Department of Anthropology News
Anthropology focuses on the spectrum of the human experience from the past to the present. With a comprehensive and well-integrated curriculum, the Department of Anthropology teaches and trains students in a way that balances methodological and theoretical approaches in anthropology. Our courses and research programs are relevant on local and global scales, and we provide students with an insightful understanding of our shared humanity and diversity human cultures around the world.
Current Anthropology News
A collection of the top news headlines featuring UNLV faculty and students.
From trips to Peru and an alien zoo, UNLV faculty lead students on learning journeys via the university’s newest immersive learning tools.
The top news stories starring university students and staff.
UNLV anthropologist and international research team find Ethiopian fossils; details published in Aug. 13 Nature paper.
A collection of the most prominent news stories from last month featuring UNLV staff and students.
New UNLV-led study models thousands of generations to find out why animals – including humans – evolved to prefer short-term gains over more fruitful long-term benefits.
Anthropology In The News
A study on Ozempic’s impacts on Alzheimer’s disease didn’t have the results scientists hoped for. We talk to UNLV’s Dr. Jeffrey Cummings on the research and what’s next. Also from UNLV: a look at how a “new” species of an ancient human ancestor can help shape our view on evolution. We end with a fun story on “Silver Belle”... the first tree from Nevada to serve as the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree!
A study on Ozempic’s impacts on Alzheimer’s disease didn’t have the results scientists hoped for. We talk to UNLV’s Dr. Jeffrey Cummings on the research and what’s next. Also from UNLV: a look at how a “new” species of an ancient human ancestor can help shape our view on evolution. We end with a fun story on “Silver Belle”... the first tree from Nevada to serve as the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree!
Kissing, for all popularity, is a bit of a mystery. Scientists have long debated when humans’ ancestors first put their lips together, and whether the act is simply a cultural trait. A new study suggests giving someone a peck has a long history, dating up to around 21 million years ago, long before modern humans existed. The work was published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior on November 19.
The first kiss in history probably took place over 16.9 million years ago — long before humans even existed, a new study suggests.
Each year during Hispanic Heritage Month, huge celebrations can be expected across the U.S. to showcase the diversity and culture of Hispanic people. This year, the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns, a federally led English-only initiative and an anti-diversity, equity and inclusion push have changed the national climate in which these celebrations occur. Organizers across the country, from Massachusetts and North Carolina to California and Washington state, have postponed or canceled heritage month festivals altogether.
When Karen Harry first saw the artifacts, she snorted and shook her head. She simply did not believe that they were ancient cooking pots—everything about them looked wrong. Harry, a ceramics archaeologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, works mostly in the desert Southwest of the United States, where Native Americans traditionally made some of the most elegant pottery in the world. But one day in 2003, a colleague at UNLV, Liam Frink, returned from a trip to western Alaska, where he had been excavating sites associated with the Thule people, the ancestors of the modern-day Inuit. Frink showed her the remains of some supposed cooking pots he had collected there. The pieces looked more like chunks of scorched dirt than typical potsherds—blackened and crumbling, like nothing Harry had ever seen.
