• Ancient Ecosystems

    It is possible to learn more about the environment where animals live by studying the animals themselves.

Ask An Anthropologist

Ask An Anthropologist is an educational resource for students, teachers, parents, and life-long learners. We encourage anyone interested in anthropology to make use of its content.

Becoming Human Logo

Powered by Becoming Human

Becoming human brings together interactive multimedia, research and scholarship to promote greater understanding of the course of human evolution.

Historical Human Habitats Small Image
Many types of plants and animals lived alongside our ancestors in East Africa over the last six million years. These organisms can help us learn about the habitats of early humans and how these habitats changed over time.
An Illustration showing a silhouetted scientist in the desert

The field of paleoanthropology is a young science. There have been many paleoanthropologists over the years who have found many important fossils. But, even by the early 1970s, we didn't know everything about human evolution—and we still don't!

Brains over Brawn illustration
The differences between our brains and the brains of other animals is an important part of what makes us human. Find out why your brain is so big and what that allows you to do.
Two hands holding a straw without using thier thumbs
When you tape down your thumb, you’ll get a sense of how hard it would be to do many things if our hands were shaped differently. Even a simple task like placing a straw in a bottle becomes difficult!