Martha Tappen

tappe004@umn.edu

612-625-3087

Anthropology 395 HHH Center

Department Affiliations

Anthropology

Specialties

human evolution and adaptations
out of Africa I
paleoenvironments
Stone Age archaeology
zooarchaeology
taphonomy

Educational Background

Ph.D.: Biological Anthropology and Archaeology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1992.

Publications

Tappen, Martha. "The Wisdom of the Aged and Out of Africa I ." Transitions in Prehistory: Essays in Honor of Ofer Bar-Yosef. In Shea, John J. and Daniel E. Lieberman (Editors) (2009)
Tappen, Martha, M. Tappen, D. Lordkipanidze, M. Bukshianidze, R. Ferring. "Are You in or Out (of Africa?)." Breathing Life into Fossils: Taphonomic Studies in Honor of C.K. Brain”. T.R. Pickering, K. Schick and N. Toth, Eds. (2007): 119-135.
Lordkipanidze, D., Vekua, A., Ferring, R., Rightmire, P., Zollikofer, C., Agusti, J, Kiladze, G., Mouskhelishvili, A., Nioradze, A., Ponce de León, M., Tappen, M. 2006. A Fourth Hominid Cranium from Dmanisi, Georgia. The Anatomical Record 208: 1146-1157.
Yellen, J. Brooks, A., Helgren, D., Tappen, M., Ambrose, S. Bonnefille, R. Feathers, J. Goodfriend, G., Ludwig, K., Renne, P. Stewart, K. 2005. The Archaeology of Aduma Middle Stone Age Sites in the Awash Valley, Ethiopia. PaleoAnthropology 10: 25-100.
Lordkipanidze, D. Vekua, a., Ferring, R., Rightmire, G.P., Agusti, J., Kiladze, G., Mouskhelishvili, Nioradze, M. Ponce de Leon, M., Tappen, M. Zollikofer, C.P.E. 2005. The earliest toothless hominin skull. Nature: 434:717-718.
Tappen, Martha, Tappen, M., Ferring, R., Lordkipanidze, D., Vekua, A., Kiladze, G.. "Preliminary Observations on the Vertebrate Taphonomy of the Dmanisi Locality in The Republic of Georgia." Topics on Taphonomy and Fossilization (2002): 161-170.
Vekua, A., Lordkipanidze, D.,Rightmire, P., Agusti, J., Ferring, C.R., Maisuradze, G., Mouskhelishvili, A., Nioradze, M., Ponce de Leon, M., Tappen, M., Tvalchrelidze, M. Zollikofer, C. 2002. A New Skull from Early Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia. Nature 297: 85-89.
Tappen, M. Adler, D. S., Ferring, C.R., Gabunia, M. Vekua, A., Swisher, C. III. "Akhalkalaki: The Taphonomy of A Lower Pleistocene Locality in the Republic of Georgia." Journal of Archaeological Science 29 (2002): 1367-1391.
Tappen, Martha. "Deconstructing the Serengeti." The Early Human Diet, the Role of Meat,, Stanford, C. and Bunn, H. editors (2001): 13-32.
Richard Wrangham. "Recognizing Hominoid-Modified Bones: The Taphonomy of Colobus Bones Partially Digested by Free-Ranging Chimpanzees in the Kibale Forest, Uganda." American Journal of Physical Anthropology 113 (2000): 217-234.

Research Activities

Paleoanthropologist: Research on the evolution of human behavior especially human-animal interactions, archaeological site formation, the adoption of meat-eating and spread out of Africa. Excavation and analysis of the Dmanisi Homo erectus site in Georgia, research on bone accumulating mechanisms and modification by hominins, carnivores and natural processes.

Professional Activities

Member: Paleoanthropology Society
Member: American Association of Physical Anthropologists
Member: American Anthropological Association
Member: Quaternary Paleoecology Faculty
Member: American Association of University Professors
Member: International Council for Archaeozoology

Awards

National Science Foundation: "Stratigraphy, Archaeology, Taphonomy and Paleoenvironments of the Early Pleistocene site of Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia." with Co-PIs Reid Ferring, Philip Rightmire, 2004 - 2005
Fulbright Senior Scholar, 2003
L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, 2002
McKnight Land-Grant Professorship, University of Minnesota, 1998 - 2000

Courses Taught

Anth 1001 - Human Evolution
Anth 1906 - Freshman Seminar: Changing Human Adaptations
Skeletal Materials for Archaeologists
Interpretation of Ancient Bone
Changing Human Adaptations
Hyenas, Hominids, and Habitats

Alternative Output Formats