Eleanor M. Williams
@eleanormw.bsky.social
NERC CREATES DLA PhD student, University of Cambridge | Human Evolution in Africa, Plio-Pleistocene, Palaeoanthropology, Archaeology | she/her
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
Postcranial fossils from the site of Drimolen in the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa provide further insights into hominin paleobiology at approximately 2.0 million years ago!
New study by Caley M. Orr et al.: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
New study by Caley M. Orr et al.: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
January 28, 2026 at 11:00 AM
Postcranial fossils from the site of Drimolen in the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa provide further insights into hominin paleobiology at approximately 2.0 million years ago!
New study by Caley M. Orr et al.: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
New study by Caley M. Orr et al.: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
Interested in Oldowan stone tools and early human behaviour?
Develop your #PhD with #ICArEHB through the #FCT #PhD #Fellowships 2026.
#Archaeology #Research #Prehistory #ScienceCareers #PhDLife
Develop your #PhD with #ICArEHB through the #FCT #PhD #Fellowships 2026.
#Archaeology #Research #Prehistory #ScienceCareers #PhDLife
January 23, 2026 at 12:12 PM
Interested in Oldowan stone tools and early human behaviour?
Develop your #PhD with #ICArEHB through the #FCT #PhD #Fellowships 2026.
#Archaeology #Research #Prehistory #ScienceCareers #PhDLife
Develop your #PhD with #ICArEHB through the #FCT #PhD #Fellowships 2026.
#Archaeology #Research #Prehistory #ScienceCareers #PhDLife
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
I am really excited to share news of this new jaw...until now Paranthropus had been conspicuously absent from the Afar.
Fieldwork at Mille-Logya is not easy, and this fossil is the result of years of very hard work (and a lot of days of dry screening by our team)!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fieldwork at Mille-Logya is not easy, and this fossil is the result of years of very hard work (and a lot of days of dry screening by our team)!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Afar fossil shows broad distribution and versatility of Paranthropus - Nature
With its attribution to Paranthropus, a 2.6-million-year-old partial mandible expands the range of the genus into the Afar region of Ethiopia and adds to our understanding of hominin evolution in east...
www.nature.com
January 21, 2026 at 4:14 PM
I am really excited to share news of this new jaw...until now Paranthropus had been conspicuously absent from the Afar.
Fieldwork at Mille-Logya is not easy, and this fossil is the result of years of very hard work (and a lot of days of dry screening by our team)!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fieldwork at Mille-Logya is not easy, and this fossil is the result of years of very hard work (and a lot of days of dry screening by our team)!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
The first article from the Cambridge Prisms: Extinction special issue on 'Hominin Cultural and Biological Extinctions', guest edited by @jjrowan.bsky.social and Dr Alastair Key, has just been published.
A continuous record of early human stone tool production: doi.org/10.1017/ext....
A continuous record of early human stone tool production: doi.org/10.1017/ext....
January 14, 2026 at 1:05 PM
The first article from the Cambridge Prisms: Extinction special issue on 'Hominin Cultural and Biological Extinctions', guest edited by @jjrowan.bsky.social and Dr Alastair Key, has just been published.
A continuous record of early human stone tool production: doi.org/10.1017/ext....
A continuous record of early human stone tool production: doi.org/10.1017/ext....
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
KNM-ER 64061, most complete Homo habilis skeleton yet (Koobi Fora) shows primitive limb proportions: long forearms, thick cortices, small body mass & ~160 cm stature. Upper limbs like early Homo, but proportions differ from H. erectus
Grine et al anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Grine et al anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
January 13, 2026 at 11:15 AM
KNM-ER 64061, most complete Homo habilis skeleton yet (Koobi Fora) shows primitive limb proportions: long forearms, thick cortices, small body mass & ~160 cm stature. Upper limbs like early Homo, but proportions differ from H. erectus
Grine et al anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Grine et al anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
🚨CALL FOR PAPERS!🚨 @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social and I are running a session (S17) at PanAf2026 in Mozambique, titled: Pan-African Homo sapiens evolution: linking processes with data. More info: panaf2026moz.com/panaf-sessio... & submit an abstract: panaf2026moz.com/paper-submis... deadline March 15th
PanAF Sessions
The Local Organizing Committee is excited that almost 70 sessions and workshops will occur at PanAF Moz 2026. Pan-African Association members and non-members are welcome to submit paper abstracts t…
panaf2026moz.com
January 12, 2026 at 10:47 AM
🚨CALL FOR PAPERS!🚨 @lucytimbrell96.bsky.social and I are running a session (S17) at PanAf2026 in Mozambique, titled: Pan-African Homo sapiens evolution: linking processes with data. More info: panaf2026moz.com/panaf-sessio... & submit an abstract: panaf2026moz.com/paper-submis... deadline March 15th
A great start to 2026! My paper with Alastair Key is out #openaccess in Cambridge Prisms Extinction.
