Bram Hessels
@kanderwat.bsky.social
Pinned
Bram Hessels
@kanderwat.bsky.social
· May 29
THE SECRET OF OUR SUCCESS
How culture is driving human evolution, domesticating our species, and making us smart
secretofoursuccess.fas.harvard.edu
O.k, I am obsessed with this book. It changes everything about how we look at human evolution, human psychology, culture, history, religion . . .
secretofoursuccess.fas.harvard.edu
secretofoursuccess.fas.harvard.edu
Reposted by Bram Hessels
Paleoanthropology can be confusing with names. Why would scientists use “Denisovan” instead of coming up with a species name? Or “modern human” instead of Homo sapiens? And why didn’t some names ever catch on, like the Heidelbergers or the chumanzees?
www.johnhawks.net/p/informal-h...
www.johnhawks.net/p/informal-h...
Informal hominins, from Denisovan to superarchaic
In a new research article, I review the ways that paleoanthropologists name ancient groups outside the Linnaean system.
www.johnhawks.net
October 12, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Paleoanthropology can be confusing with names. Why would scientists use “Denisovan” instead of coming up with a species name? Or “modern human” instead of Homo sapiens? And why didn’t some names ever catch on, like the Heidelbergers or the chumanzees?
www.johnhawks.net/p/informal-h...
www.johnhawks.net/p/informal-h...
Reposted by Bram Hessels
So excited to see that Adrian Desmond's important new study of atheist and evolutionist W. D. Saull is out. Free to download the pdf.
www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116...
www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116...
Reign of the Beast: The Atheist World of W. D. Saull and his Museum of Evolution
In the 1830s, decades before Darwin published the Origin of Species, a museum of evolution flourished in London. Reign of the Beast pieces together the extraordinary story of this lost working-man's i...
www.openbookpublishers.com
May 13, 2024 at 1:22 PM
So excited to see that Adrian Desmond's important new study of atheist and evolutionist W. D. Saull is out. Free to download the pdf.
www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116...
www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116...
Reposted by Bram Hessels
1/5 Why do all non-Africans descended from a group that left Africa 50k ago? In @nature.com we model 120k years of human niche dynamics. From 70ka, a big expansion of the human niche in Africa likely equipped later OOA dispersals with a unique ecological flexibilty.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Major expansion in the human niche preceded out of Africa dispersal - Nature
Analysis of species distribution models in a pan-African database comprising chronometrically dated archaeological sites over the past 120,000 years shows major expansion in the human niche from 70 ka...
www.nature.com
June 18, 2025 at 3:10 PM
1/5 Why do all non-Africans descended from a group that left Africa 50k ago? In @nature.com we model 120k years of human niche dynamics. From 70ka, a big expansion of the human niche in Africa likely equipped later OOA dispersals with a unique ecological flexibilty.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The Oxford Handbook of Cultural Evolution has a cover.
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
June 4, 2025 at 7:37 PM
The Oxford Handbook of Cultural Evolution has a cover.
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
O.k, I am obsessed with this book. It changes everything about how we look at human evolution, human psychology, culture, history, religion . . .
secretofoursuccess.fas.harvard.edu
secretofoursuccess.fas.harvard.edu
THE SECRET OF OUR SUCCESS
How culture is driving human evolution, domesticating our species, and making us smart
secretofoursuccess.fas.harvard.edu
May 29, 2025 at 7:55 AM
O.k, I am obsessed with this book. It changes everything about how we look at human evolution, human psychology, culture, history, religion . . .
secretofoursuccess.fas.harvard.edu
secretofoursuccess.fas.harvard.edu
Reposted by Bram Hessels
Fascinating latest model of Homo sapiens evolution within Africa.
Interesting finding that cultural innovation was accelerated by both population size increases, but also recombination across partially isolated regions (e.g. Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa)
Interesting finding that cultural innovation was accelerated by both population size increases, but also recombination across partially isolated regions (e.g. Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa)
May 25, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Fascinating latest model of Homo sapiens evolution within Africa.
Interesting finding that cultural innovation was accelerated by both population size increases, but also recombination across partially isolated regions (e.g. Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa)
Interesting finding that cultural innovation was accelerated by both population size increases, but also recombination across partially isolated regions (e.g. Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa)
Reposted by Bram Hessels
Are dance & infant-directed song human universals? Like many people, I've long thought so.
But in a new paper in Current Biology, Kim Hill & I report that the Northern Aché (Paraguay) lacked both behaviors, likely losing them after cultural collapse.
Open-access link: www.cell.com/current-biol...
But in a new paper in Current Biology, Kim Hill & I report that the Northern Aché (Paraguay) lacked both behaviors, likely losing them after cultural collapse.
Open-access link: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Loss of dance and infant-directed song among the Northern Aché
Singh and Hill report no evidence of dance or infant-directed song among the Northern
Aché of Paraguay, based on 122 months of fieldwork. Their findings challenge claims
of these behaviors’ universali...
www.cell.com
April 29, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Are dance & infant-directed song human universals? Like many people, I've long thought so.
