Early humans have achieved some amazing feats, crossing dangerous terrains and surviving unimaginable challenges. Scientists want to learn more about their lives and how they’ve adapted throughout.

Many people picture human evolution as a straight line—an ape slowly standing taller, becoming Neanderthal, and finally evolving into modern humans. That’s just wrong, and newly discovered fossils in ...

The Nyayanga excavation site in Kenya, in July 2025. Fossils and Oldowan tools have been excavated from the tan and reddish-brown sediments, which date to more than 2.6 million years old. T. W.