13 discoveries in the last year have fundamentally altered our understanding of human history

Aylin WoodwardDec 11, 2020, 21:53 IST

Mikkel Winther Pedersen and other team members sample different archaeological layers in Chiquihuite Cave, Mexico.Mads Thomsen

As anthropologists discovered new fossils and artifacts in 2020, our understanding of human history has changed.
Thirteen discoveries in particular offered new and sometimes perplexing insights into where we came from and who our ancestors were.
This year, researchers found the earliest known example of mating between different human populations, as well as evidence that the first Americans arrived from Asia by boat.

Even amid the pandemic, anthropologists and archaeologists around the world have continued to make mind-boggling discoveries about our human ancestors this year.

One analysis revealed that the earliest known example of interbreeding between different human populations was 700,000 years ago - more than 600,000 years before modern humans interbred with Neanderthals. Findings from a Mexican cave, meanwhile, offered evidence that the earliest humans came to the Americas via boat, not land bridge. And researchers also found new reason to believe climate change was responsible for the extinction of many of our ancestors.

Taken together, these discoveries and others bolster and complicate our understanding of human history - the story of who our ancestors were, where they came from, and how they lived.

Here are some of the most eye-raising anthropological findings of 2020.

Scientists already knew that our evolutionary history was full of sex between different human species. But a genetic analysis revealed the earliest known example of mating between different human populations.

An employee of the Natural History Museum in London looks at a model of a Neanderthal male in his twenties that was on display in September 2014. Will Oliver/PA Images/Getty

Scientists already knew that our evolutionary history was full of sex between different human species. But a genetic analysis revealed the earliest known example of mating between different human populations.

Our interbreeding with Neanderthals may explain why humans have a low tolerance for pain.

A replica of a Neanderthal skull in the new Neanderthal Museum in the northern Croatian town of Krapina, Croatia. Nikola Solic/Reuters

Neanderthals also used their hands differently than we did - they were better suited to a squeezing a spear than delicately grasping something between the thumb and forefinger.

A Neanderthal replica holding a spear. Stefan Scheer

Neanderthals also used their hands differently than we did - they were better suited to a squeezing a spear than delicately grasping something between the thumb and forefinger.

Denisovans are an early human species related to Neanderthals. Until this year, only a meager handful of Denisovan bones had ever been found, all in a single cave in Siberia.

The opening of Baishiya Karst Cave in Tibet. Dongju Zhang, Lanzhou University

Denisovans are an early human species related to Neanderthals. Until this year, only a meager handful of Denisovan bones had ever been found, all in a single cave in Siberia.

But not all our ancestors were so hardy. Some went extinct due to to changing climates, new research suggests.

Reuters/Nikola Solic

The earliest humans to cross from Asia to the Americas proved creative and skillful. They crossed the sea between present-day Siberia and Alaska by boat during the last Ice Age.

Mikkel Winther Pedersen takes sediment samples from Chiquihuite Cave in Mexico, looking for early human DNA. Devlin A. Gandy

The earliest humans to cross from Asia to the Americas proved creative and skillful. They crossed the sea between present-day Siberia and Alaska by boat during the last Ice Age.

Another study of the earliest Americans showed that females played a role hunting big game.

Illustration of a female hunter in the Andes 9,000 years ago. Matthew Verdolivo, UC Davis IET Academic Technology Services

Thousands of drawings hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest tell the story of an ancient tribe's hunting practices about 12,000 years ago.

Ancient drawings of animals, humans, and geometric shapes decorate three recently discovered rock shelters in Colombian Amazon. Jeison Lenis Chaparro-Cárdenas

Other recently discovered rock art in the Americas likely shows a psychoactive plant called datura.

An enhanced image of a painting on the ceiling of the Pinwheel Cave in California. Devlin Gandy

Across the world, Egyptologists have unearthed batch after batch of sarcophagi in an ancient city of the dead beneath Saqqara.

Newly discovered colored coffins from Saqqara on display October 3, 2020. They have been perfectly sealed for thousands of years. Ziad Ahmed/NurPhoto via Getty

In England, archaeologists revealed that they'd determined the origin of some of the boulders that make up Stonehenge.

Inside the sarsen circle at Stonehenge. James Davies/English Heritage

Near Rome, archaeologists discovered an ancient city buried underground without ever digging it up. They mapped it using radar.

Antiquity Publications Ltd/L. Verdonck

Not all ancient archaeological sites are on land. A team in Australia discovered 270 Aboriginal artifacts underwater off the country's northwest coast.

Diver Chelsea Wiseman investigates the bottom of a submerged freshwater spring off Australia's northwest coast. Hiro Yoshida

Bill Gates reveals his 5 favorite books of 2020

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13 discoveries in the last year have fundamentally altered our understanding of human history

Scientists already knew that our evolutionary history was full of sex between different human species. But a genetic analysis revealed the earliest known example of mating between different human populations.

Our interbreeding with Neanderthals may explain why humans have a low tolerance for pain.

Neanderthals also used their hands differently than we did - they were better suited to a squeezing a spear than delicately grasping something between the thumb and forefinger.

Denisovans are an early human species related to Neanderthals. Until this year, only a meager handful of Denisovan bones had ever been found, all in a single cave in Siberia.

But not all our ancestors were so hardy. Some went extinct due to to changing climates, new research suggests.

The earliest humans to cross from Asia to the Americas proved creative and skillful. They crossed the sea between present-day Siberia and Alaska by boat during the last Ice Age.

Another study of the earliest Americans showed that females played a role hunting big game.

Thousands of drawings hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest tell the story of an ancient tribe's hunting practices about 12,000 years ago.

Other recently discovered rock art in the Americas likely shows a psychoactive plant called datura.

Across the world, Egyptologists have unearthed batch after batch of sarcophagi in an ancient city of the dead beneath Saqqara.

In England, archaeologists revealed that they'd determined the origin of some of the boulders that make up Stonehenge.

Near Rome, archaeologists discovered an ancient city buried underground without ever digging it up. They mapped it using radar.

Not all ancient archaeological sites are on land. A team in Australia discovered 270 Aboriginal artifacts underwater off the country's northwest coast.