Tanya M. Smith, Associate Professor, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

Modern humans and our closest-living ape relatives differ in developmental and reproductive biology, as well as in lifespans, but evolutionary anthropologists do not know when these distinctive characteristics evolved. It might seem that our development is invisible in the fossil record, but much can be learned from the faithful records of birth and growth embedded in teeth. Tanya Smith will discuss how she studies fossil teeth with state-of-the-art technologies to gain virtual access to these records and share what this research reveals about differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, and about our evolution over the past seven million years.

Presented in collaboration with the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology.

This program is located at the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street.
Free parking is available at the 52 Oxford Street Garage.
Free and open to the public.