Bridget Alex

Somerville

Archaeology and Biological Anthropology Editor at SAPIENS

Anthropologist, Science Writer, PhD. Archaeology & Bio Anthro Editor @SAPIENS_org. Lecturer @HarvardHEB. Views my own. @bridgetalex on bsky!

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Articles

‘The hobbit’ may have shrunk early, evolved from a tall human ancestor

Aug 6, 2024 | science.org | Bridget Alex

Standing only about 1 meter tall yet hardy enough to evade Komodo dragons and giant carnivorous storks, Homo floresiensis more than earned its nickname “the hobbit.” Now, new fossils from the Indonesian island of Flores add to the evidence that this mysterious human relative evolved its wee stature by 700,000 years ago.
Modern Blackfoot people descend from an ancient ice age lineage

Apr 3, 2024 | science.org | Bridget Alex |Michael Balter

Nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy have long fought to maintain control over their land and water. Oral traditions and archaeological evidence indicate the Blackfoot Indigenous peoples and their ancestors have inhabited a broad swatch of North America for more than 10,000 years. A study published today in Science Advances reinforces that connection. Genetic data confirm modern Blackfoot people are closely related to those who lived on the land hundreds of years ago.
Learning From Snapshots of Lost Fossils

Apr 3, 2024 | sapiens.org | Christian A. Tryon |Shara E. Bailey |Bridget Alex |Penny Spikins

Please note that this article includes images of human remains. “These teeth don’t belong to Egbert!”In a museum basement, we huddled over a black-and-white photograph showing pieces of a lower jawbone and its loose teeth. The photo captured evidence of a missing child—one who had been buried 40,000 years ago, only to be discovered and then lost by archaeologists.
How Israeli Prisons Terrorize Palestinians

Mar 26, 2024 | sapiens.org | Basil Farraj |Bridget Alex |Sophia Goodfriend |M. Cruz

In December 2023, as Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza entered its third month, the Israeli occupying forces (IOF) released photos and videos of military trucks crammed with Palestinian captives: stripped to their underwear, kneeling, blindfolded, and with hands bound behind their backs. While Israeli media boasted the images depict “Hamas terrorists surrendering in Gaza,” Palestinian and international organizations reacted with horror over the flagrant human rights abuses.
LINKS - March 20th, 2024

Mar 20, 2024 | ragazzo.substack.com | Tomas Weber |Franz Lidz |Bridget Alex |Gowan Dawson |Joe Ragazzo

Welcome to LINKS — my attempt to provide Rhapsody readers with five interesting stories that tell us something about what it means to be human . LINKS is published every Wednesday. Have a link you want to share? Drop it in the comments.
The Viral Atrocities Posted by Israeli Soldiers

Mar 20, 2024 | sapiens.org | Sophia Goodfriend |Bridget Alex |M. Cruz |Larissa R. Thomas

Content Warning: The materials below include images of violence. ✽In early January, a TikTok account affiliated with Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Shas party posted a video that an Israeli soldier filmed in Gaza. Somewhere in the northern part of the Strip, the soldier stands inside a bedroom in a Palestinian home.
Unearthing the Origins of Plantation Slavery on São Tomé

Mar 19, 2024 | sapiens.org | M. Cruz |Larissa R. Thomas |Bridget Alex |Jenny Davis

On an island 300 kilometers west of mainland Africa, in 2020, our small team began down a barely visible path flanked by shoulder-high, shimmering capim grass. Soon the tropical forest thickened. Lush felt like an understatement. There are stories of old men’s staffs taking root and sprouting while their owners chatted. We were heading to rumored ruins of an engenho—a Portuguese word for sugar mill—on the African island nation of São Tomé e Príncipe.
[转载]News from Science-231

Mar 9, 2024 | blog.sciencenet.cn | Jon Cohen |Adrian Cho |Eli Ramos |Bridget Alex

Weekly Headlines (excerpts)1. ‘I’m never going to be Tony’: Jeanne Marrazzo, Anthony Fauci’s successor, vows a new direction at NIAIDA longtime HIV prevention researcher sees need for more “holistic” approach to community health problems BY JON COHEN 8 MAR 20242. Online marketplace for animal samples could cut waste and save livesFirst-of-its-kind platform will allow scientists to share tissues, organs, and other biological materials BY MARÍA DE LOS ÁNGELES ORFILA 8 MAR 20243.
Stone tools in Ukraine were left by Europe’s first known humans

Mar 6, 2024 | science.org | Bridget Alex

Geologic ages ago in what is now Ukraine, a pack of human ancestors approached a crook in the Carpathian Mountains, which held hard but brittle glassy rocks—just right to break into tools with sharp edges. Bashing one rock against another, the humans shaped the stones into simple cutters and scrapers, as their own ancestors had done before them in Africa. More than 1 million years later, archaeologists uncovered their cache and dated cobbles found with the tools and other stone artifacts.
Ancient Iberians Ingested Red Dust Loaded With Mind-Altering Mercury

Mar 5, 2024 | smithsonianmag.com | Bridget Alex

Five thousand years ago, in what’s now southern Spain, a special set of women donned their ceremonial gowns, bedecked with tens of thousands of beads crafted from shell, ivory and amber. Perhaps before a crowd, pulsing to chants and drumbeats, these oracle-like figures hunched over a heap of radiant red powder. Then they inhaled the particles, or maybe downed them mixed in an elixir.