1997: Anthropology

Archives consist of articles that originally appeared in Collier's Year Book (for events of 1997 and earlier) or as monthly updates in Encarta Yearbook (for events of 1998 and later). Because they were published shortly after events occurred, they reflect the information available at that time. Cross references refer to Archive articles of the same year.

During 1997 anthropologists announced the discovery of 117,000-year-old human footprints in South Africa and pushed back the generally accepted date for the oldest human habitation of the Americas by over 1,000 years. Scientists also reported the first successful extraction and analysis of ancient... ...