Michael Marshall

Verica, a British ruler who encouraged the Roman emperor Claudius to launch an invasion, may not have been the man historians thought he was

The Monte Verde sites in Chile have been the source of arguments among archaeologists for decades. Columnist Michael Marshall finds the row is heating up again – and could change our understanding of the first peoples in the Americas

The first evidence has been discovered that Denisovans lived in south-west China. This ancient species of human spent over 100,000 years in the region and left behind incredible artefacts that tell us how they lived

The more we learn about chimpanzees, the more they resemble us – but the further back in time our shared ancestor seems to be. Columnist Michael Marshall explores how both can be true

A site in China is just the third to give us an insight into the way the enigmatic Denisovans lived. The archaeology at the site suggests the ancient humans were skilled hunters, although their stone tools were relatively simple

Evidence from hunter-gatherers suggests humans aren't diurnal but cathemeral, with bouts of activity at nighttime – a sleep pattern similar to some lemurs

For decades, an influential theory blamed the Rapanui for their own downfall—a story made famous by Jared Diamond’s book Collapse. New evidence tells a different tale

Keeping pets seems to be fairly recent behaviour in the timeline of human evolution. Columnist Michael Marshall turns to the latest research on primates to understand how long we’ve had the impulse to adopt furry friends

Combining archaeological evidence with ancient DNA and data on past climates shows us how long and winding the story of human evolution is, stretching back millions of years to when the first primates arose

Biological anthropologist Fatimah Jackson is leading an effort to prevent history from repeating.

Artistic representations of ancient humans often show large men with bulging muscles – but our ancestors were actually smaller than us, in both height and body mass. Columnist Michael Marshall reveals surprising details about the short kings of prehistory

Our brains are large compared with other animals, so it is tempting to assume there was an evolutionary advantage to them – but that may not be true at all

Archaeologists have discovered traces of a wooden structure built 5000 years ago, 5 kilometres from Stonehenge, which appears to have been an even older monument for marking the summer solstice

Physically, Homo sapiens isn't that special in the animal world. But our species has discovered ways of beating the odds of survival in every habitat, from jungle to Arctic wasteland. In our latest interview with biological anthropologist and…

The out-of-Africa migration, in which ancient humans went on to inhabit every other continent except Antarctica, may not have been one moment in time, but a long and slow process. Columnist Michael Marshall examines how archaeologists are rethinking this critical part of our history

Why do we have big brains? Or walk on two legs? Biological anthropologist and broadcaster Alice Roberts talks human exceptionalism, evolution and her new book Humans with Michael Marshall

For a big portion of human history, we shared the planet with other human species. What was that world like to be part of? How often did we interact with prehistoric humans?

Six teeth roughly 400,000 years old have yielded some of the first ancient proteins thought to belong to Homo erectus, providing molecular clues to their relationships with other hominins

An analysis of ancient human artefacts finds that the container, a simple but critical tool, may have originated 500,000 years ago. Columnist Michael Marshall explores how slings, ostrich eggs and wooden trays helped our ancestors survive

The gap between genetics and archaeology leaves us with an unclear picture of where the Neanderthals originated. Columnist Michael Marshall details a surprising new hypothesis that suggests they may have come from us