Erik Trinkaus (born December 24, 1948) is an American paleoanthropologist specializing in Neandertal and early modern human biology and human evolution. Trinkaus researches the evolution of the species Homo sapiens and recent human diversity, focusing on the paleoanthropology and emergence of late archaic and early modern humans, and the subsequent evolution of anatomically modern humanity. Trinkaus is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor Emeritus of Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.[1] He is a frequent contributor to publications such as Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PLOS One, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, and the Journal of Human Evolution and has written/co-written or edited/co-edited fifteen books in paleoanthropology. He is frequently quoted in the popular media.

Education

Trinkaus received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1970), and his master's and PhD degrees in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania, the latter in 1975.[2]

Scientific views

Trinkaus has been concerned primarily with the biology and behavior of Neandertals and early modern humans through the Middle and Late Pleistocene, in order to shed light on these past humans and to understand the emergence and establishment of modern humans. His work therefore has been primarily concerned with the comparative and functional anatomy, paleopathology, and life history of these past humans. At the same time, because it dominates paleoanthropology, he has been involved in debates concerning the ancestry of modern humans, being one of the first to argue for an African origin of modern humans but with substantial Neandertal ancestry among modern Eurasian human populations.[3][4]

Although his early work emphasized differences between the Neandertals (and other archaic humans) and early modern humans,[5] his work since the 1990s has documented many similarities across these human groups in terms of function, levels of activity and stress, and abilities to cope socially with the rigors of a Pleistocene foraging existence.[6] His research therefore involves the biomechanical analysis of cranio-facial and post-cranial remains, patterns of tooth wear, interpretations of ecogeographical patterning, life history parameters (growth and mortality), differential levels and patterns of stress (paleopathology), issues of survival, and the interrelationships between these patterns.

Research projects

Trinkaus has conducted a series of comparative analyses, with colleagues and students, on the regional functional anatomy of Neandertals and other Pleistocene humans. He has contributed to the direct radiocarbon dating of original human fossils, and through that work to insights into their diets through the analysis of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stable isotopes. He has been involved in the primary paleontological descriptions of a number of Middle and Late Pleistocene human remains, of both archaic and early modern humans. The first project was his monograph on the Shanidar Neandertals from Iraqi Kurdistan.[7] Subsequent major projects concerned with early modern humans include the Abrigo do Lagar Velho (Portugal)[8] Dolní Věstonice and Pavlov Moravia, Czech Republic,[9] Peştera cu Oase (Romania),[10] Peştera Muierii (Romania),[11] Mladeč (Czech Republic),[12] Tianyuandong (China),[13] and Sunghir (Russia).[14] Additional Neandertal descriptions include those from Krapina (Croatia),[15] Oliveira (Portugal),[16] Kiik-Koba (Crimea),[17] and Sima de las Palomas (Spain).[18] To these can be added Middle Pleistocene human remains from Aubesier (France),[19] Broken Hill (Zambia),[20] and Hualongdong (China),[21] plus late archaic humans remains from Xujiayao and Xuchang (China).[22][23] These paleontological descriptions include both primary data on these fossils and a diversity of paleobiological interpretations of the remains and the Pleistocene human groups from which they derive.

Trinkaus's analyses of early modern human remains, especially those from Dolní Věstonice, Pavlov, Lagar Velho and Sunghir, have raised a series of questions regarding the nature and diversity of mortuary practices among these early modern humans.[24][25] And his paleopathological analyses of Pleistocene human remains have raised questions concerning the levels and natures of trauma[26] and developmental abnormalities among these people.[27]

