Ian Tattersall

RESEARCH

Dr. Tattersall is currently working with Research Associate Jeffrey Schwartz on a multi-volume project to document the major fossils in the human fossil record. The literature as it stands is not a good resource for comparing human fossils, because standards of description and terminology vary widely. Because it employs a consistent descriptive and photographic protocol, this new work will make it possible for the first time for colleagues, students, and others to make the necessary comparisons without the extensive travel needed to consult the originals, which are in institutions all over the world. It will thus be a unique resource for paleoanthropology that will spur future research.

This compilation will also serve as a database for this museum's own analyses of hominid systematics, the revision of which is clearly needed as the human fossil record rapidly expands. The first volume (Homo craniodental anatomy, Europe) has already been submitted to the publisher, Wiley; two more are due over the next two or three years.

Dr. Tattersall is also continuing his independent inquiries into the nature and emergence of modern human cognition. He recently completed a book of essays on the subject, The Monkey in the Mirror: Essays on the Science of What Makes Us Human, to be published by Harcourt Brace in 2002. He maintains an active interest in the systematics, ecology, and conservation of the lemurs of Madagascar, and is collecting material to update his classic book The Primates of Madagascar, originally published in 1982. In addition to Madagascar, he has conducted fieldwork in the Comoro Islands, Mauritius, Borneo, Nigeria, Niger, Sudan, Yemen, Vietnam, Surinam, French Guiana, Reunion, and the United States.

RECENT SIGNIFICANT PUBLICATIONS

Tattersall, I. 2008. What's so special about science? Evo. Edu. Outreach 1, 36-41.

Tattersall, I. 2008. Vicariance vs. dispersal in the origin of the Malagasy Mammal Fauna. In J.G. Fleagle and C.G. Gilbert (editors), Elwyn Simons: A Search for Origins, 397-408. New York, Springer.

DeSalle, R., and I. Tattersall. 2008. Human Origins: What Bones and Genomes Tell Us About Ourselves. College Station, TX, Texas A&M University Press.

Tattersall, I. 2008. Neanderthals and wendols. In K.R. Grazier (editor), The Science of Michael Crichton: An Unauthorized Exploration into the Real Science Behind the Fictional Worlds of Michael Crichton, 47-58. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books.

Tattersall, I. 2008. New Oxford History of the World, Vol. 1: The World from Beginnings to 4000 BCE, 1-143. New York: Oxford University Press.

Tattersall, I., and J.H. Schwartz. 2008. The morphological distinctiveness of Homo sapiens and its recognition in the fossil record: clarifying the problem. Evol. Anthropol. 17, 49-54.

Tattersall, I. 2008. Avoiding commitment: cathemerality among primates. Biol. Rhythm Res. 39, 213-228.

Tattersall, I. 2007. Neanderthal skeletal structure and the place of Homo neanderthalensis in European hominid phylogeny. Human Evolution 21, 264-274.

Tattersall, I. 2007. L'extinction des Néandertaliens. In B. Vandermeersch (editor), Les Néandertaliens: Biologie et Cultures, 117-130. Paris, Editions du CTHS.

Tattersall, I. 2007. Diventare - ed essere - umani. In C. Lauro, G. Muscio and P. Visentini (editors), La Scimmia Nuda: Storia Naturale dell'Umanita, 13-14. Trento: Museo Tridentino di Scienzi Naturale.

Tattersall, I. 2007. Human evolution and the human condition. In C. Pasternak (editor), What Makes Us Human?, 133-145. Oxford: Oneworld.

Tattersall, I. 2007. Neanderthals, Homo sapiens, and the question of species in paleoanthropology. Jour. Anthropol. Sci. 85, 139-146.

Delson, E., and I. Tattersall. 2007. Fossil Primates. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, 10th edition.

Milner, R., and I. Tattersall. 2007. Faces of the human past. Natural History 116: 22-29.

Tattersall, I., and R. DeSalle. 2007. Bones, Brains and DNA: The Human Genome and Human Evolution. Piermont, NH, Bunker Hill Publishing.

Tattersall, I. 2007. Comment on: The evolution of human speech: its anatomical and neural bases. Current Anthropology 48: 57-58.

Tattersall, I. 2007. The origins of human cognition and the evolution of rationality. In F. LeRon Shults (editor), The Evolution of Rationality: Essays in Honor of J. Wentzel van Huyssteen: 167-182. Grand Rapids, MI, W. B. Eerdmans.

