Phylogenetic Relationships and Paleobiology of Early Hominins

The late Miocene hominoid fossil record is still relatively sparse, but the increase in the number of finds in recent years has begun to better document the bush-like diversity of apes and early hominins during this critical time period. In addition, our understanding of the taxonomic and adaptive diversity of Pliocene hominins has also continued to grow.  Terry Harrison’s research critically examines the taxonomy, phylogenetic relationships, and paleobiology of early hominins from the late Miocene and Pliocene. His search for human origins has led him to conduct paleontological expeditions to late Miocene sites in the Manonga Valley in north-central Tanzania and to those on the Eyasi Plateau in northern Tanzania (dating from 4.0-5.5 million years ago).  Research on the phylogenetic relationships and paleobiology of Australopithecus afarensis and Paranthropus aethiopicus are a key component of the ongoing long-term project at Laetoli.

Selected recent publications

Rein, T.R., Harrison, T. Carlson, K., & Harvati, K. 2017. Adaptation to suspensory locomotion in Australopithecus sediba.  Journal of Human Evolution 104: 1-12.

Harrison, T. 2011. Hominins from the Upper Laetolil and Upper Ndolanya Beds, Laetoli, in T. Harrison (Ed.) Paleontology and Geology of Laetoli: Human Evolution in Context.  Volume 2:  Fossil Hominins and the Associated Fauna, pp. 141-188.  Dordrecht: Springer.

Wood, B. & Harrison, T. 2011.  The evolutionary context of the first hominins.  Nature 470: 347-352.

Harrison, T. 2010. Apes among the tangled branches of human origins. Science 327: 532-534.

Andrews, P. & Harrison, T. 2005. The last common ancestor of apes and humans, in D.E. Lieberman, R.J. Smith, & J. Kelley (Eds.) Interpreting the Past: Essays on Human, Primate, and Mammal Evolution in Honor of David Pilbeam, pp. 103-121. Boston: Brill Academic Publishers.