How humans took over the planet

 

Humans really do rule the world. We took over fast and far, more than any other wild vertebrates. We inhabit nearly every corner of the world, and can thrive in deserts, tropical rainforests and even extremely cold climates.

But how?

Scientists say we did it through not only biological evolution, but another system, cultural evolution. And that is what makes us so special.

New research from Arizona State University evolutionary anthropologist Charles Perreault measures just how important culture was relative to biology. He used empirical data to show human global dominance was predominately achieved through cultural evolution.

“As humans moved into new environments, they didn’t have to wait for genetic mutations to adapt to Arctic cold, tropical forests, deserts or high altitudes,” said Perreault, a research scientist at the Institute of Human Origins and an associate professor at ASU's School of Human Evolution and Social Change.

“Instead, humans adapted through culturally transmitted technologies, ecological knowledge and cooperative social norms. Innovations in clothing, shelter, hunting strategies, food processing and social organization could spread rapidly through social learning.”

The result, his research shows, is that humans encompass about 51 million square miles of land while the typical wild mammal species occupies about 64 square miles.

Perreault's work demonstrates that if humans were an average mammal that relied only on genetic evolution, achieving today’s geographic range would have required tens of millions of years, thousands of separate species and enormous differences in body size.

“This research helps put human uniqueness into a measurable evolutionary perspective,” Perreault said. “We often say that culture makes us different, but here we can estimate by how much. The results suggest that cultural evolution compressed what would normally require roughly 88 million years of biological diversification into about 300,000 years within a single species.”

“It reframes recent human history as a kind of adaptive radiation — but one powered by cultural diversification rather than speciation — and shows that adding a cultural inheritance system changes how quickly and extensively a lineage can expand.”

To quantify this, Perreault compiled geographic range maps for nearly 6,000 species of terrestrial mammals and aggregated them into genera, families and orders. Then he compared the size and ecological diversity of those ranges to the global human range.

Next, he modeled how range size relates to three indicators of evolutionary change: lineage age, number of species and body-mass variation. Those relationships allow us to estimate how much biological diversification a mammalian clade would typically need to achieve a range as large as ours.

Finally, he compared mammal species’ ranges to cultural group territories to test whether cultural evolution allows humans to specialize at finer spatial scales, showing that culture enables humans to be globally generalist as a species while locally specialized as cultural groups.

“This study is part of a broader effort to build a quantitative science of human macroevolution,” he said. “By combining large comparative datasets with evolutionary theory, we can begin to measure the distinctive role of culture in shaping our species’ trajectory in a way that would have been almost impossible before.”

The article, “Cultural evolution accelerated human range expansion by more than two orders of magnitude,” was published in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2523038123 

The mixed Iberian, Mediterranean and North African ancestry of a Menga dolmen individual

 

The ATLAS Research Group at the University of Seville (HUM-694) is collaborating in an archaeogenomic study carried out by the UK universities of Huddersfield and London (Francis Crick Institute) and Harvard University (USA) in which data are revealed on the genetic ancestry of two medieval adult males buried in the atrium of the Menga dolmen (Antequera, Malaga) between the 8th and 11th centuries AD (Andalusian period). This study is based on previous research carried out by the ATLAS Group, which revealed data on the funerary context, physical anthropology and radiocarbon dating of these two individuals, who were buried at the entrance to the large Neolithic dolmen in a highly formalised manner, with their heads pointing towards the interior of the dolmen. The study has been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science Reports.

In this research, the DNA of two medieval individuals was analysed, radiocarbon dated to between the 8th and 11th centuries AD, buried in the atrium and aligned with the axis of symmetry of the dolmen. The DNA content was very scant and highly degraded, consistent with previous observations in prehistoric and historical Mediterranean Iberia. However, it was possible to obtain the genetic profile of one of the individuals after using the SNP enrichment technique, which is used to obtain useful genetic information when DNA is highly degraded or present in very small quantities.

This individual has uniparental lineages typical of European populations but a mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineage shared with modern North African individuals, and at the autosomal level also showed North African and Levantine ancestry, consistent with the general trend in the region during this period. In his mtDNA lineage, this individual shared two mutations with a sequence observed in a modern Mozabite individual in Algeria. The Mozabites are a Berber group native to the M'zab Valley in northern Algeria, with their own language (Mozabite, which is a variant of Berber) and a current population of between 150,000 and 300,000 people. The genomic analysis of this individual therefore reflects the genetic, demographic and cultural diversity of Andalusian society.

