Recent News and Events
2025 Publications:
2024 Publications:
2023 Publications:
2022 Publications:
2021 Publications:
Adegboyega, Mayowa T., Peter A. Stamos, Jean-Jacques Hublin, and Timothy D. Weaver. 2021. Virtual reconstruction of the Kebara 2 Neanderthal pelvis. Journal of Human Evolution. 151:102922. January 2021.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248420301834?via%3Dihub
2020 Publications:
Hublin, J.J., Sirakov, N., Aldeias, V., Bailey, S., Bard, E., Delvigne, V., Endarova, E., Fagault, Y., Fewlass, H., Hajdinjak, M., Kromer, B., Krumov, I., Marreiros, J., Martisius, N.L., Paskulin, L., Sinet-Mathiot, V., Meyer, M., Pääbo, S., Popov, V., Rezek, Z., Sirakova, S., Skinner, M.M., Smith, G.M., Spasov, R., Talamo, S., Tuna, T., Wacker, L., Welker, F., Wilcke, A., Zahariev, N., McPherron, S.P., and Tsanova, T., 2020. Initial Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria. Nature. May 2020. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2259-z
Fewlass, H., Talamo, S., Wacker, L., Kromer, B., Tuna, T., Fagault, Y., Bard, E., McPherron, S.P., Aldeias, V., Maria, R., Martisius, N.L., Paskulin, L., Rezek, Z., Sinet-Mathiot, V., Sirakova, S., Smith, G.M., Spasov, R., Welker, F., Sirakov, N., Tsanova, T., and Hublin, J.J., 2020. A 14C chronology for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition at Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria. Nature Ecology & Evolution. May 2020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1136-3
Martisius, N.L., Welker, F., Dogandžić, T., Grote, M.N., Rendu, W., Sinet-Mathiot, V., Wilcke, A., McPherron, S.P., Soressi, M., and Steele, T.E. 2020. Non-destructive ZooMS identification reveals strategic bone tool raw material selection by Neandertals. Scientific Reports 10: 7746. May 2020. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64358-w
UC Davis' write-up:
https://egghead.ucdavis.edu/2020/05/08/neandertals-were-choosy-about-making-bone-tools/
First author's blog post at Nature Ecology & Evolution's Behind the Paper:
https://natureecoevocommunity.nature.com/users/390953-naomi-l-martisius/posts/if-neandertals-had-a-bone-to-pick-which-would-they-choose
Stamos, Peter A. and Timothy D. Weaver. 2020. Ontogeny of the distal femoral metaphyseal surface and its relationship with locomotor behavior in hominoids. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 172:462-474. March 2020.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.24036
2019 Publications:
Buck, L. T., De Groote, I., Hamada, Y., Hassett, B. R., Ito, T., Stock, J. T. 2019. Evidence of different climatic adaptation strategies in humans and non-human primates. Scientific Reports 9:11025. July 2019.
www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-47202-8
Bosman, A.M., Buck, L. T., Reyes-Centeno, H., Mirazón Lahr, M., Stringer, C., Harvati, K. 2019. The Kabua 1 cranium: virtual anatomical reconstructions. In Sahle, Y, Reyes-Centeno, H. & Bentz, C. (Eds.). Modern Human Origins and Dispersals. Pp 137-170. Kerns Verlag: Tübingen. March 2019.
Buck, L. T., Stringer, C. B., MacLarnon, A. M., & Rae, T. C. 2019. Variation in Paranasal Pneumatisation between Mid-Late Pleistocene Hominins. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris. March 2019.
Steele, T.E., Álvarez-Fernández, E., Hallett-Desguez, E. 2019. A review of shells as personal ornamentation during the African Middle Stone Age. PaleoAnthropology. Special issue: Personal ornaments in early Prehistory: 24-51. February 2019.
http://www.paleoanthro.org/media/journal/content/PA20190024.pdf
Bosch, D. M., Buck, L. T., Strauss, A. 2019. Location, location, location: investigating perforation locations in Tritia gibbosula shells at Ksâr ‘Akil (Lebanon) using micro-CT data. PaleoAnthropology. Special issue: Personal ornaments in early Prehistory: 52-63. February 2019.
www.paleoanthro.org/media/journal/content/PA20190052.pdf
Georgiou, L., Kivell, T.L., Pahr, D.H., Buck, L.T., Skinner, M.M. 2019. Trabecular architecture of the great ape and human femoral head. Journal of Anatomy: 12957. February 2019.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joa.12957
2018 Publications:
Martisius, NL, Sidéra, I, Grote, MN, Steele, TE, McPherron, SP, and Schulz-Kornas, E (2018) Time wears on: assessing how bone wears using 3D surface texture analysis. PloS ONE 13(11):eo206078. December 2018.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206078
UC Davis' write-up:
http://blogs.ucdavis.edu/egghead/2018/11/12/measuring-wear-bone-tools/
Meng Lin, Rebecca L. Siford, Alicia R. Martin, Shigeki Nakagome, Marlo Möller, Eileen G. Hoal, Carlos D. Bustamante, Christopher R. Gignoux, and Brenna M. Henn. 2018. Rapid evolution of a skin-lightening allele in southern African KhoeSan. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. December 2018.
