Prof Chris Stringer

Prof Chris Stringer

Scientific Associate

ORCID: 0000-0002-9183-7337
Department: Research
Division: Research
Specialisms: Human Origins, Palaeoanthropology

Summary

I first worked at the Museum in 1969-1970, but joined the permanent staff in 1973. I retired on December 31st 2025, and am now a Scientific Associate. My early research was on the relationship of Neanderthals and early modern humans in Europe, but through my work on the Recent African Origin model for modern human origins, I now collaborate with archaeologists, Earth scientists, and geneticists in attempting to reconstruct the evolution of modern humans globally. I've excavated at sites in Britain and abroad, and I directed the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project from 2001 until it finished in 2013. Now I'm co-director of the follow-up Pathways to Ancient Britain project, which began as part of our funding from the Calleva Foundation, and which has contributed to the establishment of the Centre for Human Evolution Research. As well as many scientific papers, I've also written a number of books, most recently Britain: one million years of the human story (2014, with Rob Dinnis) and Our Human Story (2018, with Louise Humphrey). I'm active on social media such as X and Facebook.

Qualifications

Degrees

  • PhD, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
  • D.Sc, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
  • B.Sc., University College London, United Kingdom

Academic

  • Visiting Professor, University College London, Archaeology, United Kingdom, 2015 - 2020
  • Visiting Professor, Royal Holloway, Geography, United Kingdom, 2005 - 2020

Highlighted publications

  • Slimak L, Zanolli C, Higham T, Frouin M, Schwenninger J-L, Arnold LJ, Demuro M, Douka K, Mercier N, Guérin G, Valladas H, Yvorra P, Giraud Y, Seguin-Orlando A, Orlando L, Lewis JE, Muth X, Camus H, Vandevelde S, Buckley M, Mallol C, Stringer C, Metz L (2022) Modern human incursion into Neanderthal territories 54,000 years ago at Mandrin, France. Science Advances 8, doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abj9496
  • Stringer C, Crete L (2022) Mapping Interactions of H. neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens from the Fossil and Genetic Records. Paleoanthropology Society & European Society for the study of Human Evolution doi: 10.48738/2022.iss2.130
  • Bergström A, Stringer C, Hajdinjak M, Scerri EML, Skoglund P (2021) Origins of modern human ancestry. Nature 590, 229 - 237. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03244-5
  • Ni X, Ji Q, Wu W, Shao Q, Ji Y, Zhang C, Liang L, Ge J, Guo Z, Li J, Li Q, Grün R, Stringer C (2021) Massive cranium from Harbin in northeastern China establishes a new Middle Pleistocene human lineage. The Innovation 2, 100130 - 100130. doi: 10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100130
  • Grün R, Pike A, McDermott F, Eggins S, Mortimer G, Aubert M, Kinsley L, Joannes-Boyau R, Rumsey M, Denys C, Brink J, Clark T, Stringer C (2020) Dating the skull from Broken Hill, Zambia, and its position in human evolution. Nature 580, 372 - 375. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2165-4
  • Galway‐Witham J, Cole J, Stringer C (2019) Aspects of human physical and behavioural evolution during the last 1 million years. Journal of Quaternary Science 34, 355 - 378. doi: 10.1002/jqs.3137
  • Harvati K, Röding C, Bosman AM, Karakostis FA, Grün R, Stringer C, Karkanas P, Thompson NC, Koutoulidis V, Moulopoulos LA, Gorgoulis VG, Kouloukoussa M (2019) Apidima Cave fossils provide earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Eurasia. Nature 571, 500 - 504. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1376-z
  • Humphrey L, Stringer C (2018) Our Human Story. Natural History Museum, London
  • Scerri EML, Thomas MG, Manica A, Gunz P, Stock JT, Stringer C, Grove M, Groucutt HS, Timmermann A, Rightmire GP, D’Errico F, Tryon CA, Drake NA, Brooks AS, Dennell RW, Durbin R, Henn BM, Lee-Thorp J, DeMenocal P, Petraglia MD, Thompson JC, Scally A, Chikhi L (2018) Did Our Species Evolve in Subdivided Populations across Africa, and Why Does It Matter?. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 33, 582 - 594. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2018.05.005
  • Stringer C (2016) The origin and evolution of <i>Homo sapiens</i>. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 371, 20150237 - 20150237. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0237
  • Stringer C (2014) Why we are not all multiregionalists now. Trends in Ecology &amp; Evolution 29, 248 - 251. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2014.03.001
  • Stringer C (2011) The origin of our species. Penguin UK null - null.

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