• The precious fossils are carefully bound in bubble wrap and placed in fireproof cases. Soon the fossils will have a new home—the laboratory— and the world will get to know all the secrets these fossils have to offer.

Ask An Anthropologist

Ask An Anthropologist is an educational resource for students, teachers, parents, and life-long learners. We encourage anyone interested in anthropology to make use of its content.

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Becoming human brings together interactive multimedia, research and scholarship to promote greater understanding of the course of human evolution.

Anthropology lab work image

To the Laboratory!

The precious fossils are carefully bound in bubble wrap and placed in fireproof cases. Soon the fossils will have a new home—the laboratory— and the world will get to know all the secrets these fossils have to offer.
Two hands holding a straw without using thier thumbs

Thumbs Up

When you tape down your thumb, you’ll get a sense of how hard it would be to do many things if our hands were shaped differently. Even a simple task like placing a straw in a bottle becomes difficult!
Link Tools in the Stone Age

Chipping Away: Tools in the Stone Age

Since long ago, the survival of our ancestors has depended in part on technology. Even today, the shoes you put on and the car you drive are both built on previous discoveries. We can trace human technological developments way back to over three million years ago.
Mussels on a beach with microlith spears and two hikers in the background

Mussels, Migration, and Microliths

ASU researcher Curtis Marean has spent over 20 years excavating caves in South Africa. He wants to learn about the relationship between climate and environmental change and human evolution.