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/12/05/1801948115
UC Davis' write-up:
http://blogs.ucdavis.edu/egghead/2018/12/10/rapid-genetic-evolution-linked-lighter-skin-pigmentation-southern-african-population/
Smith, Geoff M., Karen Ruebens, Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser and Teresa E. Steele. 2019. Subsistence strategies throughout the African Middle Pleistocene: Faunal evidence for behavioral change and continuity across the Earlier to Middle Stone Age transition. Journal of Human Evolution. 127:1-20. December 2018.
https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1YCnoAlZXC6e7
Henn, Brenna M., Teresa E. Steele, and Timothy D. Weaver. 2018. Clarifying distinct models of modern human origins in Africa. Current Opinion in Genetics and Development. 53:148-156. November 2018.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X1730182X
Goldfield, Anna E., R. Booton, and John M. Marston. 2018. Modeling the role of fire and cooking in the competitive exclusion of Neanderthals. Journal of Human Evolution. 124: 91-104. November 2018.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248417300817?dgcid=raven_sd_via_email
Atkinson, Elizabeth G., Amanda J. Audesse, Julia A. Palacios, Dean M. Bobo, Ashley E. Webb, Sohini Ramachandran, and Brenna M. Henn. 2018. No evidence for recent selection at FOXP2 among diverse human populations. Cell. 174:1-12. August 2018.
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(18)30851-1
UC Davis' write-up:
https://ls.ucdavis.edu/news/evolution-genetics-humans-language
Nature Genetics write-up:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-018-0046-6?WT.ec_id=NRG-201810&spMailingID=57381645&spUserID=MTc2NzE1MTI5OAS2&spJobID=1482288828&spReportId=MTQ4MjI4ODgyOAS2
2017 Publications:
Katz, David C., Mark N. Grote, and Timothy D. Weaver. 2017. Changes in human skull morphology across the agricultural transition are consistent with softer diets in pre-industrial farming groups. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 114:9050-9055. August 2017.
http://www.pnas.org/content/114/34/9050.abstract
Commentary:
http://www.pnas.org/content/114/34/8917.full
UC Davis' write-up:
http://blogs.ucdavis.edu/egghead/2017/08/24/farming-cheese-chewing-changed-human-skull-shape/
Teresa Steele is part of the international team that just published new human fossils and dates from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, which document the origins of our own, Homo sapiens, evolutionary lineage. June 7, 2017.
https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v546/n7657/full/nature22335.html
https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v546/n7657/full/nature22336.html
with UC Davis' write-up:
https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/moroccan-fossils-show-human-ancestors’-diet-game
ls.ucdavis.edu/news-events/dss-news/human-origins.html
News:
Public communication featuring lab members:
The Origin of (Our) Species video series in Uno Dos of Trace by Trace Dominguez:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOfijlVbE2ZTPStOSG3tmMJ7ovRmjCAYT
The Dirt Podcast: Episode 97 - Hip Neanderthals with Mayowa Adegboyega
thedirtpod.com/episodes//episode-97-hip-neanderthals-with-mayowa-adegboyega
New resources:
Downloadable teaching resources on the role of hybridization in evolution, produced as part of the NSF funded project Morphological consequences of hybridization in primate and human evolution. Developed by Dr Laura Buck. Lecture 1: The role of hybridization in evolution Lecture 2: the role of hybridization in primate evolution, Lecture 3: The role of hybridization in human evolution.
Respository of digital data from admixed Rhesus macaques now accessible on MorphoSource. These data are from the sample of the the NSF funded project Morphological consequences of hybridization in primate and human evolution. Data will continue to be uploaded throughout the project, for more information contact Dr Laura Buck (lbuck@ucdavis.edu).
Alumna Dr. Naomi Martisius was featured as a UC Davis Letters and Science Fulbright Scholar. Congratulations, Naomi!
https://lettersandscience.ucdavis.edu/news/uc-davis-ranked-top-producer-fulbright-scholars
Mayowa Adegboyega received the "People's Choice" award at the UC Davis Grad Slam finalist competition for her 3-minute presentation about her thesis research into the evolution of the human pelvis:
https://grad.ucdavis.edu/gradslam
Here are some pictures. April 2018.
Trisha McNeill was awarded a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for her research project Using Sr Isotopes in Ostrich Egg Shell to Study Hunter-Gatherer Mobility. April 2018.
Mayowa Adegboyega was selected as one of only ten Grad Slam finalists across campus based on her presentation about her thesis research into the evolution of the human pelvis:
https://grad.ucdavis.edu/news/meet-grad-slam-finalists-mayowa-adegboyega February 2018.
Early Humans Technology reading group highlighted by the UC Davis Institute for Social Science:
Click here for more information. October 2017.
Tim Weaver and David Katz, along with Becky Ackermann, Leslea Hlusko, and Sree Kanthaswamy, were just awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the morphological consequences of hybridization (total funding expected to be $396,395 over 3 years). June 2017.
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1720128&HistoricalAwards=false
Mayowa Adegboyega was just profiled by the Institute for Social Sciences at UC Davis:
http://iss.ucdavis.edu/iss-journal/grads-grilled/16-mayowa-adegboyega May 2017.