Homehttps://uni-tuebingen.de/it/forschung/forschungsschwerpunkte/exzellenzcluster-human-origins/home/Der RSS Feed der Universität Tübingenen-ENUniversität TübingenSun, 19 Jul 2026 10:48:52 +0200Sun, 19 Jul 2026 10:48:52 +0200news-133686Thu, 09 Jul 2026 08:09:00 +0200New publication: Likely no hunters of Elephants nor masters of fire - new paper on taphonomic analysis challenges former assumptions on Homo florensishttps://uni-tuebingen.de/it/forschung/forschungsschwerpunkte/exzellenzcluster-human-origins/home/newsfullview/article/new-publication-likely-no-hunters-of-elephants-nor-masters-of-fire-new-paper-on-taphonomic-analysis-challenges-former-assumptions-on-homo-florensis/Open Access publication by our Independent Junior Research Group Lead E. Grace Veatch in Science CommunicationsHomo florensis, nicknamed “Hobbits”, were likely not hunting large Elefants, but might have benefitted from hunts of Komodo Dragons, a paper published on July 9th at Science Advanced by E. Grace Veatch and team reports.

The team also challenges the former assumption of fire usage.

Grace Veatch, Independent Junior Research Group Lead at HUMAN ORIGINS Cluster of Excellence, and her colleagues of an international team of researchers from Indonesia, Kanada, USA and Australia were using taphonomic methods to challenge claims by earlier studies on Homo florensis. Published in 2004 and 2005, these assumptions on the ability of the small sized human relative to hunt extincted relatives of today´s elephants and use fire were proofen unlikely by the new study. 

 

Read more here: 

attempto online report 

Open Access publication 

 

]]>Termine allgemeinHumanOrigins-Aktuellnews-133692Mon, 06 Jul 2026 08:10:00 +0200New publication: Exploring the evolutionary drivers of encephalization and facial reduction in the genus Homohttps://uni-tuebingen.de/it/forschung/forschungsschwerpunkte/exzellenzcluster-human-origins/home/newsfullview/article/new-publication-exploring-the-evolutionary-drivers-of-encephalization-and-facial-reduction-in-the-genus-homo/New open access paper in Nature Communications by Mark Hubbe and our Spokesperson Katerina HarvatiAn increase of brain size as well as a decrease in the size and robustness of facial features are core characterizations of various species of the genus Homo.  A new paper published open access in Nature Communications on July 6th by Prof. Dr. Mark Hubbe of the University of Tennessee and HUMAN ORIGINS spokesperson Prof. Dr. Katerina Harvati of the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment  (SHEP) has now found that these trends cannot be explained by natural selection. 

The study was based on three-dimensional skull measurements of 87 fossils, including early species such as Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis to Homo erectus and Homo heidelbergensis, up to Neanderthals and modern humans. 

 

Press release

Open Access publication

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