Human Origins at SI

#ICYMI our 3D scans of hominin fossils (3d.si.edu/collections/ho…) and prehistoric artifacts (3d.si.edu/collections/pr…) are now viewable online on the @Smithsonian3D website! The viewer software even has a measuring tool. 😍

Join us Thurs Feb 19 11:30am-12:30pm ET for our first free monthly online @NMNH HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic event of 2026! Dr. Kristen Hawkes from @UUtah will talk about the grandmother hypothesis and human evolution. Preregistration is required. naturalhistory.si.edu/events/grandmo…

Here it is: the annual "top stories in human evolution" @PLOS SciComm blog post for 2025, by our own Ryan McRae and Briana Pobiner! From chimp cognition to fossil fingers to new details on Denisovans, it's been a great year for paleoanthropology. scicomm.plos.org/2025/12/19/top…

Our final free online @NMNH HOT (Human Origins Today) program of this year will be next Thurs Dec 18 11:30am-12:30pm ET! Join us as @WashU's David Strait gives an overview of new discoveries at Drimolen Cave, South Africa. Preregistration required. humanorigins.si.edu/about/events/h…

Why did early hominins make stone tools, anyway? Tune into our next free monthly online @NMNH HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic event with @stonybrooku's John Shea this Thursday Nov 20 from 11:30am-12:30pm ET to hear some ideas! Pre-registration is required. naturalhistory.si.edu/events/making-…

We're excited to kick off our fall free monthly HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic events with @KenyonCollege's Bruce Hardy on Thursday, September 18th 11:30 am-12:30 pm ET talking about fiber technology in our prehistory! Pre-registration is required. naturalhistory.si.edu/events/twist-a…

Our traveling exhibit, "Exploring Human Origins: What Does It Mean To Be Human?", opens at the @campbellkylib Newport Branch today & is there until Aug 1. Check out the lineup of related programs too. If you're nearby, we hope you get a chance to visit! cc-pl.org/exploring-huma…

Two of our experts, Briana Pobiner and Jennifer Clark, will be in the Hall of Human Origins at @NMNH from 11am-1pm today with carts to engage our visitors and talk with them about their research, careers, and being women in science as part of this event! naturalhistory.si.edu/events/festiva…

Next Thursday, join us online from 11:30am-12:30pm ET for our free monthly @NMNH HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic talk by @goCMNH's Dr. Emma Finestone on 'The Origins of Stone Stool Technology'. Preregistration is required. It's gonna rock! naturalhistory.si.edu/events/origins…

@johnhawks @NMNH @SmithsonianMag Thank you, on behalf of our entire Human Origins exhibit team!

@HumanOrigins @NMNH @SmithsonianMag Congratulations! This exhibit has aged so well, such a great credit to all the amazing people who contributed to the planning and design.

#ICYMI, our exhibit - the @NMNH Hall of Human Origins - turned 15 years old yesterday! Check out this @SmithsonianMag blog post about it. smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national…

Happy 15th birthday to the @NMNH Hall of Human Origins!! 🥳 We opened our exhibit to the public on March 17, 2010. Have you been one of the millions of people who has visited in the last 15 years? Tell us about your experience!

Are you a biological anthropologist in Baltimore for the #AABA2025 conference? Come visit our Hall of Human Origins at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History @NMNH in nearby Washington DC! The museum is open 10:00 am - 5:30 pm every day and there's no entry fee.

Join us on Feb 20, 11:30 am ET for our first free online HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic talk of 2025 w/Christine France from @SmithsonianMCI about using chemical indicators to understand the diet and climate in human evolution. Preregistration required. s.si.edu/4hKWFjR

One hundred years ago today, the incredible Taung Child was announced to the world. Surprisingly, the news of a new human ancestor didn't come from a journal but from a local newspaper. How Nature got scooped: fossilhistory.wordpress.com/2016/02/03/tau… 📸 Courtesy University of Witwatersrand

New findings pin down when the Zlatý kůň woman lived to about 45,000 years ago and shed light on the remarkably mobile lifestyle of the earliest groups of modern humans to enter Europe. scim.ag/3OTRHVq

It's the time of year again for annual research roundup reflections! Hot off the presses, just published today, here's our own Ryan McRae and Briana Pobiner writing about the the top stories in human evolution from 2024 in the @PLOS SciComm blog. scicomm.plos.org/2024/12/16/top…

Don't miss our final free @NMNH online HOT (Human Origins Today) event of 2024! On 12/19 11:30am-12:30pm ET @nyuniversity's Shara Bailey @sebailey_nyu reviews current knowledge of our closest evolutionary cousins: Neanderthals. Preregistration required. naturalhistory.si.edu/events/last-ne…

Fossilized footprints reveal 2 extinct hominin species living side by side 1.5 million years ago theconversation.com/fossilized-foo…

Newly discovered footprints show that at least two hominid species were walking through the muddy submerged edge of a lake in Kenya’s Turkana Basin at the same time, about 1.5 million years ago. The find in Science provides physical evidence for the co-existence of multiple hominid lineages in the region—something that has only been inferred previously from overlapping dates for scattered fossils. bit.ly/4f5ZDxD

While we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lucy, we also talk about the future of Human Origins research. theconversation.com/fifty-years-af…