We examine temporal continuity in the African ESA - no significant gaps, no evidence for loss of tool making abilities c.3.3-1.5 Ma.
@cam-archaeology.bsky.social
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
We examine temporal continuity in the African ESA - no significant gaps, no evidence for loss of tool making abilities c.3.3-1.5 Ma.
@cam-archaeology.bsky.social
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
A continuous record of early human stone tool production | Cambridge Prisms: Extinction | Cambridge Core
A continuous record of early human stone tool production - Volume 4
www.cambridge.org
January 7, 2026 at 9:43 AM
A great start to 2026! My paper with Alastair Key is out #openaccess in Cambridge Prisms Extinction.
We examine temporal continuity in the African ESA - no significant gaps, no evidence for loss of tool making abilities c.3.3-1.5 Ma.
@cam-archaeology.bsky.social
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
We examine temporal continuity in the African ESA - no significant gaps, no evidence for loss of tool making abilities c.3.3-1.5 Ma.
@cam-archaeology.bsky.social
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
My colleague Ryan McRae and I wrote our annual round up of top discoveries in human evolution from this year for the @plos.org Sci Comm blog - enjoy! scicomm.plos.org/2025/12/19/t...
Top Stories in Human Evolution of 2025 - PLOS SciComm
By Ryan McRae and Briana Pobiner 2025 has been quite the wild year! With more exciting stories in human evolution than we…
scicomm.plos.org
December 20, 2025 at 2:02 AM
My colleague Ryan McRae and I wrote our annual round up of top discoveries in human evolution from this year for the @plos.org Sci Comm blog - enjoy! scicomm.plos.org/2025/12/19/t...
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
“What archaeology asks of everyone is an openness to alternate worlds. An understanding that your society, with its ways of working, worshipping, learning, loving—even knowing a dog—is just one permutation of endless human and beyond human possibilities.”
www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...
www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...
Unearthing What Archaeologists Can and Cannot Know
An archaeologist studying 1,000-year-old dog burials reflects on the need for evidence and imagination in archaeology.
www.sapiens.org
December 16, 2025 at 5:59 PM
“What archaeology asks of everyone is an openness to alternate worlds. An understanding that your society, with its ways of working, worshipping, learning, loving—even knowing a dog—is just one permutation of endless human and beyond human possibilities.”
www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...
www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
New paper by @sarah-paris.bsky.social 🚨
"The transformation of ochre from a loose pigment used widely in early burials to rare pellet deposits in later interments mirrors broader processes of cultural change, technological development and ideological realignment in Southeast Asia."
"The transformation of ochre from a loose pigment used widely in early burials to rare pellet deposits in later interments mirrors broader processes of cultural change, technological development and ideological realignment in Southeast Asia."
Ochre use in burial practices in Thailand, from the Neolithic to the Iron Age | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
Ochre use in burial practices in Thailand, from the Neolithic to the Iron Age
www.cambridge.org
December 15, 2025 at 10:34 AM
New paper by @sarah-paris.bsky.social 🚨
"The transformation of ochre from a loose pigment used widely in early burials to rare pellet deposits in later interments mirrors broader processes of cultural change, technological development and ideological realignment in Southeast Asia."
"The transformation of ochre from a loose pigment used widely in early burials to rare pellet deposits in later interments mirrors broader processes of cultural change, technological development and ideological realignment in Southeast Asia."