The study also proposes an interpretation of these burials based on archaeological and historical data, within the broader archaeological context of the reuse of prehistoric monuments during the Middle Ages, a phenomenon widely documented in Iberia. The data collected suggest that during the period when these two individuals were buried, the Menga dolmen was used as a hermitage or shrine (marabout).

The Menga dolmen, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Antequera (Malaga, Spain), was erected in the fourth millennium BC during the Neolithic period but has a long history of use and frequentation that extends into modern historical times. In fact, it is likely that this large dolmen has been used as a sacred and/or funerary space continuously since its construction between 3800 and 3600 BC.

 

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Journal

Journal of Archaeological Science Reports

DOI

10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105559 

Dialogues of Confucius: The Complete Text

Translated with commentary by 
• Brian Bruya
 
• Wenwen Li

The first complete English translation of the Dialogues, a rediscovered companion to the Analects.

Labeled a forgery and ignored for centuries, the Dialogues of Confucius was nevertheless preserved and passed down through the generations, purportedly a companion to the Analects. Recent archaeological finds and renewed analysis now suggest that the Dialogues can be accepted as authentic and that it accurately represents the thinking of Confucius on a wide array of topics. In this book, Brian Bruya and Wenwen Li offer the first complete translation of the text into English as well as a detailed introduction discussing Confucian philosophy, the history of the text, and the debates around its authenticity. This new translation shows that the Dialogues deserves a rightful place next to the Analects. In the Dialogues, as in the Analects, Confucius converses with his students and local potentates. The topics range from education to social norms to cosmology, and from cultivating individual virtues to instituting a meritocratic government.

Brian Bruya is professor of philosophy at Eastern Michigan University. He is the author of Ziran: The Philosophy of Spontaneous Self-Causation and the editor of The Philosophical Challenge from China and Effortless Attention: A New Perspective in the Cognitive Science of Attention and Action. He has translated several volumes in Princeton’s Illustrated Library of Chinese Classics series, most recently A Cure for Chaos, C. C. Tsai’s graphic version of selections from the Mencius. Wenwen Li is the coauthor of several Chinese-language books on the philosophy of Confucius, including Studying the Dialogues of Confucius and The Logic of the Analects.

As Bruya and Li argue, the main value of the Dialogues lies in its many philosophical clarifications and elaborations. At its core, it offers a valuable resource for understanding Confucius, his interactions with his students, and his philosophy. Each chapter includes both the original Chinese text and the English translation. The introduction includes a philosophical lexicon, and a 600-entry glossary at the end of the book provides context from the time of Confucius, enabling readers to understand how Confucius viewed his place in the world.

"[Dialogues of Confucius is] beautifully bound and printed. . . . Based on the most updated scholarship, this edition is destined to become a standard work in the English language for a long time to come."—Alex Lo, South China Morning Post

“This is a very important text that has long needed a full English translation, and Bruya and Li have done so with great skill and expertise. Their work gives readers a broader and more accurate picture of Confucius, his students, and early Confucianism.”—Alexus McLeod, author of Myth and Identity in the Martial Arts: Creating the Dragon

“On the same level as the Analects, the Dialogues of Confucius is required reading for anyone seeking an accurate, complete, and systematic understanding of Confucius and Confucianism, ancient Chinese culture, current Chinese scholarship, and Chinese thought. In this book, Brian Bruya and Wenwen Li have mastered its philosophy and have done a great service by translating it into English.”—Yang Chaoming, Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies at Shandong University

“The publication of this exegesis and definitive translation of the Dialogues of Confucius by comparative philosophers Brian Bruya and Li Wenwen occasions nothing less than a thorough rethinking of our Confucius ‘man and his philosophy’ sources. Their compilation and translation of a critical text together with a glossary of key philosophical terms is a turn in global scholarship that opens up new and exciting avenues for research in classical Confucian philosophy. First among these contributions perhaps is that, through a capacious literary survey and a close analysis of past scholarship on the Dialogues, they construct a nuanced and compelling argument for elevating this document to complement the Analects and serve the next generation as a previously understudied extension in our resources for the life and thinking of China’s greatest philosopher.”—Roger T. Ames, cotranslator of The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation

