• The field of paleoanthropology is a young science. There have been many paleoanthropologists over the years who have found many important fossils. But, even by the early 1970s, we didn't know everything about human evolution—and we still don't!

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.

LInk to All About DNA

Life is Spelled A, T, C, G

Life is complex and diverse but comes down to four little letters. The central code that makes all life on earth possible is found in a tiny molecule known as DNA.
A hand pulls a orange rope through a tube. Shadows in the background look like another person is doing the same thing from far away

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.
bipedality illustration

Walking Upright: A Tale of Two Legs

How do you move from one place to another? Well, most humans walk. Walking on two legs is a very human trait. Learn how the evolution of bipedal walking changed the course of our history.
Illustration of lucy shuttle on the way to Trojan asteroids

Lucy in Space

The Lucy Mission will be the first space mission to explore a group of small asteroids known as the Trojan asteroids. We want to engage you in a contest connecting the human ancestor “Lucy” and the exploration of the some of the oldest objects in the solar system—the Trojan Asteroids or “fossils of the Solar System”!