Nyhetsarkiv for Institutt for arkeologi, historie, kultur- og religionsvitenskap

Norwegian gardens have gone from being full of fruits and berries to becoming flat lawns with trampolines and gas grills. “We have gardens that demand more, but give less back to nature,” says Professor Kyrre Kverndokk.

How did our ancestors learn to craft tools, control fire, paint on cave walls, and sail across vast oceans — and how were these skills passed down through generations?

SapienCE scientist Elizabeth Velliky and her team have uncovered that the world's oldest ochre mine, Ngwenya in eSwatini, wasn't the only source of ochre pigment as we once thought. Instead, people used a variety of local ochres, showcasing unique cultural traditions and social interactions in Stone Age communities in Eswatini.

Dr. Margit H. Simon is awarded a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant of 2,17 million Euros to lead the PIONEER project which will transform our understanding of how environmental factors shaped the evolution of behavioural complexity in early Homo sapiens.

A new study published in Scientific Reports shows that hide glue made from calfskin was used as a binder in the paints used to produce Uvdal stave church’s decorations. Surprisingly, tests also uncovered traces of human saliva.

A recent study at SapienCE calls for a more nuanced approach to understanding the evolution of human cognition, arguing that research on the mental abilities of humans – in the present and the past – needs to incorporate cultural and cognitive diversity more explicitly.

A recent study demonstrates how dripstones can be crucial for reconstructing past climates. The new approach can provide a detailed picture of the climate around early human occupations in South Africa.

SapienCE’s Francesco d’Errico and his international team have published their analysis of the largest known collection of Middle Stone Age ochre, which reveals how ochre use evolved over a period of 4500 years. The new study is essential to understand how complex cultures arose and diversified in human history.