FormatHardcover

LanguageEnglish

PublisherPrinceton University Press

Publication DateMar. 10th, 2026

ISBN-139780691276465

Dimensions6.10 x 9.21 x 0.59 inches

ISBN-100691276463

Shipping Weight1.47 lbs

A

 ignored for centuries, the Dialogues of Confucius was nevertheless preserved and passed down through the generations, purportedly a companion to the Analects . Recent archaeological finds and renewed analysis now suggest that the Dialogues can be accepted as authentic and that it accurately represents the thinking of Confucius on a wide array of topics. In this book, Brian Bruya and Wenwen Li offer the first complete translation of the text into English as well as a detailed introduction discussing Confucian philosophy, the history of the text, and the debates around its authenticity. This new translation shows that the Dialogue s deserves a rightful place next to the Analects . In the Dialogues , as in the Analects , Confucius converses with his students and local potentates. The topics range from education to social norms to cosmology, and from cultivating individual virtues to instituting a meritocratic government. As Bruya and Li argue, the main value of the Dialogues lies in its many philosophical clarifications and elaborations. At its core, it offers a valuable resource for understanding Confucius, his interactions with his students, and his philosophy. Each chapter includes both the original Chinese text and the English translation. The introduction includes a philosophical lexicon, and a 600-entry glossary at the end of the book provides context from the time of Confucius, enabling readers to understand how Confucius viewed his place in the world.

Ancient parrot DNA reveals sophisticated, long-distance animal trade network that pre-dates the Inca Empire

 

New analysis of ancient parrot DNA has revealed vibrant Amazonian parrots were transported alive across the Andes to coastal Peru centuries before the Inca Empire, highlighting a sophisticated pre-Inca, long-distance trade network spanning rainforest, highlands and deserts. 

The international team of researchers, including scientists from The Australian National University (ANU), analysed parrot feathers that were discovered at Pachacamac, Peru – one of the preeminent religious centres of the Andean civilisation – far outside the birds’ native rainforest range. The research is published in Nature Communications.   

According to lead author Dr George Olah from ANU, the sequencing of the ancient parrot DNA has uncovered a thriving network of trade and animal transportation that connected Amazonian forests with arid communities across the Andes.  

“Through combining ancient DNA sequencing, isotope chemistry and computational landscape modelling, we have been able to trace how and where these birds were moved across the landscape,” Dr Olah said. 

“Our ancient habitat modelling confirmed that the western side of the Andes was just as inhospitable to these species one thousand years ago as it is today. These parrots are strictly rainforest dwellers with a natural home range of around 150 kilometres. 

“The fact that they ended up more than 500 kilometres away, on the other side of South America's highest mountain range, proves human intervention. They do not naturally fly over the Andes.”   

The research team’s findings show that several species of Amazonian macaw parrots – native to the lowland rainforest just east of the Andes – were captured in the wild, carried high over mountain passes and kept alive on the coast long enough to grow new feathers in their new environment.  

Genomic analysis identified four Amazonian species in the burial feather assemblage – the Scarlet Macaw, Blue-and-yellow Macaw, Red-and-green Macaw and Mealy Amazon – all native to rainforest habitat hundreds of kilometres from the Pacific coast.  

Transport likely took weeks or even months, as travellers navigated rugged mountain passes and steep plateaus.    

“We can now demonstrate with genetic and isotopic evidence that these parrots weren’t just traded as feathers – they were transported alive, across dramatic terrain, into coastal ritual contexts,” Dr Olah said. 

By analysing the chemical signatures contained in the feathers, the researchers discovered that the birds’ diets shifted to C4 plants, such as maize, and marine protein, showing they were kept alive after crossing the Andes. 

“Our analysis reveals the parrots were fed the same nitrogen-enriched diet consumed by their captors – a clear sign of prolonged care after their removal from the rainforest,” Dr Olah said.  

Landscape modelling further identified likely trans-Andean corridors and river routes used to transport the birds, revealing sophisticated overland and fluvial exchange networks. 

The birds were prized for their vibrant feathers, which held deep cultural value across pre-Hispanic societies and were often used in ritual and high-status burial contexts.  

“This discovery challenges long-held assumptions that pre-Inca societies were isolated or fragmented,” Dr Olah said.    

“Instead, we see evidence of organised exchange, ecological knowledge and logistical planning that connected vastly different environments long before imperial roads formalised these connections.” 

The research also marks one of the first successful ancient DNA studies of fragile archaeological feathers, opening new avenues for tracking how organic materials moved through ancient trade networks worldwide.  

Aside from its deep historical implications, the study also sheds new light on the longstanding cultural significance of parrots in Andean societies – a fascination that continues today and that contributes to ongoing conservation challenges for these iconic species.  