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
Paranthropus boisei is a human fossil cousin w/ giant jaws and teeth that lived in East Africa ~2.6 to 1.3 million years ago. Whether it could make & use tools has been a paleoanthropological mystery since the 1960s. Our new paper describes the first firmly associated hand and foot. 1/
New fossils reveal the hand of Paranthropus boisei - Nature
Analyses of newly discovered hand and foot bones of a Paranthropus boisei specimen provide insight into possible tool use and other palaeobiology characteristics among Plio-Pleistocene hominin species...
www.nature.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Paranthropus boisei is a human fossil cousin w/ giant jaws and teeth that lived in East Africa ~2.6 to 1.3 million years ago. Whether it could make & use tools has been a paleoanthropological mystery since the 1960s. Our new paper describes the first firmly associated hand and foot. 1/
Great time visiting Lucy and Selam in Prague this weekend! Amazing to see the original fossils, well worth the trip
October 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Great time visiting Lucy and Selam in Prague this weekend! Amazing to see the original fossils, well worth the trip
Last week I matriculated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge to start my NERC-funded (CREATES DLA) PhD in Archaeology!
@caiuscollege.bsky.social
@cam.ac.uk
@cam-archaeology.bsky.social
@caiuscollege.bsky.social
@cam.ac.uk
@cam-archaeology.bsky.social
October 6, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Last week I matriculated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge to start my NERC-funded (CREATES DLA) PhD in Archaeology!
@caiuscollege.bsky.social
@cam.ac.uk
@cam-archaeology.bsky.social
@caiuscollege.bsky.social
@cam.ac.uk
@cam-archaeology.bsky.social
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
We are hiring a Project Co-ordinator! 🚨
Are you extremely organised with great interpersonal skills?
Able to multitask efficiently?
Interested in African prehistory?
Keen to work with an enthusiastic team?
We want to hear from you!
Closing date: 17 October, 2025
Are you extremely organised with great interpersonal skills?
Able to multitask efficiently?
Interested in African prehistory?
Keen to work with an enthusiastic team?
We want to hear from you!
Closing date: 17 October, 2025
Project Coordinator (Fixed Term)
Applications are invited for a 12-month Project Co-ordinator position on the NG'IPALAJEM project, funded by the ERC. The project aims at collecting new palaeontological, archaeological and geological
www.cam.ac.uk
October 3, 2025 at 11:06 AM
We are hiring a Project Co-ordinator! 🚨
Are you extremely organised with great interpersonal skills?
Able to multitask efficiently?
Interested in African prehistory?
Keen to work with an enthusiastic team?
We want to hear from you!
Closing date: 17 October, 2025
Are you extremely organised with great interpersonal skills?
Able to multitask efficiently?
Interested in African prehistory?
Keen to work with an enthusiastic team?
We want to hear from you!
Closing date: 17 October, 2025
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
Poster Session 2 #ESHE2025
83 wonderful posters. 169 in total.
Palaeotrails’ Jesse Martin & @martamlahr.bsky.social on detecting microevolutionary trends in fossil hominin populations.
83 wonderful posters. 169 in total.
Palaeotrails’ Jesse Martin & @martamlahr.bsky.social on detecting microevolutionary trends in fossil hominin populations.
September 26, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Poster Session 2 #ESHE2025
83 wonderful posters. 169 in total.
Palaeotrails’ Jesse Martin & @martamlahr.bsky.social on detecting microevolutionary trends in fossil hominin populations.
83 wonderful posters. 169 in total.
Palaeotrails’ Jesse Martin & @martamlahr.bsky.social on detecting microevolutionary trends in fossil hominin populations.
September 22, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
Pastoralism remains central to survival in the Turkana of northwest Kenya, where heat and water scarcity pose constant challenges. New research uncovers the genetic signatures that underlie adaptation to arid living in this pastoralist community.
Learn more this week: https://scim.ag/4nxcJbx
Learn more this week: https://scim.ag/4nxcJbx
September 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Pastoralism remains central to survival in the Turkana of northwest Kenya, where heat and water scarcity pose constant challenges. New research uncovers the genetic signatures that underlie adaptation to arid living in this pastoralist community.
Learn more this week: https://scim.ag/4nxcJbx
Learn more this week: https://scim.ag/4nxcJbx
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
Happy to share the first paper from my PhD! Open access in a special issue of JAS, 'The Mind in Deep Time: Interdisciplinary explorations of cognitive evolution'
When less is more: risk, reward and optimisation in Acheulean handaxe manufacture and the impact of skill
share.google/hj43OR6QWXtc...
