Canceled: The Last Common Ancestor

We regret to announce that this event has been canceled. In light of the ongoing concerns regarding COVID-19, future public programs at museum may also be subject to cancellations. Please visit our website for the latest updates, and thank you for your patience. 

Evolution Matters Lecture Series. Free Public Lecture.

Ashley S. Hammond, Assistant Professor, Richard Gilder Graduate School; Biological Anthropology Curator, American Museum of Natural History

The last common ancestor of chimpanzees and modern humans is believed to have evolved in Africa six to eight million years ago. Finding fossil apes and hominins—extinct members of the human lineage—from this period has been challenging. Ashley Hammond will discuss her approach to identifying key evolutionary adaptations of this last common ancestor using

3D technology, analyses of known fossils, and field research at six- million-year-old sites in Kenya. Hammond’s research aims to clarify the origins of bipedality, a key adaptation in human evolution.

Presented by the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology.

Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge.  Free event parking at the 52 Oxford Street Garage.

Series supported by a generous gift from Drs. Herman and Joan Suit