john hawks weblog

paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Shamone

Thu, 2009-08-06 19:04 -- John Hawks

Funny, this didn't stand out to me at the Field when we were there last...

It's eerie, and it's creepy: An ancient limestone Egyptian bust in the Field Museum is a dead bang look-a-like of singer Michael Jackson.

Uh...wait for it...

The curiosity: The nose of the ancient Egyptian statue, which has been in the museum's private collection since 1899, is disintegrating. At the end of his life, Jackson's nose appeared to be disintegrating.

It does look weirdly like Michael Jackson. (A larger picture from NPR)

Neandertals

For years, I've worked on their bones. Now I'm working on their genes. Read more about the science studying these ancient people.

Denisova

From a finger bone of an ancient human came the record of a completely unexpected population. My lab is working on the science of the Denisova genome.

Acceleration

The advent of agriculture caused natural selection to speed up greatly in humans. We're uncovering some of the ways that populations have rapidly changed during the last 10,000 years.

Malapa

Just outside Johannesburg, the Malapa site is producing some of the most exciting finds in human evolution. This site is the headquarters of the Malapa Soft Tissue Project.