Why Did Early Humans Take Children into Deep, Dark Cave Networks?
Why Palaeolithic humans brought children deep into dark cave networks – a question touching ritual, social learning and symbolic life, for UPSC Anthropology.
Anthro Current Affairs
How Great Apes Change Their Behaviour Under Human Disturbance
A 2025 systematic review shows great apes adapting to human disturbance through crop foraging, nesting shifts and road use — a case study in ape behavioural flexibility and conservation anthropology for UPSC.
Ancient Proteins Reveal the Sex of Australopithecus africanus
A 2025 palaeoproteomics study used tooth-enamel proteins to identify the sex of an Australopithecus africanus fossil — key Paper 1 methods content for UPSC Anthropology.
Early Humans and Megafauna: Homo erectus and Proboscidean Decline 1.8 Million Years Ago
Research links the spread of Homo erectus with a rise in proboscidean (elephant-relative) extinctions around 1.8 million years ago — early human–environment interaction for UPSC Anthropology Paper 1.
World’s Oldest Calendar Discovered at a 13,000-Year-Old Temple in Turkey
Carvings at a roughly 13,000-year-old site are interpreted as the world’s oldest calendar, informing early human timekeeping and cognition for UPSC Anthropology.
Where Modern Humans and Neanderthals Became One
A Scientific Reports study points to the Zagros Mountains as a contact zone where modern humans and Neanderthals met and interbred – key evidence for UPSC Anthropology.
Ancient Rock Art Reveals Shamans Spiritually Transforming into Animals
Ancient rock art at Serrania de la Lindosa, Colombia, depicts shamans spiritually transforming into animals – symbolism and belief for UPSC Anthropology.
Odisha ST List Gets Two New Entrants, Bringing Relief to Over 50 Sub-Tribes
Odisha adds two new communities to its Scheduled Tribe list, bringing relief to over 50 sub-tribes — ST classification and its stakes for UPSC Anthropology Paper II.
Odisha’s Dongria Kondh Take On Corporate Mining: The Niyamgiri Forest Fight
The Dongria Kondh of Niyamgiri and their fight against corporate mining – sacred landscape, tribal rights and forest rights, for UPSC Anthropology.
Ancient DNA Linked to Psychiatric Disorders
Ancient DNA studies link archaic genetic variants to modern psychiatric-disorder risk, a genetics and human-evolution theme for UPSC Anthropology.