But in a new paper in Current Biology, Kim Hill & I report that the Northern Aché (Paraguay) lacked both behaviors, likely losing them after cultural collapse.
Open-access link: www.cell.com/current-biol...
But in a new paper in Current Biology, Kim Hill & I report that the Northern Aché (Paraguay) lacked both behaviors, likely losing them after cultural collapse.
Open-access link: www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Bram Hessels
All humans descend from two ancient populations that split ~1.5M yrs ago, rejoined ~300k yrs ago. One had a brutal bottleneck—and then became almost all of us. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fig. 6: A simplified model of human demographic history, as inferred by cobraa. | Nature Genetics
www.nature.com
March 21, 2025 at 11:02 AM
All humans descend from two ancient populations that split ~1.5M yrs ago, rejoined ~300k yrs ago. One had a brutal bottleneck—and then became almost all of us. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Humans aren’t the only animals with complex culture − but researchers point to one feature that makes ours unique
theconversation.com/humans-arent...
theconversation.com/humans-arent...
Humans aren’t the only animals with complex culture − but researchers point to one feature that makes ours unique
Animals can learn from each other, maintaining their cultures for long periods of time. What sets people apart may be the uniquely open-ended ways we invent new ideas and share and build on them.
theconversation.com
March 20, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Humans aren’t the only animals with complex culture − but researchers point to one feature that makes ours unique
theconversation.com/humans-arent...
theconversation.com/humans-arent...
Reposted by Bram Hessels
Population connectivity shapes the distribution and complexity of chimpanzee cumulative culture www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Population connectivity shapes the distribution and complexity of chimpanzee cumulative culture
Although cumulative culture is a hallmark of hominin evolution, its origins can be traced back to our common ancestor with chimpanzees. Here, we investigated the evolutionary origins of chimpanzee cum...
www.science.org
February 15, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Population connectivity shapes the distribution and complexity of chimpanzee cumulative culture www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Bram Hessels
February 14, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Reposted by Bram Hessels
Perhaps the oldest known human portrait, made from mammoth ivory, about 27,000 years old. Dolni Vestonice, Czechia.
February 2, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Perhaps the oldest known human portrait, made from mammoth ivory, about 27,000 years old. Dolni Vestonice, Czechia.
Reposted by Bram Hessels
Hi all 👋
I’m a cultural & evolutionary scientist obsessed with 2 ideas:
1) humans are the only species with religion
2) within our religious species, atheism comes naturally
I wrote a book on that, here’s a short 🧵 with some fun book tidbits. Enjoy & share!
💙📚
🧪
www.amazon.com/Disbelief-Or...
I’m a cultural & evolutionary scientist obsessed with 2 ideas:
1) humans are the only species with religion
2) within our religious species, atheism comes naturally
I wrote a book on that, here’s a short 🧵 with some fun book tidbits. Enjoy & share!
💙📚
🧪
www.amazon.com/Disbelief-Or...
Disbelief: The Origins of Atheism in a Religious Species: Gervais Ph.D, Will M.: 9781633889248: Amazon.com: Books
Disbelief: The Origins of Atheism in a Religious Species [Gervais Ph.D, Will M.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Disbelief: The Origins of Atheism in a Religious Species
www.amazon.com
November 13, 2024 at 6:09 PM
Hi all 👋
I’m a cultural & evolutionary scientist obsessed with 2 ideas:
1) humans are the only species with religion
2) within our religious species, atheism comes naturally
I wrote a book on that, here’s a short 🧵 with some fun book tidbits. Enjoy & share!
💙📚
🧪
www.amazon.com/Disbelief-Or...
I’m a cultural & evolutionary scientist obsessed with 2 ideas:
1) humans are the only species with religion
2) within our religious species, atheism comes naturally
I wrote a book on that, here’s a short 🧵 with some fun book tidbits. Enjoy & share!
💙📚
🧪
www.amazon.com/Disbelief-Or...
Reposted by Bram Hessels
📢 Excited to announce that the new edition of my co-authored book on human behaviour and evolution will be published next month (Dec 2024):
'Sense & Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour (3rd Ed)'
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
🧪🏺 #evolution #psychscisky #evobio #philsci #histsci
'Sense & Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour (3rd Ed)'
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
🧪🏺 #evolution #psychscisky #evobio #philsci #histsci
November 8, 2024 at 5:13 PM
📢 Excited to announce that the new edition of my co-authored book on human behaviour and evolution will be published next month (Dec 2024):
'Sense & Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour (3rd Ed)'
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
🧪🏺 #evolution #psychscisky #evobio #philsci #histsci
'Sense & Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour (3rd Ed)'
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
🧪🏺 #evolution #psychscisky #evobio #philsci #histsci