Jennifer Eyre
Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology
NYU Department of Anthropology
Email: je988@nyu.edu
Current Position
Lecturer in Anthropology
Dartmouth College
Research Interests
- obstetric dilemma
- evolution of the hominin pelvis
- bipedalism
- postcranial functional morphology
Current Research
For my PhD I aim to reconstruct fragmentary fossil hominin pelves and to test the effect of pelvic dimensions on thermoregulation. Pelvic morphology has changed dramatically during hominin evolution due to the potentially opposing selective pressures it has been subject to. Birth in Homo sapiens can be difficult and dangerous due to the tight fit of the neonatal cranium inside the maternal birth canal. Obstetrics together with encephalization, bipedalism, and thermoregulation arguably have exerted the greatest selective pressures on the pelvis during hominin evolution. An understanding of the evolution of the pelvis is essential to an understanding of the behavior, mobility, and reproduction of extinct members of the human lineage.
Publications
[ Academia | ResearchGate ]Eyre, J., DeSilva, J., Semaw S., Williams S. Unusual pubic bone morphology in A.L. 288-1. 2022. (Australopithecus afarensis) and MH2 (Australopithecus sediba). American Journal of Biological Anthropology.
Tawane, G., Garcia-Martinez, D., Eyre, J., Bastir, M., Berger, L., Schmid, P., Nalla, S. & Williams, S.A. Accepted Jan. 2016. A hominin first rib discovered at the Sterkfontein caves. South African Journal of Science.
Eyre, J. 2016. Can fossil hominin pelves be sexed using standards developed for modern humans? American Journal of Physical Anthropology S62: 140.
Eyre, J. February 29, 2016. How big brains and bipedalism made birth laborious. NYCEP Blogging Consortium, http://blog.nycep.org/how-big-brains-and-bipedalism-made-birth-laborious.
Eyre, J. 2015. The use of the ascending ramus in hominoid and hominin phylogeny. Paleoanthropology Society Annual Meetings in San Francisco.
Eyre, J. 2015. Fusion of the pubic symphysis and the use of Suchey-Brooks in African. American Journal of Physical Anthropology S60: 130.
Eyre, J. 2014. Bi-acromial and clavicular scaling in hominoids: implications for locomotor behavior. American Journal of Physical Anthropology S58: 115.
Eyre, J., Vijgen, S., Kramer, P.A. 2013. The effect of burden, velocity and gradient on the energetic expenditure of walking in females. American Journal of Physical Anthropology S56: 120.