Dr. Emma Finestone
Main Focus
Dr. Emma Finestone uses archaeological fieldwork to investigate behavioral innovations and adaptive shifts in the human lineage. Her integrative field projects in eastern Africa and Central Asia span evolutionary changes throughout the Plio-Pleistocene. Emma’s research focuses on reconstructing the mobility, range expansion, and landscape use of toolmakers to illuminate how early technology facilitated the spread of genus Homo across the globe. She directs projects investigating the adaptive significance and impact of early tool-use and hominin dispersal into Central Asia. Emma also spearheads several MPI-SHH initiatives in science communication and outreach, including the online discussion series ArchaeoChats (with co-creator Robert Patalano).
Curriculum Vitae
Emma received her PhD in 2019 in Biological Anthropology from the
City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. Her dissertation “Oldowan
tool behaviors through time on the Homa Peninsula, Kenya” used technological
measurements and geochemical methods to identify shifts in strategy and resource
use in lithic production through the Oldowan Industrial Complex. This research received
awards and grants from the
National Science Foundation, the
Leakey Foundation, and the American
Association of Physical Anthropologists.
Emma was also an instructor from 2014-2019 at Hunter College, and Lehman College
and received a Graduate Teaching Fellowship
and a Professional Staff Congress award from CUNY. Prior to CUNY, Emma worked
at the Conservation and Science Department at the Lincoln Park Zoo studying the
foraging and tool behaviours of chimpanzee and gorillas. Emma holds a BA with honors in
Anthropology and Biology from the University of Chicago (2010).
Publications
Patalano R., Hamilton R., Finestone E.M., Amano N., Heddell-Stevens P., Itambu M., Petraglia M. & Roberts P. (2021) Microhabitat Variability in Human Evolution. Frontiers in Earth Science 9:797669.
Reeves J.S., Braun D.B., Finestone E.M., Plummer T.W. (2021). Ecological perspectives on technological diversity at Kanjera South. Journal of Human Evolution.
Finestone E.M., Braun D.R., Plummer T.W., Bartilol S., & Kiprono N. (2020). Building ED-XRF datasets for sourcing rhyolite and quartzite artifacts: A case study on the Homa Peninsula, Kenya. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, ISSN: 2352-409X, Vol: 33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102510.
E.M. Finestone. (2019). Oldowan tools behaviors through time on the Homa Peninsula, Kenya. CUNY Academic Works.
Plummer T.W. & E.M. Finestone. (2018). Archeological sites from 2.6 –2.0 Ma: Towards a deeper understanding of the early Oldowan. In J. Schwartz (ed.) Rethinking Human Evolution(pp. 267-296). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Finestone E.M., Brown M.H., Ross S.R., & Pontzer H. (2018). Great ape walking kinematics: Implications for hominoid evolution. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 166:43–55.
Kozma E.E., Webb N.M., Harcourt-Smith W.E.H., Raichlen D A., D’Août K., Brown M.H., Finestone E.M., Ross S.R., Aerts P., & Pontzer H. (2018). Hip extensor mechanics and the evolution of walking and climbing capabilities in humans, apes, and fossil hominins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 201715120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1715120115.
Finestone E.M., Bonnie K.E., Hopper L.M., Vreeman V.M., Lonsorf E.V., & Ross S.R. (2014). The interplay between individual, social, and environmental influences on chimpanzee food choice. Behavioural Processes 105: 71-78.