This work also involved scientists from Adelaide University and researchers in Peru, Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom. 

Images available to download here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jb_oBkiE1ilWytqvlV1D_wx-cgbwQIbx  

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-026-69167-9 

Ancient needles and awls served many purposes

 A study led by McKenna Litynski, a recent Ph.D. graduate in anthropology and adjunct assistant professor at the University of Wyoming, confirms that ancient needles and awls enabled humans to survive in cold climates and shows these tools served a variety of purposes beyond clothing production, from medicine to ceremony.

Some 100,000 years ago, humans began to expand around the globe, including into some of the world’s coldest environments. Scholars have long hypothesized that this remarkable expansion was made possible by a profoundly humble technology: the bone sewing needle.

The theory suggests that the invention of the needle allowed early humans to make tailored leather clothing which, in turn, allowed survival in frigid climates. While plausible, the theory has been difficult to verify.

However, Litynski led a quantitative study that provides strong support for the theory. Drawing on hundreds of ethnographic documents from the 18th through 20th centuries in North America, she analyzed patterns of needle and awl use.

Her article, which was co-written by UW Department of Anthropology Professors Sean Field and Randy Haas and is published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE, shows that clothing production is the most common activity associated with sewing needles and awls.

Statistical modeling also revealed that mentions of these tools increase significantly in colder environments, confirming the role of sewing technology in thermoregulation and survival.

The study also uncovered a surprising pattern in the data. While manufacturing clothing accounted for 14 percent of observations, needles and awls were widely used for other purposes, including medical suturing, fishing, tattooing, basketry and ceremonial activities, meaning needles and awls are not limited to cold environments.

These findings demonstrate that the sewing needle not only helped humans survive in extreme climates, but also played a versatile role in daily life and cultural practices.

The research provides new insight into how environmental and social factors shaped human behavior and tool use, offering archaeologists a richer understanding of one of the most common artifact types in the perishable archaeological record.

“Ultimately, it is not only the tools themselves that are significant, but also the people who once used these objects in the past,” Litynski says. “It is through examining needles and awls from different lenses that archaeologists like me can reveal their capacity to unravel the broader story of human ingenuity, adaptability and cultural evolution over the last several thousands of years and throughout the world.”

Litynski is an archaeologist with research interests in zooarchaeology, environmental archaeology, hunter-gatherers and experimental archaeology. To learn more about her research, email her at mlitynsk@uwyo.edu.

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Journal

PLOS One

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0343888 

Charred food in pot revealsprehistoric Europeans had surprisingly complex cuisines

 Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

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image: 

Example of Mesolithic pottery vessel analysed in this study.

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Credit: Lara González Carretero (CC-BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Thousands of years ago, European communities used a variety of plant and animal products to create elaborate meals, according to a study published March 4, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS One by Lara González Carretero of the University of York, U.K. and colleagues.

A common technique for interpreting the diets of ancient cultures involves analyzing fatty residues in ancient pottery. This method is limited, however, as it mostly provides insights only into animal remains. In this study, the authors combined multiple techniques, including microscopic examination and chemical analysis, to identify the remains of plants that were eaten by ancient European hunter-gatherers.

Researchers examined organic remains found in 58 pieces of pottery uncovered at 13 archaeological sites across Northern and Eastern Europe dating between the 6th and 3rd millennium BC. This method recovered tissue samples of a wide variety of plants, including grasses, berries, leaves, and seeds. In many cases, plant remains were found alongside those of animals, most often fish and other seafood. The exact mixtures and ingredients varied from region to region, most likely reflecting which resources were locally available as well as local cultural practices.

These findings emphasize the important role of plants and aquatic foods in the diets of early Europeans. These results also support the idea that these communities regularly used pottery technology for food preparation and that each culture had their own complex culinary traditions. This study also demonstrates that combining multiple analytical techniques can yield detailed insights that are overlooked by traditional methods, particularly when it comes to the plants that ancient peoples were eating.

The authors add: “While conventional chemical analysis tends to highlight the animal-based components of ancient meals, our combined microscopic approach has brought these prehistoric recipes back into focus. We found that hunter-gatherer-fishers were not living on fish alone; they were actively processing and consuming a wide variety of plants. This research underscores that to truly understand ancient diets, we need to take a closer look at these food crusts, quite literally!”

 The freely available article in PLOS One: https://plos.io/4ryU2Ha