archaeology

Landscape of the Tibetan plateau, with sparse vegetation in foreground, snow peaks in background and blue sky showing through white fluffy clouds

Denisovans or Homo Sapiens: Who Were the First to Settle (Permanently) on the Tibetan Plateau?

  • by Kathleen Holder
  • December 07, 2021

The Tibetan Plateau has long been considered one of the last places to be populated by people in their migration around the globe. A new paper by archaeologists at UC Davis highlights that our extinct cousins, the Denisovans, reached the “roof of the world” about 160,000 years ago — 120,000 years earlier than previous estimates for our species — and even contributed to our adaptation to high altitude.

A close-up of a fish eye with a microphone icon and the word "Unfold" designed to look like folded paper.

‘Earworm’ Researchers Lead Off Podcast’s New Season

  • by Kathleen Holder
  • October 04, 2021
Unfold, a UC Davis podcast, recently launched its third season with College of Letters and Science researchers talking about “Why Is That Song Stuck in My Head?” The episode examines music, memory and what "earworms" — those songs that get stuck in your head — can teach us about how the brain works.
Periodic Table 150th anniversary

Celebrating 150 Years of the Periodic Table

  • by Becky Oskin
  • November 25, 2019
Did you know the periodic table of chemical elements turned 150 years old in 2019? To celebrate the chart's 150th anniversary, the College of Letters and Science asked our experts to share their favorite element. 

Christyann Darwent: Archaeology Adventures in the Arctic

Christyann Darwent, an associate professor of anthropology at UC Davis, studies how humans adapt to arid, arctic environments and coastal ecosystems. As a zooarchaeologist, Darwent studies animal skeletal remains to better understand what past human economies and environments were like. UC Davis College of Letters and Science writing intern James Sommer ’18 sat down with Darwent in spring 2018 to learn about the Arctic locations she has traveled to, as well as the discoveries she’s made throughout her journey.
Photo of jawbone fossils

Rewriting the History of Our Species

  • by Kathleen Holder
  • June 07, 2017
New fossil finds from the Jebel Irhoud archaeological site in Morocco do more than push back the origins of our species by 100,000 years. They also reveal what was on the menu for our oldest-known Homo sapiens ancestors 300,000 years ago
Photo: students digging

UC Davis Archaeological Field School

  • by Kathleen Holder
  • December 02, 2016
Offered since the 1970s, the UC Davis field school provides students with a foundation in archaeological survey, excavation and other field methods—training that can lead to employment after graduation. 
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