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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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
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Becoming human brings together interactive multimedia, research and scholarship to promote greater understanding of the course of human evolution.
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The Brainy Branch
Our species, Homo sapiens, are incredibly unique among the species on Earth today.
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!
The Tales of Teeth
You are sitting in a dark movie theater. You are trying to enjoy the movie, but you keep thinking about a pesky piece of popcorn stuck between your molars, the back teeth. After fumbling for a toothpick in your pocket, you dislodge the popcorn.
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.