Improved estimates of the mutation rates of DNA are aligning the genetic timeline with archaeological evidence. The new slower genetic clock would push the exodus of modern humans out of Africa back to 120,000 years ago, and into agreement with the dates of archaeological sites in the Middle East. It could also, however, complicate the fossil […]

A team of scientists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History entered a 1,500-year-old tomb located within the XX Temple at the Maya site of Palenque for the first time. Because the temple is unstable, the chamber had only been viewed with a tiny video camera. This first room does not contain a sarcophagus, […]