New Netflix documentary Secrets of the Neanderthals features a facial recreation based on Cambridge work rebuilding a Neanderthal skull crushed to just 2cm thick, with bone the consistency of “biscuit dunked in tea”.

The Tibetan plateau—the world’s highest and largest plateau—poses a challenge to the people who live there because of its extreme climate. In a new study, researchers have discovered stone artifacts that suggest that there were more cultural exchanges between those who lived on the plateau and those living on its perimeter.

It has long been thought that meat played an important role in the diet of hunter-gatherers before the Neolithic transition. However, due to the scarcity of well-preserved human remains from Paleolithic sites, little information exists about the dietary habits of pre-agricultural human groups. A new study challenges this notion by presenting compelling isotopic evidence of a strong preference for plants among 15,000-year-old hunter-gatherers from Morocco. This is the first time a significant amount of plant consumption has been measured for a pre-agricultural population, shedding new light on the dietary practices of ancient human societies.

A fresh examination of landscape evolution casts new light on migration of the first humans to Sahul – the expansive single landmass including Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania that existed up to 75,000 years ago.

An interdisciplinary team from The University of Sydney, Southern Cross University, Flinders University and Université Grenoble-Alpes used a newly developed landscape evolution model that accounts for climatic evolution from 75,000 to 35,000 years ago, and it offers a fresh take on Pleistocene archaeology by examining the impact of a changing landscape on the dispersion of first humans in Sahul.

Using environmental DNA analysis, an international team of researchers identified a collection of plants used in ceremonial rituals in the ancient Maya city of Yaxnohcah in Mexico. The plants, known for their religious associations and medicinal properties, were discovered beneath a plaza floor where a ballcourt was built.