Department of Anthropology News
Anthropology focuses on the spectrum of the human experience - past and present. An anthropology degree balances practical, applied, and theoretical research within liberal arts, as well as interdisciplinary education.
Current Anthropology News
In new paper, UNLV-led anthropology team balks at a widely held belief that modern humans experienced an evolutionary decrease in brain size.
This admin assistant has been running around campus since she was a kid. Now she's the 2022 President's Classified Employee of the Year.
A collection of news stories highlighting university experts’ insights on and contributions to health, environment, and society.
A collection of news stories highlighting UNLV experts who made headlines locally, nationally, and around the world.
A collection of news stories highlighting the experts and student changemakers at UNLV.
Crittenden, a professor and graduate coordinator for UNLV's department of anthropology, will begin her new position on July 1.
Anthropology In The News
Humans are proud of their brainpower. Our noggins are some of the largest nature has to offer, and we like to think that we are an intelligent species.
Last year, an article published to Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution made headlines across the world after it claimed human brains shrank in size approximately 3,000 years ago. This, according to the authors, may have driven by the externalization of knowledge in human societies, thus needing less energy to store a lot of information as individuals. As a result, we developed smaller brains.
Until now, our brains were thought to be bigger than they are today. They would have gone through a sudden contraction about 3000 years ago. Scientists are now coming back to that.
Did human brains shrink 3,000 years ago, downsizing by an amount equal to around four ping-pong balls?
Humans take a lot of pride in their brains. We like to think we are an intelligent species, and even though size isn't everything, our noggins are some of the largest nature has to offer.
According to research conducted in 2019, the human being underwent brain shrinkage 3,000 years ago. According to the authors, the reason was the ease of storing information in social groups. Thus, humans stopped containing in their brain all the information they needed to survive and began to rely on social or collective intelligence. This study was based on the evolutionary patterns of ants , due to the social organization of said insects. Despite the solid analysis that the scientists did, it may be that their proposal is not so accurate.
