Dr Ameline Bardo welcomed as Postdoctoral Research Fellow

The School of Anthropology & Conservation is delighted to welcome Dr Ameline Bardo, who is visiting us until September 2019. Whilst she is here, Ameline will be working with Professor Tracy Kivell, working on a project on the evolution of human dexterity funded by the Fyssen Foundation.

Her research applies an integrative and comparative behavioural, morphological and biomechanical approach to better understand the evolution of hominid hands related to their form and function. Although Ameline’s previous research demonstrated that the human hand is perhaps not as unique in its abilities as previously thought, this work has raised additional questions regarding the traditional understanding that the highly dexterous human hand and its distinct morphology evolved in response to stone tool-making. Indeed, it is still unclear when and under what selective conditions a “modern” hand evolved.

During her postdoctoral project, Dr Bardo will test longstanding assumptions about the evolution of the human hand through a comparative primate approach (behavioural, morphological and biomechanical perspective), with the aim of identifying what makes the human hand distinct among primates.

Leave a Reply