• We have big brains, but are we born with big brains or do they get big as we grow up? It turns out that it’s a little bit of both. Learn about how our incredible brains grow and find out what limits our brain size. Also in: Español

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.

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

A crow perched on a rock looks over a pile of small tools

Tool test

humans have evolved a whole suite of specialized skills to help us survive. Perhaps the most important of these skills was our ability to make and use tools. Did you know that crows use tools, too?
Link to Chomp Into the Past

Chomp Into the Past

Sitting on the sofa, you flip through a family photo album. You see a young man dressed in a uniform from the 1940s. Your father looks a lot like the man in the black and white photograph. You flip another page and go further back in time.

How climate shaped human evolution image

Changing Climates and Changing Faces

Climate change has been a hot topic in discussions on the future of our global community. But looking into the past is also important. What do we know about how the climate and the environment affected our early ancestors?
Early human history: Who are you? illustration

Who Are You?

Have you ever wondered how your cat, dog, bird, lizard, or fish is related to you? Animal bodies today are like living history books. They tell us a story that goes back at least 500 million years.