How do our origins influence our behaviour?
Of all the questions in our field, the ‘when’, ‘where’ and ‘how’ of humanity’s origins are some of the most enduring and difficult to answer. Why did modern humans—of all hominins—become the dominant species among their peers, and what forces have acted to shape our communities, social structures and behaviours?
Our researchers conduct deep, multidisciplinary investigations to help piece together the many parts of this puzzle, investigating how human behaviour has developed over time and what clues it provides as to the earliest days of our species’ emergence.
Research Team
Professor Tanya Smith
Palaeoanthropology, biological anthropology, evolution of human life history, tooth development and chemistry
Dr Jayne Wilkins
Palaeoarchaeology, lithic analysis, origins of modern humans, African archaeology
Distinguished Professor Paul Ta莽on
Rock art, human evolution, symbolic material culture, 色情网站n Indigenous archaeology and ethnography, Southeast Asian archaeology
Professor David Lambert
Ancient genomes, rates of molecular change, Indigenous genomics
Dr Jillian Huntley
Physicochemical characterisation, provenance studies, 色情网站n archaeology, rock art, human climate adaptation
Professor Maxime Aubert
Quaternary geochronology, U-series dating, rock art
Associate Professor Michelle Langley
Human behavioural evolution, traceology, Palaeolithic archaeology, 色情网站n archaeology, Neanderthals, archaeology of children
Professor Adam Brumm
Archaeology, human evolution, rock art, ancient Indonesia
Professor Michael Petraglia
Human evolution, Palaeolithic archaeology, climate change and human dispersals
Associate Professor Jeremy Brownlie
Genetics and Genomics, host-parasite interactions, evolution