4 Field Colloquium Series: "Skeletal variation, behaviour, and ecology: Interpreting human adaptability in the past"

Our 4 Field Colloquium series presents speakers from the four fields of anthropology on new and topical interests in the field.

Variation is central to the process of evolution, and skeletal variation in the fossil record provides the primary means of interpreting adaptation in hominin species. The mechanisms which drive skeletal variation, however, remain poorly understood. Variation may be either canalized and under tight genetic regulation during development, or plastic in response to environmental conditions throughout the life course. This presentation will review recent research on skeletal variation among modern humans, with particular emphasis on Pleistocene and Holocene foragers, to better understand the conditions which drive skeletal variation in the past. This work has implications for how we interpret hominin adaptation and the process of evolution within our lineage.