John Rowan
@jjrowan.bsky.social
Assistant Professor in Human Evolution, University of Cambridge | Mainly interested in Neogene fossil primates, other mammals, and ecosystem evolution in Africa | www.rowanlab.org
Reposted by John Rowan
Today's bombshell in @nature.com by Lindsay Zanno & James Napoli @jgn-paleo.bsky.social (bit.ly/4qBE6ng) shows that putative juvvy T. rex fossils actually are Nanotyrannus. I reviewed the manuscript, so Nature invited me to write the News & Views commentary. Free link: rdcu.be/eNv94 🦖
October 30, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Today's bombshell in @nature.com by Lindsay Zanno & James Napoli @jgn-paleo.bsky.social (bit.ly/4qBE6ng) shows that putative juvvy T. rex fossils actually are Nanotyrannus. I reviewed the manuscript, so Nature invited me to write the News & Views commentary. Free link: rdcu.be/eNv94 🦖
Honored (and surprised!) to receive a Philip Leverhulme Prize, but grateful to @leverhulme.ac.uk and @cam-archaeology.bsky.social for their support.
We are delighted to share that Dr John Rowan @jjrowan.bsky.social has been awarded a prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize by the @leverhulme.ac.uk
👉 Find out more: www.arch.cam.ac.uk/news/cambrid...
👉 Find out more: www.arch.cam.ac.uk/news/cambrid...
October 21, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Honored (and surprised!) to receive a Philip Leverhulme Prize, but grateful to @leverhulme.ac.uk and @cam-archaeology.bsky.social for their support.
Reposted by John Rowan
The Trust is thrilled to announce the 2025 Philip Leverhulme Prize Winners. Congratulations to this year’s cohort. Thirty extraordinary researchers from across a range of disciplines: leverhulme.ac.uk/news/2025PLP
October 21, 2025 at 8:05 AM
The Trust is thrilled to announce the 2025 Philip Leverhulme Prize Winners. Congratulations to this year’s cohort. Thirty extraordinary researchers from across a range of disciplines: leverhulme.ac.uk/news/2025PLP
Reposted by John Rowan
Today was the ceremony for new fellows at the #BritishAcademy - it was wonderful 🤩. I am thrilled and so grateful to the colleagues who nominated me, elected me, and the many colleagues, students, friends, our kids & family, & specially Rob 😍 who have so enriched my life and career ❤️
October 13, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Today was the ceremony for new fellows at the #BritishAcademy - it was wonderful 🤩. I am thrilled and so grateful to the colleagues who nominated me, elected me, and the many colleagues, students, friends, our kids & family, & specially Rob 😍 who have so enriched my life and career ❤️
Reposted by John Rowan
I'm really excited about this new paper, with @dayvees.bsky.social, where we use simulations to explore how herbivore tooth growth and development, demography, and dental wear mediate the seasonal signal preserved in serially sampled teeth!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Simulating the formation of herbivore tooth death assemblages to improve expectations for paleoenvironmental reconstruction from intra-tooth isotopic analysis
Isotopic analysis of serially-sampled dental enamel from fossil faunal assemblages is a popular paleoenvironmental proxy for its ability to inform on …
www.sciencedirect.com
October 8, 2025 at 6:49 PM
I'm really excited about this new paper, with @dayvees.bsky.social, where we use simulations to explore how herbivore tooth growth and development, demography, and dental wear mediate the seasonal signal preserved in serially sampled teeth!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by John Rowan
Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...
Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.
apnews.com
October 8, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Horrific reporting from the AP on the Myanmar families watching their kids starve to death from Trump and Musk’s aid cuts apnews.com/article/myan...
Reposted by John Rowan
⚠️Paper Alert!⚠️
Excited to share this paper with @roccoro.bsky.social where we examined whether ceramic technology in Saharan Africa was the result of a single or multiple episodes of innovation & diffusion
rdcu.be/eJi3g
Excited to share this paper with @roccoro.bsky.social where we examined whether ceramic technology in Saharan Africa was the result of a single or multiple episodes of innovation & diffusion
rdcu.be/eJi3g
Bayesian analyses of radiocarbon dates suggest multiple origins of ceramic technology in Early Holocene Africa
Nature Communications - Several possible points of origin have been proposed for the spread of ceramic technology in Saharan Africa between 11–10,000 years ago. Here, the authors...
rdcu.be
October 3, 2025 at 1:01 PM
⚠️Paper Alert!⚠️
Excited to share this paper with @roccoro.bsky.social where we examined whether ceramic technology in Saharan Africa was the result of a single or multiple episodes of innovation & diffusion
rdcu.be/eJi3g
Excited to share this paper with @roccoro.bsky.social where we examined whether ceramic technology in Saharan Africa was the result of a single or multiple episodes of innovation & diffusion
rdcu.be/eJi3g
Reposted by John Rowan
Who's got unfused parietals and probably wasn't a stem snake? This guy.
