• Susan Cachel
  • Susan Cachel
  • Professor, Anthropology
  • Focus Area: Paleoanthropology
  • Click for Website
  • CURRENT PROJECTS:

    I was recently elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for "incisive contributions to hominization theory, the role of nutritional fat in human occupation of high latitudes, and primate evolution." I was the Advisor on Human Evolution, Editorial Board, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd ed., 2012. I am currently investigating problems of niche structure and competition in fossil primates with my advisee, Rene Studer-Halbach, who has an internship studying stable isotopes in the enamel of fossil teeth at the Research Laboratory of Archaeology and Art History, Oxford University.

     

  • RESEARCH INTERESTS:

    2015. Fossil Primates. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    2006. Primate and Human Evolution. Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology. 488 pp. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

    Other Publications
    In press a. "Evolutionary processes and interpretation of the archaeological record," In: Apocalypse Then and Now, D. Fernandez et al., eds. Calgary: University of Calgary Press.

    In press b. "Natural history intelligence and hominid tool behavior," In: Tools-of-the-Trade: Methods, Techniques and Innovative Approaches in Archaeology, J. Wilkins & K. Anderson, eds., pp. 13-29. Calgary: University of Calgary Press: http://creativecommons.org/licenmses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

    2016.  "Burial law impedes scientific discovery" Science 352:1526

    2013a. "The paleobiology of Homo erectus: Implications for understanding the adaptive zone of this species." In Companion to Human Evolution, S. McBrearty, ed. San Diego, CA: Cognella, Inc. (S. Cachel & J.W.K. Harris).

    2013b. Review of Early Miocene Paleobiology in Patagonia. High-Latitude Paleocommunities of the Santa Cruz Formation. S.F. Vizcaíno, R.F. Kay, and M.S. Bargo, eds. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. PaleoAnthropology 2013. www.paleoanthro.org/journal

    2012a. "Human Evolution, Theories of: The Origins of Human Behavior," in The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd edition, N.A. Silberman, Editor-in Chief, vol. 2, pp. 34-36. New York: Oxford University Press.

    2012b. "Humans, Modern: Peopling of the Globe," in The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd edition, N.A. Silberman, Editor-in-Chief, vol. 2, pp. 47-51. New York: Oxford University Press.

    2012c. Human tool behavior is species-specific and remains unique. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 35(4):20 doi: 10.1017/50140525X11001981.

    2011. Anthropology: It can be interdisciplinary. Reply to Kuper and Marks commentary: Anthropologists unite! Nature 471:448 (with 29 co-authors). DOI: 10.1038/471448b

    2009a. "Using sexual dimorphism and development to reconstruct mating systems in ancient primates," In: Primatology: Theories, Methods and Research, E. Potocki and J. Krasiński, eds., pp. 75-93. New York: Nova Science Publishers.

    2009b. Arboreal origins of hominid bipedalism. Abstracts of the 9th North American Paleontological Convention, p. 105 (abstract). Cincinnati Museum Center. Scientific Contributions no. 3.

    2009c. "Natural history intelligence and hominid tool behavior," In: Tools-of-the-Trade: Methods, Techniques and Innovative Approaches in Archaeology, J. Wilkins & K. Anderson, eds., pp. 13-29. Calgary: University of Calgary Press

    2008. Does hominid bipedalism arise from arboreal locomotion on flexible branches? American Journal of Physical Anthropology S46:75. (abstract). (S. Cachel & M. Crisfield)

    2007. Novelty transmittal and innovative species. Solicited commentary on "Animal innovation defined and operationalized." Behavior and Brain Sciences 30(5):407-408. DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X07002385.

    2006a. Use of modern Arctic peoples in modeling past behaviors. American Journal of Physical Anthropology Supplement 42:72 (abstract).

