Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Simulating Shape Variation in Material Culture: The Simumorph R-package

Abstract Archaeologists have devoted a significant amount of effort to define their types, or units of analysis. However, strong disagreements persist even after years of debate. This may occur for many reasons, some intrinsic to the archaeological record itself—since different t...

Posterior simulation-based calibration tests of phylogenetic dating methods

Simulation-based calibration (SBC) checking is a method to ensure that the inference machinery for a Bayesian statistical analysis is functioning in a correct and unbiased manner. Typically, SBC begins with sampling parameter values from the model priors (prior SBC). However, it...

Aterian Lithic Technology and Functional Studies in North Africa: A Review of Current Evidence and Perspectives

Abstract In North Africa, the Middle Stone Age (MSA) has been associated with the emergence and evolution of Homo sapiens and is considered a pivotal period in the development of behavioral complexity. Recent archaeological discoveries have yielded a range of technological innova...

Children from six cultures reliably help their peers—but in different ways

Helping others is an integral part of human sociality, but systematic cross-cultural comparisons of children’s helping behavior are rare. Existing work has mainly focused on interactions between adults and children, paying less attention to peer dynamics—which are more relevant i...

How 8 years of social and individual learning interact to shape ecological competence in orangutans

Cultural learning permeates human skill and knowledge acquisition. To understand its importance for nonhuman apes, we analyzed just under 7000 records of behavioral bouts of social and individual learning across wild orangutans’ 8-year dependency period to assess their combined e...

Chimpanzee food calls provide information about the value and type of food: a playback study

Abstract Functionally referential signals are taxonomically widespread but vary greatly in the specificity of information they convey to receivers. Chimpanzee food calls indicate the relative preference value of the eliciting food in a way that is intelligible to receivers, but w...

Variation in the timing of developmental milestones in Gorilla does not support the ecological risk aversion hypothesis

Abstract Species comparisons of developmental milestones (behavioural and physical markers of neurodevelopment) allow empirical testing of hypotheses of how distinctive life-history characteristics may have evolved. Here, we analysed developmental milestone emergence in Gorilla u...

Genetic and behavioural repertoires support olfactory communication in wild capuchin monkeys

Olfaction is a key sense for many mammals, but its role in the social lives of anthropoid primates (monkeys, apes, humans) is poorly understood. Studies of chemosensory receptor genes and olfactory behaviours can provide insight into the evolution and function of olfaction across...

Multimodal fertility cues in chimpanzees: how body odours complement sexual swellings

Abstract To attract mating partners, female mammals communicate their reproductive status through one or multiple sensory modalities, providing redundant or complementary information. Chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) are an excellent model for studying multimodal communication. Ex...

Ancient DNA preservation in the Caribbean

Abstract Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis has transformed how we study human migration, species dispersals and environmental change, but poor preservation remains a major challenge. This is especially true in tropical settings, where hot and humid conditions accelerate DNA decay. Beca...

Chimpanzees attribute agency to virtual animals, but not to self-propelled shapes

Discriminating agents from inanimate objects is essential for predicting others' behaviour. Although chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) differentiate between agents and objects, the cues underlying this ability remain unclear. We investigated chimpanzees' agency attribution using a vi...

The impact of footwear on human talar trabecular architecture

The evolution of habitual bipedalism was a defining milestone in human history, yet fossil evidence indicates substantial variation in how bipedality was practiced. Trabecular bone, which responds throughout life to joint loading and orientation, offers a powerful way to investig...

Interaction of migration and frequency dependence in cultural populations

Migration has shaped cultural and genetic diversity. Population genetics shows that low migration rates between populations can homogenise them. However, similar results regarding cultural composition are scarce. Previous work suggests that conformity prevents migration's homogen...

ViroSeek: a viral detection pipeline for second-generation sequencing

Abstract Arbovirus emergences represent a rising public health issue and are exacerbated by climate change and globalization. Virome analysis has become a key approach for monitoring and managing infectious diseases, yet existing tools often remain technically complex and inacces...

Neanderthal’s heel: How the Neanderthal’s external calcaneal shape uniquely differs from that of modern humans

Neanderthals exhibit unique morphological adaptations in their calcaneus compared to Homo sapiens , shedding light on distinct evolutionary pressures and functional requirements shaping their respective foot anatomy. This study assesses which calcaneal traits represent plesiomorp...

Social and economic consequences of prestige and dominance in rural Colombian social networks

Abstract Social status regulates influence and well-being in most social animals. In humans, social status can be attained via distinct routes: prestige (tracking the ability of individuals to confer benefits) and dominance (tracking the ability of individuals to inflict costs)....

Longitudinal changes in gut microbiota across reproductive states in wild baboons

Background: In humans and other mammals, female reproduction is linked to extensive changes in physiology, immunity, hormones, and behavior. These changes likely shape, and may be shaped by, the composition of gut microbial communities. Characterizing the dynamics of gut microbia...

Social cues on stone tools outweigh raw material properties in wild primates

1. Abstract The ability to select appropriate tool material enabled early hominins access to new resources and environments. The underlying mechanisms driving tool selection effectively remain unknown. Observations of extant primates have demonstrated strong selectivity for speci...

German guitars, Lithuanian violins and Norwegian pancakes: metonymy meets the Agreement Hierarchy

Abstract Two-way agreement alternatives are familiar ( this family has/have travelled all night ), but larger systems (with multiple agreement alternatives) are rare and remain poorly understood. Focusing on German, Norwegian and Lithuanian, we see how metonyms and their interact...