Mosaic anatomy in an early fossil squamate, from the Jurassic of Scotland www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Mosaic anatomy in an early fossil squamate - Nature
Breugnathair elgolensis gen. et sp. nov., an early squamate identified from a newly discovered Middle Jurassic skeleton on the Isle of Skye, provides new evidence on the origins of snakes.
www.nature.com
October 1, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Who's got unfused parietals and probably wasn't a stem snake? This guy.
Reposted by John Rowan
My explainer about the Yunxian 2 study
September 25, 2025 at 8:03 PM
My explainer about the Yunxian 2 study
Reposted by John Rowan
New York Times obituary for one of New York’s greatest characters. RIP Mark, and you’d enjoy the Romanian palinka we’re toasting in your honor tonight!
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/s...
Mark Norell, Who Studied Link Between Dinosaurs and Birds, Dies at 68
www.nytimes.com
September 13, 2025 at 10:25 PM
New York Times obituary for one of New York’s greatest characters. RIP Mark, and you’d enjoy the Romanian palinka we’re toasting in your honor tonight!
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/s...
Reposted by John Rowan
And see this excellent coverage from our Department @cam-archaeology.bsky.social
www.arch.cam.ac.uk/news/early-h...
www.arch.cam.ac.uk/news/early-h...
September 1, 2025 at 10:50 AM
And see this excellent coverage from our Department @cam-archaeology.bsky.social
www.arch.cam.ac.uk/news/early-h...
www.arch.cam.ac.uk/news/early-h...
Reposted by John Rowan
Giraffes, long considered a single species, are in fact four. https://scim.ag/4n2po6f
Giraffes are four distinct species, major report confirms
The revised classification will help ensure different giraffe populations are adequately protected, conservationists say
scim.ag
August 31, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Giraffes, long considered a single species, are in fact four. https://scim.ag/4n2po6f
Reposted by John Rowan
Reposted by John Rowan
📣 Work with us! 📣
The Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge is looking to appoint an Assistant Professor in Zooarchaeology.
📅 Closing date: 15 September
👉 More info and how to apply: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
The Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge is looking to appoint an Assistant Professor in Zooarchaeology.
📅 Closing date: 15 September
👉 More info and how to apply: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
Assistant Professor in Zooarchaeology (Human and Animal Relations in Prehistory)
The Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge seeks to appoint an Assistant Professor in Zooarchaeology, to start on 1 January 2026 or as soon thereafter as possible. Subject to
www.cam.ac.uk
August 1, 2025 at 11:02 AM
📣 Work with us! 📣
The Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge is looking to appoint an Assistant Professor in Zooarchaeology.
📅 Closing date: 15 September
👉 More info and how to apply: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
The Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge is looking to appoint an Assistant Professor in Zooarchaeology.
📅 Closing date: 15 September
👉 More info and how to apply: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...
Reposted by John Rowan
Really cool study looking at how behaviour precedes morphological change across taxa - and implications for human evolution 💀🧪 massive congrats to all the authors, including @vivek123.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Behavior drives morphological change during human evolution
Dietary shifts and corresponding morphological changes can sometimes evolve in succession, not concurrently—an evolutionary process called behavioral drive. Detecting behavioral drive in the fossil re...
www.science.org
August 1, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Really cool study looking at how behaviour precedes morphological change across taxa - and implications for human evolution 💀🧪 massive congrats to all the authors, including @vivek123.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by John Rowan
Pleased to present our new preprint on sleep and circadian rhythms among the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia.
This is a fascinating system for exploring sleep biology. Lots of variation in light exposure, housing type, and subsistence.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵 below.
This is a fascinating system for exploring sleep biology. Lots of variation in light exposure, housing type, and subsistence.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵 below.
July 31, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Pleased to present our new preprint on sleep and circadian rhythms among the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia.
This is a fascinating system for exploring sleep biology. Lots of variation in light exposure, housing type, and subsistence.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵 below.
This is a fascinating system for exploring sleep biology. Lots of variation in light exposure, housing type, and subsistence.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵 below.
Reposted by John Rowan
Our new study shows how animal biodiversity loss is a climate problem: tropical forests recover far less carbon where seed dispersers have declined.
