Paläoanthropologie

Prof. Dr. Katerina Harvati-Papatheodorou

Function: Director Paleoanthropology


Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen
Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoecology, Paläoanthropologie
Rümelinstr. 23
D-72070 Tübingen

Room 517, Hauptgebäude, 2. OG
+49-(0)7071-29-76516
+49-(0)7071-29-5717
katerina.harvatispam prevention@ifu.uni-tuebingen.de

Consulting hours:
by appointment

About

Prof. Harvati is Professor for Paleoanthropology at the Institute for Archaeological Sciences and director of the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment (SHEP) at the University of Tübingen. She is President of the European Society for the Study of Human Evolution (ESHE), and editor-in-chief of the diamond open access journal PaleoAnthropology. Before joining the University of Tübingen in 2009, she was Assistant Professor in New York University (2001-04) and Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany (2004-09).

Her research focuses on Neanderthal paleobiology, modern human origins and dispersals, and the application of virtual anthropology methods to paleoanthropology. Her broader research interests include primate evolution and life history; the relationship between the phenotype, genotype, behavior and the environment; settlement of the Americas; and the paleoanthropology of South-East Europe. She conducts long term fieldwork in Greece. 

Prof. Harvati is the recipient of three ERC grants: ERC Starting Grant PaGE (2012-16); ERC Consolidator Grant CROSSROADS (2017-22); and ERC Advanced Grant FIRSTSTEPS (2022-28). 

She was awarded with the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz prize, the highest academic distinction in Germany, in 2021; and the Research Award of the state of Baden-Württemberg in 2014, as well as the Shanghai Archaeology Forum Research Award in 2023. She was elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2022.

Since 2014, Prof. Harvati directs the DFG Centre for Advanced Studies ‘Words, Bones, Genes, Tools: Tracking linguistic, cultural and biological trajectories of the human past’ together with Prof. Jäger (Linguistics). Since 2020, she is Professor II at the Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Norway.

Links

Research Gate FIRSTSTEPS

Academic and professional trajectory

2026- 2032
Main Spokesperson

Cluster of Excellence HUMAN ORIGINS (EXC 3101)
Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft DFG

2024- 2025
Fellow

Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation

2023
Director

 Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment

2023
Shanghai Archaeology Forum (SAF) Research Award

Program & Abstracts

2022
Elected Member

German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

2021
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize
2020 - 2022
Director

Institute for Archaeological Sciences

2020
Elected President

European Society for the Study of Human Evolution (ESHE)

2014
Co- Director

DFG Center for Advanced Studies ‘Words, Bones, Genes, Tools’

2014
Landesforschungspreis Baden-Württemberg
2009
W3 Professor of Paleoanthropology

Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

2009
Habilitation

Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen

2004
Senior Researcher

Dept. of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

2001
Assistant Professor

Dept. of Anthropology, New York University

2001
Ph.D. in Anthropology

City University of New York Graduate Center Dept. of Anthropology & New York Consortium on Evolutionary Primatology

