Marta Mirazon Lahr

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I have lived in different places - I was born in Argentina, but grew up in Brasil, where I studied Biology at the University of Sao Paulo. Afterwards, I came to the UK to study at the University of Cambridge, firs for an MPhil n Biological Athropology (Masters) with the help of my parents, and then for a PhD with a scholaship from Brazil (CNPq). My two sons - Phillip and Chris - were born then, and have continued to enrich my life ever since. After the PhD, I received a Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) from Clare College, which gave me the freedom for three years to explore new research ideas and write a book. I then returned to Brasil for my first lectureship, held at the Instituto de Biologia of the University of Sao Paulo (IB-USP) where I had done my undergraduate, which was wonderful, and three years later back to the University of Cambridge, first as a lecturer, then a reader, and now a professor. I am also a Fellow of Clare College and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of the UK. Of the many things I am proud of having done at Cambridge, three stand out - being the Director of the Duckworth Collection for 21 years, founding the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies with my husband, colleague and intellectual partner, Robert Foley, and having helped rebuilt Biological Anthropology once our old department was merged with Archaeology.

The focus of my research is the origin, evolution and diversity of our species, Homo sapiens. My work involves a range of disciplines - human palaeontology, evolutionary genetics, behavioural ecology, prehistoric archaeology and Quaternary African palaeontology. I have done fieldwork in the Amazon, the South Pacific, India, Oman, Libya and Kenya. For the last nearly 20 years, I have directed excavations and surveys in Turkana, northern Kenya, where the fossil and archaeological records of our past are just fascinating. I have been fortunate in receiving generous funding for this work, most importantly through two ERC Advanced Grants, for which I am immensely grateful. I am the director of the NG'IPALAJEM Project in Kenya.

Experience

  • 2017–present
    Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology & Prehistory, University of Cambridge
  • 1999–present
    Fellow , Clare College, Cambridge
  • 2000–2021
    Director, Duckworth Laboratory & Collections, Cambridge
  • 2013–2018
    Visiting Professor, Centre for GeoGenetics, Univ. of Copenhagen
  • 2005–2017
    Reader in Human Evolutionary Biology, University of Cambridge
  • 1998–2005
    Lecturer in Biological Anthroplogy, University of Cambridge
  • 1995–1998
    Lecturer in Biology, University of São Paulo, Brazil
  • 1992–1995
    Junior Research Fellow, Clare College, Cambridge

Education

  • 1992 
    University of Cambridge, PhD
  • 1987 
    University of Cambridge, MPhil
  • 1986 
    University of Sao Paulo, BSc in Biological Sciences

Publications

  • 2016
    Virtual Ancestor Reconstruction: revealing the ancestor of modern humans and Neandertals, Journal of Human Evolution
  • 2015
    Early divergent strains of Yersinia pestis in Eurasia five thousand years ago, Cell
  • 2015
    Lithic landscapes: Early human impact from stone tool production on the Central Saharan environment, PLoSONE
  • 2015
    Climatic correlates of human subsistence: a global analysis, Applied Ecology and Environmental Research
  • 2014
    Genomic structure in Europeans dating back at least 36,200 years, Science
  • 2014
    Two ancient human genomes reveal Polynesian ancestry among the indigenous Botocudos of Brazil, Current Biology
  • 2014
    Dental indicators of adaptation in the Saharan Desert during the late Holocene, Homo: Journal of Comparative Human Biology
  • 2014
    The Genetic Prehistory of the New World Arctic, Science
  • 2014
    Unravelling the distinct strains of Tharu ancestry, European Journal of Human Genetics
  • 2014
    The role of ‘the aquatic’ in human evolution: constraining the aquatic ape hypothesis, Evolutionary Anthropology
  • 2013
    The Middle Stone Age of the Central Sahara: Biogeographical opportunities and technological strategies in later human evolution, Quaternary International
  • 2013
    The Light Skin Allele of SLC24A5 in South Asians and Europeans Shares Identity by Descent, PLoS Genetics
  • 2013
    Evolution of the pygmy phenotype: Evidence of positive selection from genome-wide scans in African, Asian and Melanesian pygmies, Human Biology
  • 2013
    Genetic and fossil evidence for modern human origins, Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology
  • 2013
    Methodological considerations in the statistical analysis of degenerative joint and disc disease, International Journal of Paleopathology
  • 2013
    Late Holocene desert-induced stress and human migrations through the Sahara: the case of the Garamantes, Holocene: Perspectives, Environmental Dynamics and Impact Events
  • 2013
    Evidence of trephinations among the Garamantes, a late Holocene Saharan population, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology
  • 2013
    Patterns of variation at diabetes and obesity associated loci mirror neutral patterns of human population diversity and diabetes prevalence in India, Annals of Human Genetics
  • 2012
    Herders of Indian and European cattle share their predominant allele for lactase persistence, Molecular Biology and Evolution
  • 2012
    Three-dimensional cranial shape analyses and gene flow in North Africa during the Middle to Late Holocene, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
  • 2012
    Sahara: Barrier or corridor? Nonmetric cranial traits and biological affinities of North African Late Holocene populations, American Journal of Physical Anthropology
  • 2011
    Population genetic structure in Indian Austroasiatic speakers: The role of landscape barriers and sex-specific admixture, Molecular Biology and Evolution
  • 2011
    The evolution of the diversity of cultures, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B
  • 2011
    DMP XII: Excavations and Survey of the so-called Garamantian Royal Cemetery (GSC030-031), Libyan Studies
  • 2011
    DMP XIV: Prehistoric sites in the Wadi Barjuj, Fazzan, Libyan Sahara, Libyan Studies
  • 2011
    Activity patterns in the Sahara Desert: An interpretation based on cross-sectional geometry, American Journal of Physical Anthropology
  • 2011
    Simple algorithms for the estimation of the most likely number of individuals from commingled remains, American Journal of Physical Anthropology
  • 2011
    Aboriginal Australian Genome Obtained from Hundred-Year-Old Lock of Hair Reveals Separate Human Dispersals into Asia, Science
  • 2011
    Genetic diversity and evidence for population admixture in Batak Negritos from Palawan, American Journal of Physical Anthropology
  • 2010
    DMP IX: Summary report on the fourth season of excavations of the burials and identity team, Libyan Studies
  • 2010
    Why are Pygmies so short? , Human Biology
  • 2010
    Saharan Corridors and Their Role in the Evolutionary Geography of ‘Out of Africa I’, Out of Africa I: The First Hominin Colonization of Eurasia
  • 2010
    DMP XI: Preliminary results from 2010 fieldwork on the human prehistory of the Libyan Sahara, Libyan Studies
  • 2010
    Human Skeletal Remains, Archaeology of Fazzan III
  • 2010
    A metric study of three types of cranial modification from North-Central Peru, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology
  • 2010
    Ancient Solomon Islands mtDNA: assessing Holocene settlement and the impact of European contact, Journal of Archaeological Science
  • 2010
    Philippine mitochondrial DNA diversity: A populated viaduct between Taiwan and Indonesia? , Molecular Biology and Evolution

Grants and Contracts

  • 2012
    IN-AFRICA: The role of East Africa in the evolution of human diversity
    Role:
    Principal Investigator
    Funding Source:
    European Research Council

Contact Marta for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision