the first to bring together evidence for the nature of human interactions with tropical forests on a global scale, from the emergence of hominins in the tropical forests of Africa to modern conservation issues. [more]

Illuminating women’s role in the creation of medieval manuscripts

Analysis of the fossilized dental plaque of a medieval woman reveals lapis lazuli, suggesting she was an accomplished painter of illuminated manuscripts. [more]

‘Lise Meitner’ Pan-African Evolution Research Group (Pan-Ev)

From 2019, the Pan-African Evolution Research Group will explore human evolution and demography across Africa through a combination of archaeology, genetics, biogeography and climate science. The group is headed by Dr Eleanor Scerri. [more]