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.
-
We have big brains, but are we born with big brains or do they get big as we grow up? It turns out that it’s a little bit of both. Learn about how our incredible brains grow and find out what limits our brain size. Also in: Español
Powered by Becoming Human
Becoming human brings together interactive multimedia, research and scholarship to promote greater understanding of the course of human evolution.
Listen in
Read our Stories
Solve Puzzles
View Galleries
Watch Videos
Tool test
humans have evolved a whole suite of specialized skills to help us survive. Perhaps the most important of these skills was our ability to make and use tools. Did you know that crows use tools, too?
Pull it off
Even very young human children can learn simple games such as working together to pull a board. They can also figure out a fair way to share the rewards from cooperating. This activity may seem simple, but humans are the only animals with the ability and desire to work together and negotiate a fair deal in this way.
Fossil Hunters
To make it easier to find fossils, you need to know how and where to look. Luckily, there are clues all around, and a good fossil detective knows to ask the four Ws: who, what, when, and where.
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.