Juliet Brophy
Associate Professor Louisiana State University
- Baton Rouge LA
Dr. Brophy's research interests involve using morphometric analyses to examine taxonomic differences among Plio-Pleistocene fossil hominins.
Areas of Expertise
Biography
Research Focus
Paleoanthropology & Hominin Evolution
Dr. Brophy’s research focuses on paleoanthropology of early human ancestors, using craniodental morphometrics of fossil teeth to trace Plio-Pleistocene hominin evolution in Africa. She pairs 3-D imaging, quantitative morphology, and zooarchaeological context through LSU’s PLES Lab to position species like *Homo naledi* on the human family tree and reconstruct their environments.
Education
Texas A&M University
Ph.D.
Biological Anthropology
Accomplishments
LSU Alumni Association Rising Faculty Research Award
2018
LSU Alumni Association Rising Faculty Research Award
2021
Media Appearances
A 300,000-year-old child is helping this LSU professor study the origins of humanity
The Advocate online
2021-11-14
LSU biological anthropology professor Juliet Brophy published details about how this early human species behaved, matured and evolved in the scientific journal PaleoAnthropology earlier this month. Her team made a rare discovery: the skull and teeth of a Homo naledi child who died 250,000 years ago somewhere between age 4 and 6.
First ancient fossil of Homo naledi child found in the Cradle of Humankind
CNN online
2021-11-04
“This is the first partial skull of a child of Homo naledi yet recovered and this begins to give us insight into all stages of life of this remarkable species,” said Juliet Brophy, lead author of the study analyzing the skull, in a statement. Brophy is an associate professor at Louisiana State University and honorary research affiliate at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Articles
Evidence for deliberate burial of the dead by Homo naledi
bioRxiv2023
In this study we describe new results of excavations in the Dinaledi Subsystem of the Rising Star cave system, South Africa. In two areas within the Hill Antechamber and the Dinaledi Chamber this work uncovered concentrations of abundant Homo naledi fossils including articulated, matrix-supported skeletal regions consistent with rapid covering by sediment prior to the decomposition of soft tissue. We additionally re-examine the spatial positioning of skeletal material and associated sediments within the Puzzle Box area, from which abundant H. naledi remains representing a minimum of six individuals were recovered in 2013 and 2014. Multiple lines of evidence exclude the hypothesis that skeletal remains from these three areas come from bodies that decomposed on the floor of the chamber or within a shallow depression prior to burial by sediments.
Descriptive catalog of Homo naledi dental remains from the 2013 to 2015 excavations of the Dinaledi Chamber, site UW 101, within the Rising Star cave system, South Africa
Journal of Human Evolution2023
More than 150 hominin teeth, dated to ∼330–241 thousand years ago, were recovered during the 2013–2015 excavations of the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star cave system, South Africa. These fossils comprise the first large single-site sample of hominin teeth from the Middle Pleistocene of Africa. Though scattered remains attributable to Homo sapiens, or their possible lineal ancestors, are known from older and younger sites across the continent, the distinctive morphological feature set of the Dinaledi teeth supports the recognition of a novel hominin species, Homo naledi. This material provides evidence of African Homo lineage diversity that lasts until at least the Middle Pleistocene. Here, a catalog, anatomical descriptions, and details of preservation and taphonomic alteration are provided for the Dinaledi teeth.
African bovid tribe classification using transfer learning and computer vision
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences2023
Objective analytical identification methods are still a minority in the praxis of paleobiological sciences. Subjective interpretation of fossils and their modifications remains a nonreplicable expert endeavor. Identification of African bovids is a crucial element in the reconstruction of paleo‐landscapes, ungulate paleoecology, and, eventually, hominin adaptation and ecosystemic reconstruction. Recent analytical efforts drawing on Fourier functional analysis and discrimination methods applied to occlusal surfaces of teeth have provided a highly accurate framework to correctly classify African bovid tribes and taxa. Artificial intelligence tools, like computer vision, have also shown their potential to be objectively more accurate in the identification of taphonomic agency than human experts.
Classification of Bovidae fossils from Gladysvale, South Africa using elastic shape analysis
Journal of Archaeological Science2024
Teeth from the Family Bovidae that are associated with our early humans ancestors are important for reconstructing paleoenvironments. However, age, degree of attrition, and taphonomic factors often make fossil identification difficult. A recent technique for classifying these teeth uses the size-and-shape of the occlusal surface as a summary of the surface, deriving features from this, and then using these features in machine learning classification algorithms. Bovid teeth have previously been classified using this method with features derived from coefficients of elliptical Fourier analysis (EFA). This study assesses the utility of using other shape representations for feature generation, specifically elastics shape analysis.
An examination of Homo naledi early juveniles recovered from the Rising Star cave system, South Africa
Annals of Human Biology2024
Background
Six Homo naledi early juveniles were recovered from U.W. 101 (Dinaledi Chamber), U.W. 102 (Lesedi Chamber), and U.W. 110 in the Rising Star cave system.
Aim
This paper develops the information for the H. naledi early juvenile life stage, as defined by a combination of deciduous and permanent dentition, and the eruption of the first permanent molar.
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