References

  1. ^ Washington University (4 May 2017). "Faculty Page for Erik Trinkaus". Washington University in St Louis. Washington University. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  2. ^ Trinkaus, Erik. "Erik Trinkaus". Washington University. Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  3. ^ Trinkaus, Erik (2007). "European early modern humans and the fate of the Neandertals". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 104 (18): 7367–7372. Bibcode:2007PNAS..104.7367T. doi:10.1073/pnas.0702214104. PMC 1863481. PMID 17452632.
  4. ^ Trinkaus, Erik (1981). Aspects of Human Evolution. London: Taylor & Francis. pp. 187–224.
  5. ^ Trinkaus, Erik (1986). "The Neandertals and modern human origins". Annual Review of Anthropology. 15 (15): 193–218. doi:10.1146/annurev.an.15.100186.001205.
  6. ^ Trinkaus, Erik (2013). Origins of Modern Humans: Biology Reconsidered (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 393–434. doi:10.1002/9781118659991.ch12. ISBN 978-0-470-89409-5. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  7. ^ Trinkaus, Erik (1983). The Shanidar Neandertals (1st ed.). New York: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-700550-8. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  8. ^ Duarte, Cidalia; João Maurício; Paul B. Pettitt; Pedro Souto; Erik Trinkaus; Hans van der Plicht; João Zilhão (June 22, 1999). "The early Upper Paleolithic human skeleton from the Abrigo do Lagar Velho (Portugal) and modern human emergence in Iberia". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 96 (13): 7604–7609. Bibcode:1999PNAS...96.7604D. doi:10.1073/pnas.96.13.7604. PMC 22133. PMID 10377462.
  9. ^ Trinkaus E, Svoboda, J. (2005). Early Modern Human Evolution in Central Europe: The People of Dolni Vestonice and Pavlov. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-516699-6.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Trinkaus, E., Moldovan, O., Milota, Ş., Bîlgăr, A., Sarcina, L., Athreya, S., Bailey, S.E., Rodrigo, R., Mircea, G., Higham, T. and Ramsey, C.B. (2003). "An early modern human from the Peştera cu Oase, Romania". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 100 (20): 11231–11236. Bibcode:2003PNAS..10011231T. doi:10.1073/pnas.2035108100. hdl:1969.1/182639. PMC 208740. PMID 14504393.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Doboş, Adrian; Soficaru, Andrei; Trinkaus, Erik (2012). The prehistory and paleontology of the Peştera Muierii (Romania). Liege: Université de Liège, Service de Préhistoire. ISBN 9782930495095. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  12. ^ Trinkaus, E., Smith, F.H., Stockton, T.C. & Shackelford, L.L. (2006). Early Modern Humans at the Moravian Gate: The Mladeč Caves and their Remains. Vienna: Springer Verlag. pp. 385–445. doi:10.1007/978-3-211-49294-9_13. ISBN 978-3-211-23588-1. Retrieved 14 March 2024.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Shang, H., Trinkaus, E. (2010). The Early Modern Human from Tianyuan Cave, China. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. p. 245. ISBN 978-1-60344-177-3. Retrieved 14 March 2024.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ Trinkaus, E., Buzhilova, A.P., Mednikova, M.B., Dobrovolskaya, M.V. (2014). The People of Sunghir: Burials, Bodies and Behavior in the Earlier Upper Paleolithic. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 339. ISBN 978-0-19-938105-0. Retrieved 14 March 2024.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ Trinkaus, Erik (2016). The Krapina Human Postcranial Remains. Morphology, Morphometrics and Paleopathology (PDF). Zagreb: FF Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-953-175-591-7. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  16. ^ Willman, J.C., Maki, J., Bayle, P., Trinkaus, E., Zilhão, J (2012). "Middle Paleolithic human remains from the Gruta da Oliveira (Torres Nova), Portugal". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 149 (1): 39–51. doi:10.1002/ajpa.22091. PMID 22610966. Retrieved 14 March 2024.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ Trinkaus, E., Mednikova, M.B., Cowgill, L.W. (2016). "The appendicular remains of the Kiik-Koba 2 Neandertal infant". PaleoAnthropology: 185–210. doi:10.4207/PA.2016.art103 (inactive 2024-03-14). Retrieved 14 March 2024.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of March 2024 (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ Trinkaus, E., Walker, M.J. (2017). The People of Palomas: The Neandertals from the Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo, Southeastern Spain. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. p. 278. ISBN 978-1-62349-479-7. Retrieved 14 March 2024.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ Lebel, S. & Trinkaus, E (2002). "Middle Pleistocene human remains from the Bau de l'Aubesier". Journal of Human Evolution. 43 (5): 659–685. doi:10.1006/jhev.2002.0598. PMID 12457854. Retrieved 14 March 2024.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ Trinkaus, Erik (2009). "The human tibia from Broken Hill, Kabwe, Zambia". PaleoAnthropology: 145–165. ISSN 1545-0031. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
  21. ^ Wu, X.J., Pei, S.W., Cai, Y.J., Tong, H.W., Li, Q., Dong, Z., Sheng, J.C., Jin, Z.T., Ma, D.D., Xing, S., Li, X.L., Cheng, X., Cheng, H., de la Torre, I., Edwards, R.L., Gong, X.C., An, Z.S., Trinkaus, E., Liu, W. (2019). "Archaic human remains from Hualongdong, China, and Middle Pleistocene human continuity and variation". Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences USA. 116 (20): 9820–9824. Bibcode:2019PNAS..116.9820W. doi:10.1073/pnas.1902396116. PMC 6525539. PMID 31036653.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ Trinkaus, E., Wu, X.J. (2017). "External auditory exostoses in the Xuchang and Xujiayao human remains: Patterns and implications among eastern Eurasian Middle and Late Pleistocene crania". PLOS ONE. 12 (12): e0189390. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1289390T. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0189390. PMC 5726651. PMID 29232394.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ Li, Z.Y., Wu, X.J., Zhou, L.P., Liu, W., Gao, X., Nian, X.M., Trinkaus, E (2017). "Late Pleistocene archaic human crania from Xuchang, China". Science. 355 (6328): 969–972. Bibcode:2017Sci...355..969L. doi:10.1126/science.aal2482. PMID 28254945. Retrieved 18 March 2024.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ Trinkaus, E., Sázelová, S., Svoboda, J. (2019). "Pieces of people in the Pavlovian: Burials, body parts and bones in the earlier Upper Palaeolithic". Human Remains and Violence. 50 (1): 70–87. doi:10.7227/HRV.5.1.6. Retrieved 14 March 2024.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. ^ Trinkaus, E., Buzhilova, A.P. (2018). "Diversity and differential disposal of the dead at Sunghir". Antiquity. 92 (361): 7–21. doi:10.15184/aqy.2017.223. Retrieved 14 March 2024.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ Wu, X.J., Schepartz L.A., Liu, W., Trinkaus, E. (2011). "Antemortem trauma and survival in the Late Middle Pleistocene human cranium from Maba, south China". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 108 (49): 19558–19562. Bibcode:2011PNAS..10819558W. doi:10.1073/pnas.1117113108. PMC 3241811. PMID 22106311.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ Trinkaus, Erik (2018). "An abundance of developmental anomalies and abnormalities in Pleistocene people". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (47): 11941–11946. Bibcode:2018PNAS..11511941T. doi:10.1073/pnas.1814989115. PMC 6255161. PMID 30397116.

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