    2006b. "The behavioural ecology of early Pleistocene hominids in the Koobi Fora region, East Turkana Basin, northern Kenya," In: Space and Spatial Analysis in Archaeology, E.C. Robertson, J.D. Seibert, D.C. Fernandez, & M.U. Zender, eds., pp. 49-59. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. (S. Cachel & J.W.K. Harris)

    2006c. Review of Debating Humankind’s Place in Nature, 1860-2000: The Nature of Paleoanthropology. R.G. Delisle, Pearson Prentice Hall (2006). American Journal of Human Biology 18:867-869.

    2005a. Review of The Chimpanzees of the Taï Forest. Behavioural Ecology and Evolution, C. Boesch and H. Boesch-Achermann. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. PaleoAnthropology (August 2005):21-25. 2005b. Inter-matrilineal feeding competition in Taiwanese macaques (Macaca cyclopis) at Fushan, Taiwan. American Journal of Primatology 66(supplement 1):113-114. (H.-H. Su, L. Lee, & S. Cachel).

    2005c. Review of Evolution, 3rd ed., M. Ridley. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd., 2004. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 128:493-494 [Online DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.20144].

    2004a. The paleobiology of Homo erectus and early hominid dispersal. [solicited article] Special issue on Homo erectus in Athena Review vol. 4(1):23-31.

    2004b. Review of From Biped to Strider: The Emergence of Modern Human Walking, Running, and Resource Transport, D.J. Meldrum and C.E. Hilton, eds., New York: Kluwer Academic, 2004. PaleoAnthropology (July 2004):6-9. www.paleoanthro.org/journal.

    2004c. Early Pleistocene behavioral adaptations in the Koobi Fora region, East of Lake Turkana, northern Kenya. In: Acts of the XIth Congress of the Panafrican Association for Prehistory and Related Fields, K. Sangogo, T. Togola, D. Keïta, and M. N’Daou, eds., pp. 20-35. Bamako, Mali. (M.J. Rogers, J.W.K. Harris, S.M. Cachel, S. Merritt, B.L. Pobiner, & D.R. Braun)

    2003. "Hominidae II. Humans." [commissioned article] In: Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., vol. 14 (Mammals III):241-253.

    Papers Delivered
    "Changing hominid foraging strategies in the Plio-Pleistocene: Implications for understanding human brain evolution in the Lake Turkana Basin," Paper presented at the symposium "The Human Brain Evolving: Papers in Honor of Ralph L. Holloway," Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, Paper presented at the symposium "The Human Brain Evolving: Papers in Honor of Ralph L. Holloway," Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, April 28, 2007 (J.W.K. Harris, S. Cachel, J. McCoy, M. Kibunjia, E. Mbua, D. Olago, D. Braun, & M. Bamford).

    "The first emergence 'Out of Africa': Niche structure of the earliest hominids to colonize Eurasia," INQUA workshop on Understanding Palaeoenvironments during the first "Out of Africa", Nairobi, Kenya, July 24-27, 2006 (S. Cachel & J.W.K. Harris).

    "Use of modern Arctic peoples in modeling past behaviors," invited paper at the symposium "From the Arctic to Arizona," Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Anchorage, Alaska, March 9, 2006. "Natural history intelligence and hominid tool behavior," invited paper at the symposium "The Origins of Technology," University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, November 10, 2005.

    "Inter-matrilineal feeding competition in Taiwanese macaques (Macaca cyclopis) at Fushan, Taiwan," annual meeting of the American Society of Primatologists, Portland, Oregon, August, 19, 2005. (H.-H. Su, L.-L. Lee, & S. Cachel)

    "Behavioral ecology of early Pleistocene hominids in the Koobi Fora region, East Turkana Basin, Kenya," in the symposium "Hominin Evolution Across Environmental Change," 32nd International Geological Congress, Florence, Italy, August 21, 2004 (S. Cachel & J.W.K. Harris)

    "The acquisition of dominance rank in female Taiwanese macaques (Macaca cyclopis) at Fushan Experimental Forest, Taiwan." Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, Tempe, AZ, April 24, 2003. [poster] (Hsiu-Hui Su & S. Cachel).