My research seeks to understand the relationship between African paleolandscapes and human evolution. My research combines a broad range of paleoanthropological methods and approaches including archaeology, paleontology, taphonomy, and occasionally actualistic studies of predators in natural environments. The primary interest of my research is to determine the role of ecological pressures operating on varying paleolandscapes on human evolution. Over the last ten years my research has focused on the impact of crocodile predation on hominid behavior and adaptation at an Olduvai Gorge site, which is perhaps the most famous of all archaeological sites informing on human evolution. My research integrates: (1) ecological and taphonomical data from modern analogous African wildlife settings; (2) field archaeology; and (3) taphonomic analysis of vertebrate and hominid fossils.
