Terry Harrison
Professor of Anthropology; ChairPh.D. 1982, B.Sc. 1978, University College, London
Office Address: Rufus D. Smith Hall 25 Waverly Place New York, NY 10003
Email:
Phone: 212-998-8581
Fax: 212-995-4014
Areas of Research/Interest
Primate and human paleontology; evolutionary morphology; paleobiology; allometry; taphonomy; paleoecology; zooarchaeology; Europe, East Africa, and Asia.
External Affiliations
Director - Center for the Study of Human Origins
Publications
Selected Publications
“The evolutionary context of the first hominins.” Wood, B. & Harrison, T. Nature 470: 347-352. 2011.
“Laetoli revisited: Renewed palaeontological and geological investigations at localities on the Eyasi Plateau in northern Tanzania.” Harrison, T. In Harrison, T. (Editor) Paleontology and Geology of Laetoli: Human Evolution in Context. Volume 1: Geology, Geochronology, Paleoecology and Paleoenvironment, pp. 1-15. Dordrecht: Springer. 2011.
“Hominins from the Upper Laetolil and Upper Ndolanya Beds, Laetoli.” Harrison, T. In Harrison, T. (Editor) Paleontology and Geology of Laetoli: Human Evolution in Context. Volume 2: Fossil Hominins and the Associated Fauna, pp. 141-188. Dordrecht: Springer. 2011.
“Paleontology and Geology of Laetoli, Tanzania: Human Evolution in Context. Volume 1: Geology, Geochronology, Paleoecology and Paleoenvironment.” Harrison, T. (Editor) Dordrecht: Springer. 2011.
“Paleontology and Geology of Laetoli, Tanzania: Human Evolution in Context. Volume 2: Fossil Hominins and the Associated Fauna.” Harrison, T. (Editor) Dordrecht: Springer. 2011.
“Apes among the tangled branches of human origins.” Harrison, T. Science 327: 532-534. 2010.
“Later Tertiary Lorisiformes” Harrison, T. In Werdelin, L. & Sanders, W.J. (Editors) Cenozoic Mammals of Africa, pp. 333-349. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2010.
"Dendropithecoidea, Proconsuloidea and Hominoidea.” Harrison, T. In Werdelin, L. & Sanders, W.J. (Editors) Cenozoic Mammals of Africa, pp. 429-469. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2010.
“The anatomy and systematic position of a new species of early Miocene proconsulid from Meswa Bridge, Kenya.” Harrison, T. & Andrews, P. Journal of Human Evolution 56: 479-496. 2009.
“Ecological implications of the relative rarity of fossil hominins at Laetoli.” Su, D. & Harrison, T. Journal of Human Evolution 55: 672-681. 2008.
"Isotopic dietary reconstructions of Pliocene herbivores at Laetoli: Implications for hominin paleoecology." Kingston, J. & Harrison T. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 243: 272-306. 2007.
“The paleoecology of the Upper Laetolil Beds at Laetoli: A reconsideration of the large mammal evidence.” Su, D. & Harrison, T. In Bobe, R., Alemseged, Z. & Behrensmeyer, A.K. (Editors). Hominin Environments in the East African Pliocene: An Assessment of the Faunal Evidence, pp. 279-313. Dordrecht: Springer. 2007.
"Neanderthals Revisited: New Approaches and Perspectives." Harvati, K. & Harrison, T. (Editors) Dordrecht: Springer. 2006
“Neogene Paleontology of the Manonga Valley, Tanzania: A Window into East African Evolutionary History.” Harrison, T. (Editor) New York: Plenum Press. 1997.
Current News / Projects
Updated August 2011
In the past year I have continued my research on the search for early hominins in East Africa and on the paleobiology and evolutionary history of fossil apes from Africa and Asia.
Early hominins: I continue to direct a long-term paleoanthropological project in East Africa at the renowned early hominin site of Laetoli in northern Tanzania. The aims of the project are to recover additional remains of early hominins, and to learn more about their paleobiology, and paleoecology. We have been fortunate enough to recover several exciting new fossil hominid specimens, including additional specimens of Australopithecus afarensis and the first specimen of Paranthropus aethiopicus known from outside of the Turkana Basin. The initial phase of the Laetoli project is now completed with the publication of an edited two-volume series on the geology, paleontology and paleoecology of Laetoli, which includes contributions by an international team of fifty researchers. The next phase of field research at Laetoli (co-directed with Amandus Kweka at the National Museum of Tanzania) will get underway in the summer of 2012.
In addition to working on mid-Pliocene hominins from Laetoli, I recently published a paper in Nature, with a more detailed follow-up paper in Science (co-authored with Bernard Wood) that critically examined whether there is sufficient justification to support the claim that Ardipithecus and other purported early hominins from the late Miocene and early Pliocene of Africa are really hominins. I remain skeptical.
Pliocene faunas from Africa
A critical component of my research project at Laetoli involves the reconstruction of the paleoecology of early hominins. As part of this research, I have made a study of the systematics and paleobiology of a number of other taxa, including aardvarks, camels, cercopithecid monkeys, bushbabies, chalicotheres, ostriches, terrestrial snails, and tortoises. In addition to synthesizing evidence from a wide variety of taxa, I am currently exploring the utility of different ecological proxies and methodological approaches for inferring paleoecology.
Fossil primates from Africa: I recently published major review articles on Miocene African catarrhines and lorisoids respectively, including the description of two new species of fossil primates – Komba walkeri and Simiolus andrewsi. In a co-authored paper with Peter Andrews, I described a new species of ape, Proconsul meswae, from the early Miocene of Kenya. I’m currently working on several projects relating to Proconsul and other Miocene catarrhines from East Africa including a revision of the alpha-taxonomy of Proconsul and the phylogenetic and functional implications of the vertebral column of Proconsul (with Bill Sanders).
Fossil primates from Asia: I am presently working on several collaborative projects on Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene primates from China. A remarkable diversity of pliopithecids (primitive extinct relatives of Old World monkeys and apes) has been found in China in recent years, and I am deeply involved in their analysis and description. I recently described a new pliopithecid specimen from Inner Mongolia (with Zhang Zhaoqun), and I am in the process of reanalyzing (with Pan Yuerong) Laccopithecus from Yunnan, and describing a new genus and species (with Jin Changzhu) from Anhui Province. I am also describing new finds of Yuanmoupithecus (with Ji Xueping and Pan Yuerong) from the late Miocene of Yunnan, which represents the earliest known fossil gibbon. I am also working on fossil hominoids from the Plio-Pleistocene of southern China, including Pongo, Gigantopithecus and an undescribed genus of ape (with Jin Changzhui, Wang wei, Zhang Yingqi, and Russ Ciochon). Other ongoing projects on Miocene primates from Asia include a new look at late Miocene Old World monkeys from the Siwalik Hills in Indo-Pakistan (with Eric Delson).
More information on my research projects and my latest publications are available at http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/anthro/programs/csho/pmwiki.php/Home/TerryHarrison