Publications

Selected Publications

2025Kyrikou S., Marinova E., Bludau I.J.E., Karkanas P., Panagopoulou E., Tourloukis V., Junginger A., Harvati K. 2025. The palynological record from Marathousa 1, South Greece, during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 12: Local environment and fire history. Quaternary Research DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2024.59
2025Konidaris G.E., Aytek A., Kostopoulos D., Yavuz A., Tarhan E., Alçiçek M., Uyar N., Harvati K. 2025. Kayaca, a new vertebrate locality from the Upper Miocene of Türkiye and its importance for the Turolian biogeography of the eastern peri-Mediterranean Region. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironment DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-025-00666-1
2025De Caro D., Kuhn M., Thompson N., Panagopoulou E., Harvati K., Tourloukis V. 2025. Small flakes for sharp needs: technological behaviour in the Lower Palaeolithic site of Marathousa 1, Greece. PLoS ONE 20(6): e0324958. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324958
2025Lismann, S., Francken, M., Harvati, K., Bartelheim, M. Spatzier, A. 2025. Reconstructing Life History New Palaeodemographic Insights into Final Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Populations in Southwest Germany. Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt 54(3), 313-334 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11588/ak.2024.3.110269
2025Röding C., El Zaatari S., Ramirez-Rozzi F.V., Stringer C., Burgess M.L., Lacruz R.S., Harvati K. 2025. Dentition of the Mugharet el’Aliya fossil human maxilla, Morocco. American Journal of Biological Anthropology  186, e70015 DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.70015
2024Mori T., Riga A., Aytek A. I., Harvati K. 2024. A new virtual reconstruction and geometric morphometric analysis of the Kocabaş hominin fossil from Turkey. Journal of Human Evolution 191, 103517 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103517
2024Limmer L.S., Santon M., McGrath K., Harvati K., ElZaatari S. 2024. Differences in childhood stress between Neanderthals and early modern humans as reflected by dental enamel growth disruptions. Scientific Reports 14, 11293 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-61321-x
2024Rathmann H., Vizzari M.T., Beier J., Bailey S., Ghirotto S., Harvati K. 2024. Human population dynamics in Upper Paleolithic Europe inferred from fossil dental phenotypes. Science Advances 10, eadn8129  DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adn8129
2024Konidaris G.E., Athanassiou A., Tourloukis V., Chitoglou K., van Kolfschoten T., Giusti D., Thompson N., Tsartsidou G., Roditi E., Panagopoulou E., Karkanas P., Harvati K. 2024. The late Early–Middle Pleistocene mammal fauna from the Megalopolis Basin (Peloponnese, Greece) and its importance for biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironment. Quaternary 7, 41.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/quat7040041  
2024Butiseaca G.A., van der Meer M.T.J., Bludau I.J.E., Karkanas P., Vasiliev I., Tourloukis V., Junginger A., Mulch A., Panagopoulou E., Harvati K. 2024. Impact of the MIS 12 glacial stage on the middle Pleistocene hominins in the eastern Mediterranean (Megalopolis basin - Greece). Global and Planetary Change 242, 104585. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2024.104585
2024Harvati K., Stringer C., Folorunso A. 2024. Comparative 3D shape analysis of the Iwo Eleru mandible, Nigeria. PaleoAnthropology 2024:1, 99-111. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48738/2024.iss1.1084
2024Roditi E., Bocherens H., Konidaris G.E., Athanassiou A., Tourloukis V., Karkanas P., Panagopoulou E., Harvati K. 2024. Life-history of Palaeoloxodon antiquus reveals Middle Pleistocene glacial refugium in the Megalopolis basin, Greece. Scientific Reports 14, 1390. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-51592-9
2023Konidaris G.E., Tourloukis V., Boni G., Athanassiou A., Giusti D., Thompson N., Syrides G., Panagopoulou E., Karkanas P., Harvati K. 2023. Maratho usa 2: A New Middle Pleistocene Locality in the Megalopolis Basin (Greece) With Evidence of Hominin Exploitation of Megafauna (Hippopotamus). PaleoAnthropology 2023:1, 34-55  DOI:https://doi.org/10.48738/2023.iss1.810
2023Röding C., Stringer C., Lacruz R.S., Harvati K. 2023. Mugharet el’Aliya: affinities of an enigmatic North African Aterian maxillary fragment. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 180, 352-369  DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24642
2022Harvati K., Reyes Centeno H. 2022. Evolution of Homo in the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Journal of Human Evolution 173, 103279. Open Access: https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0047248422001397
2022Harvati K., Ackermann R.R. 2022. Merging morphological and genetic evidence to assess hybridization in Western Eurasian Late Pleistocene hominins. Nature Ecology & Evolution 6, 1573-1585
2022Konidaris G., Athanassiou A., Panagopoulou E., Harvati K. 2022. First record of Macaca (Cercopithecidae, Primates) in the Middle Pleistocene of Greece. Journal of Human Evolution 162, 103104  Open access: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248421001561
2019Harvati K., Röding C., Bosman A., Karakostis F.A., Grün R., Stringer C., Karkanas P., Thompson N.C., Koutoulidis V., Moulopoulos L.A., Gorgoulis V.G., Kouloukoussa M. 2019. Apidima Cave fossils provide earliest evidence of Homo sapiens in Eurasia. Nature 571, 500-504
2018Tourloukis V., Harvati K. 2018. The Palaeolithic record of Greece: a synthesis of the evidence and a research agenda for the future. Quaternary International, SI Filling the Geographic Gaps in the Human Evolutionary Story, 466, 48-65
2018Beier J., Anthes N., Wahl J., Harvati K. 2018. Similar cranial trauma prevalence among Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic humans. Nature 563, 686-690
2018Karakostis F.A., Hotz G., Tourloukis V., Harvati K. 2018. Evidence for precision grasping in Neandertal daily activities. Science Advances 4, eaat2369
2017Hublin J.J., Ben-Ncer A., Bailey S., Freideline S., Neubauer S., Skinner M.M., Bergmann I., Le Cabec A., Benazzi S., Harvati K., Gunz P. 2017. New fossils from Jebel Irhoud (Morocco) and the Pan-African origin of Homo sapiens. Nature 546, 289-292
2016Harvati K, Roksandic, M. (Eds.) 2016. Paleoanthropology of the Balkans and Anatolia: Human Evolution and its Context. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series, Springer: Dordrecht. 
2014Reyes-Centeno H., Ghirotto S., Détroit F., Grimaud-Hervé D., Barbujani G., Harvati K. 2014. Genomic and Cranial Phenotype Data Support Multiple Modern Human Dispersals from Africa and a Southern Route into Asia. PNAS USA 111, 7248-7253