When less is more: risk, reward and optimisation in Acheulean handaxe manufacture and the impact of skill
share.google/hj43OR6QWXtc...
When less is more: risk, reward and optimisation in Acheulean handaxe manufacture and the impact of skill
As the most numerous manifestations of technology across the Palaeolithic record, linking stone tool artefacts to past hominin cognition and expertise…
share.google
September 4, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Happy to share the first paper from my PhD! Open access in a special issue of JAS, 'The Mind in Deep Time: Interdisciplinary explorations of cognitive evolution'
When less is more: risk, reward and optimisation in Acheulean handaxe manufacture and the impact of skill
share.google/hj43OR6QWXtc...
When less is more: risk, reward and optimisation in Acheulean handaxe manufacture and the impact of skill
share.google/hj43OR6QWXtc...
Very much enjoyed working on this paper. An important site for #Palaeolithic archaeology in the UK.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Hominin glacial-stage occupation 712,000 to 424,000 years ago at Fordwich Pit, Old Park (Canterbury, UK) - Nature Ecology & Evolution
The authors report Acheulean hominin occupation of eastern Britain during glacial marine isotope stages 17–16 and again in glacial marine isotope stage 12 via stone tools in sediments dated to 712,000...
www.nature.com
September 1, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Very much enjoyed working on this paper. An important site for #Palaeolithic archaeology in the UK.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Last sunrise in Turkana before heading back to Nairobi. What an incredible few months it's been!
#kenya #fieldwork
@palaeotrails.bsky.social
#kenya #fieldwork
@palaeotrails.bsky.social
August 26, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Last sunrise in Turkana before heading back to Nairobi. What an incredible few months it's been!
#kenya #fieldwork
@palaeotrails.bsky.social
#kenya #fieldwork
@palaeotrails.bsky.social
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
📣 PUBLISHED OPEN ACCESS 📣
In a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Cambridge researchers explore the role of skill for Lower Palaeolithic handaxe manufacture through flint knapping experiments.
👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...
🧵
In a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Cambridge researchers explore the role of skill for Lower Palaeolithic handaxe manufacture through flint knapping experiments.
👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...
🧵
August 22, 2025 at 9:46 AM
📣 PUBLISHED OPEN ACCESS 📣
In a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Cambridge researchers explore the role of skill for Lower Palaeolithic handaxe manufacture through flint knapping experiments.
👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...
🧵
In a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Cambridge researchers explore the role of skill for Lower Palaeolithic handaxe manufacture through flint knapping experiments.
👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...
🧵
Such good news! Really pleased for you @martamlahr.bsky.social! 🎉
Fabulous news that @martamlahr.bsky.social has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy 🍾🍾🍾
July 18, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Such good news! Really pleased for you @martamlahr.bsky.social! 🎉
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
Justus Erus Edung was only 25 years old when he discovered Kenyanthropus platyops in a team led by Prof. Meave Leakey in 1999.
This 3.5 million year old “flat-faced” skull quickly grabbed international headlines and changed the course of human evolution.
#fossils #turkana #humanevolution
This 3.5 million year old “flat-faced” skull quickly grabbed international headlines and changed the course of human evolution.
#fossils #turkana #humanevolution
July 17, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Justus Erus Edung was only 25 years old when he discovered Kenyanthropus platyops in a team led by Prof. Meave Leakey in 1999.
This 3.5 million year old “flat-faced” skull quickly grabbed international headlines and changed the course of human evolution.
#fossils #turkana #humanevolution
This 3.5 million year old “flat-faced” skull quickly grabbed international headlines and changed the course of human evolution.
#fossils #turkana #humanevolution
July 16, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Eleanor M. Williams
The joy of sorting LSA lithics from Turkana under the guidance of @robfoley.bsky.social
Follow us on Instagram for more www.instagram.com/palaeotrails...
Follow us on Instagram for more www.instagram.com/palaeotrails...
July 13, 2025 at 5:15 PM
The joy of sorting LSA lithics from Turkana under the guidance of @robfoley.bsky.social
Follow us on Instagram for more www.instagram.com/palaeotrails...
Follow us on Instagram for more www.instagram.com/palaeotrails...