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Department of Human Origins

Director: Prof. Dr. Tracy L. Kivell

The Department of Human Origins combines new fossil and archaeological discoveries with an interdisciplinary approach to reconstructing how our fossil relatives interacted with their past environments. Our goal is to uncover the emergence and evolution of the human lineage through fieldwork and analysis, studying the fossils of our early relatives and those of African apes. We aim to reconstruct the key behaviours that define humans by integrating high-resolution imaging, quantitative analyses of anatomy, experimental biomechanics and study of living primates. 

News

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“Nutcracker Man” ventured further and wider than first thought

Human Origins

The discovery of a Paranthropus fossil that dates back 2.6 million years changes our understanding of early…

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Early hominins from Morocco reveal an African lineage near the root of Homo sapiens

Human Origins

773,000-year-old fossils from Thomas Quarry I in Morocco illuminate the shared ancestry of Homo sapiens,…

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Gorillas in the trees

Human OriginsPrimate Behavior and Evolution

Researchers show that even large silverback gorillas spend a substantial amount of time in trees

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