We’re not just losing forests – we’re losing their ability to regrow.
Reversing that trend could align biodiversity recovery with climate solutions.🧵
We’re not just losing forests – we’re losing their ability to regrow.
Reversing that trend could align biodiversity recovery with climate solutions.🧵
Seed dispersal disruption limits tropical forest regrowth | PNAS
Identifying linkages between biodiversity loss and climate change is required for
understanding the scope of these interconnected challenges and de...
www.pnas.org
July 28, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Our new study shows how animal biodiversity loss is a climate problem: tropical forests recover far less carbon where seed dispersers have declined.
We’re not just losing forests – we’re losing their ability to regrow.
Reversing that trend could align biodiversity recovery with climate solutions.🧵
We’re not just losing forests – we’re losing their ability to regrow.
Reversing that trend could align biodiversity recovery with climate solutions.🧵
Reposted by John Rowan
Fabulous news that @martamlahr.bsky.social has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy 🍾🍾🍾
July 18, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Fabulous news that @martamlahr.bsky.social has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy 🍾🍾🍾
Reposted by John Rowan
Justus has shared every adventure in Turkana with us since 2010 - wonderful friend and colleague
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 5:46 PM
Justus has shared every adventure in Turkana with us since 2010 - wonderful friend and colleague
Reposted by John Rowan
Some personal news…
The NAS Council has approved the nomination of Neil H. Shubin to be the next president of the National Academy of Sciences. An evolutionary biologist and science communicator, Shubin would succeed Marcia McNutt when her term ends on June 30, 2026. Read more: www.nasonline.org/news/neil-h-...
July 14, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Some personal news…
Reposted by John Rowan
Molecules from 20-million-year-old rhino-relative teeth are among the oldest ever sequenced
go.nature.com/4lFx4KN
go.nature.com/4lFx4KN
Ancient proteins rewrite the rhino family tree — are dinosaurs next?
Molecules from 20-million-year-old teeth are among the oldest ever sequenced.
go.nature.com
July 9, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Molecules from 20-million-year-old rhino-relative teeth are among the oldest ever sequenced
go.nature.com/4lFx4KN
go.nature.com/4lFx4KN
Reposted by John Rowan
Check out our new paper, led by former postdoc and current colleague Daniel Green on 18 Ma proteins in fossil teeth! Tim Cleland, a proteomics wizard, did the measurements. What's the take home? We hope to use protein fingerprints to study mammal and hominin phylogenetics! bit.ly/OldProteome
Eighteen million years of diverse enamel proteomes from the East African Rift - Nature
The isolation of dental proteins from fossils deposited 1.5 million to 18 million years ago in the Turkana Basin in Kenya, a tropical region, demonstrate the promise of dental enamel for palaeoproteom...
bit.ly
July 9, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Check out our new paper, led by former postdoc and current colleague Daniel Green on 18 Ma proteins in fossil teeth! Tim Cleland, a proteomics wizard, did the measurements. What's the take home? We hope to use protein fingerprints to study mammal and hominin phylogenetics! bit.ly/OldProteome
Reposted by John Rowan
I'm happy to share this review article, where I attempt to ponder about missed opportunities in archaeological statistical modelling.
Statistical modelling in archaeology: some recent trends and future perspectives
This paper reviews the application of statistical models in archaeology in the last decade, focusing in particular on multilevel models, statistical t…
www.sciencedirect.com
June 24, 2025 at 2:41 PM
I'm happy to share this review article, where I attempt to ponder about missed opportunities in archaeological statistical modelling.
Reposted by John Rowan
Around 70,000 years ago, our ancestors in Africa began exploiting different habitats.
Flexibility to survive in deserts to rainforests enabled their successful spread ‘Out of Africa’.
Find out more about the study co-led by Andrea Manica @eegcam.bsky.social 👇
bit.ly/4e6i9H7
Flexibility to survive in deserts to rainforests enabled their successful spread ‘Out of Africa’.
Find out more about the study co-led by Andrea Manica @eegcam.bsky.social 👇
bit.ly/4e6i9H7
June 18, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Around 70,000 years ago, our ancestors in Africa began exploiting different habitats.
Flexibility to survive in deserts to rainforests enabled their successful spread ‘Out of Africa’.
Find out more about the study co-led by Andrea Manica @eegcam.bsky.social 👇
bit.ly/4e6i9H7
Flexibility to survive in deserts to rainforests enabled their successful spread ‘Out of Africa’.
Find out more about the study co-led by Andrea Manica @eegcam.bsky.social 👇
bit.ly/4e6i9H7