Tattersall, I. 2007. How did modern human cognition evolve? In H. Cohen and B. Stemmer (editors), Consciousness and Cognition: Fragments of Mind and Brain: 3-17. San Diego CA, Elsevier.

Tattersall, I. 2007. Madagascar's lemurs: cryptic diversity or taxonomic inflation? Evolutionary Anthropology 16: 12-23.

Andriaholinirina, N., J.L. Fausser, C. Roos, D. Zinner, U. Thalmann, C. Rabarivola, I. Ravoarimanana, J. Ganzhorn, B. Meier, R. Hilgartner, L. Walter, A. Zaramody, C. Langer, T. Hahn, E. Zimmermann, U. Radespiel, M. Craul, J. Tomiuk, I. Tattersall, and Y. Rumpler. 2006. Molecular phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the sportive lemurs (Lepilemur, Primates). BMC Evol. Biol. 6: 17-30.

Mittermeier R.A., W.R. Konstant, F. Hawkins, E.E. Louis, O. Langrand, J. Ratsimbazafy, R. Rasoloarison, J.U. Ganzhorn, S. Rajaobelina, I. Tattersall and D.M. Meyers. 2006. Lemurs of Madagascar, 2nd ed. Washington, D.C., Conservation International.

Rightmire, G.P., H.J. Deacon, J.H. Schwartz and I. Tattersall. 2006. Human foot bones from Klasies River main site, South Africa. Jour. Hum. Evol. 50: 96-103.

Tattersall, I. 2006. The concept of cathemerality: history and definition. Folia Primatol. 77: 7-14.

Schwartz, J.H., and I. Tattersall. 2006. Foreword. In M. Teschler-Nicola (editor), Early Modern Humans at the Moravian Gate: The Mladec Caves and Their Remains. Vienna and New York, Springer.

Schwartz, J.H., and I. Tattersall. 2006. Morphology, variability and systematics: lessons from Krapina. Periodicum Biologorum 108: 389-401.

Tattersall, I. 2006. Human evolution in Africa. In G. Blundell (editor), Origins: The Story of the Emergence of Humans and Humanity in Africa: 16-31. Cape Town: Double Storey.

Tattersall, I. 2006. Historical biogeography of the strepsirhine primates of Madagascar. Folia Primatol. 77: 477-487.

Tattersall, I. 2006. Origin of the Malagasy strepsirhine primates. In L. Gould and M. L. Sauther (editors), Lemurs: Ecology and Adaptation. New York: 3-17. Springer Science+Business Media.

Tattersall, I. 2006. Mechanisms of faunal origin and diversity in island environments: the case of Madagascar's mammals. Hellenic Jour. Geosci. 41: 35-46.

Tattersall, I. 2006. Karl Pribram, the James Arthur Lectures, and what makes us human. Jour. Biomed. Discov. Collab. 1:15.

Tattersall, I. 2006. Who were the Neanderthals? In B. Demarsin and M. Otte (editors), Neanderthals in Europe117: 9-14. Liege, ERAUL.

Tattersall, I. 2006. Patterns of innovation in human evolution. Nova Acta Leopoldina NF 93: 145-157.

Zaramody, A., J.L. Fausser, C. Roos, N. Andriaholinirina, C. Rabarivola, I. Norscia, I. Tattersall, and Y. Rumpler. 2006. Molecular phylogeny and taxonomic revision of the eastern Woolly Lemurs (Avahi laniger). Primate Report 74: 9-23.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• American Association of Physical Anthropologists
• American Society of Primatologists
• International Primate Society
• Society of Sigma XI
• Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
• Fellow of the Linnaen Society of London

EDITORIAL AND ADJUNCT APPOINTMENTS

• Editorial Advisory Board, The Anatomical Record (The New Anatomist)
• Editorial Board, International Journal of Primatology
• Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Anthropology, Columbia University
• Adjunct Professor, Program of Anthropology, Graduate Center, CUNY

OTHER PROFESSIONAL HONORS

• W. W. Howells Prize of the American Anthropological Association (for Becoming Human), 2000
• Monuments Conservancy Perennial Wisdom Award, 1999
• Institute of Human Origins Lifetime Achievement Award, 1993

GRADUATE STUDENTS AND SCIENTIFIC ASSISTANTS

• Gisselle Garcia, Curatorial Associate
• Rolf Quam, Postdoctoral Researcher