SHEELA ATHREYA | ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Director of Graduate Studies
Ph.D. - 2003, Washington University
Specialty: Middle and Late Pleistocene hominin evolution, Asia, quantitative methods, craniofacial morphology
Current Research Projects: My research focuses on human evolution in the Middle and Late Pleistocene. I look at patterns of craniofacial variation within and among populations of Middle Pleistocene Homo in order to understand the role of these populations in modern human origins. I am particularly interested in questions of phylogeny and systematics--that is, who was related to whom in the Pleistocene? I try to apply the most appropriate and powerful quantitative methods to these questions, and include a critical examination of how different methodological approaches can lead to differing analytic conclusions.
Currently I am conducting fieldwork in Gujarat, western India that has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society. My fieldwork experience also includes participating in the Narmada Basin Paleoanthropology Project in the central Narmada Valley in Madhya Pradesh. I have worked on excavations at Lower and Upper Paleolithic sites in France and a Harappan site in western India. I have also conducted research in museums throughout Europe, Asia and Africa looking at the original fossils of most Middle Pleistocene specimens.
Courses Taught: ANTH 201, ANTH 225, ANTH 427, ANTH 601, ANTH 648, ANTH 649
Current Graduate Students: Victoria Springer, Ricci Grossman, Lauren Butaric, Rachael Bible, Bonny Christy, Brittany Staff
Representative Publications:
2010 Athreya S. South Asia as a geographic crossroad: patterns and predictions of hominin morphology in Pleistocene India. In Norton, CJ and Braun D, eds. Asian Paleoanthropology: From Africa to China and Beyond. New York: Springer Academic Publishers, Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series. E Delson, editor, pp. 129-141.
2009 Athreya S. A comparative study of frontal bone morphology among Pleistocene hominin fossil groups. Journal of Human Evolution 57(6): 786-804.
2009 Glantz MM, S Athreya and T Ritzman. Is Central Asia the eastern outpost of the Neandertal range? A reassessment of the Teshik-Tash child. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 138(1): 45-61
2007 Athreya S. Was Homo heidelbergensis in South Asia? A test using the Narmada hominin from Central India. In Petraglia, M. and Allchin, B. (eds.) The Evolution and Diversity of Humans in South Asia. New York: Springer Academic Publishers, Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series. E Delson, editor, pp. 137-170.
2003 Athreya S and MM Glantz. The impact of character correlation and variable groupings on modern human population tree resolution. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 122: 134-146.