Chris Stringer

Chris Stringer
Stringer in 2012
Born	1947 (age 73–74)
Alma mater	University College London Bristol University
Scientific career
Institutions	Natural History Museum, London
Thesis	A multivariate study of cranial variation in middle and upper Pleistocene human populations (1974)
Doctoral advisor	Jonathan H. Musgrave

Christopher Brian Stringer FRS (born 1947) is a British physical anthropologist noted for his work on human evolution.

Biography[]

Growing up in a working-class family in the East End of London, Stringer's interest in anthropology began in primary school, where he undertook a project on Neanderthals.^[1] Stringer studied anthropology at University College London,^[2] holds a PhD in Anatomical Science and a DSc in Anatomical Science (both from Bristol University).^[3]

Stringer joined the permanent staff of the Natural History Museum in 1973. He is currently Research Leader in Human Origins.

Research[]

Anthropology
Outline History
show Types Archaeological Biological Cultural Linguistic Social
show Archaeological Aerial Aviation Battlefield Biblical Bioarchaeological Environmental Ethnoarchaeological Experiential Feminist Forensic Maritime Paleoethnobotanical Zooarchaeological
show Biological Anthrozoological Biocultural Evolutionary Forensic Molecular Neurological Nutritional Paleoanthropological Primatological
show Social Cultural Applied Art Cognitive Cyborg Development Digital Ecological Environmental Economic Political economy Feminist Food Historical Institutional Kinship Legal Media Medical Museums Musical Political Psychological Public Religion Symbolic Transpersonal Urban Visual
show Linguistic Anthropological Descriptive Ethnological Ethnopoetical Historical Semiotic Sociological
show Research framework Anthropometry Ethnography cyber Ethnology Cross-cultural comparison Participant observation Holism Reflexivity Thick description Cultural relativism Ethnocentrism Emic and etic
show Key concepts Culture Development Ethnicity Evolution sociocultural Gender Kinship and descent Meme Prehistory Race Society Value Colonialism / Postcolonialism
show Key theories Actor–network theory Alliance theory Cross-cultural studies Cultural materialism Culture theory Diffusionism Feminism Historical particularism Boasian anthropology Functionalism Interpretive Performance studies Political economy Practice theory Structuralism Post-structuralism Systems theory
show Lists Anthropologists by nationality Anthropology by year Bibliography Journals List of indigenous peoples Organizations
v t

Stringer is one of the leading proponents of the recent African origin hypothesis or ″Out of Africa″ theory, which hypothesizes that modern humans originated in Africa over 100,000 years ago and replaced, in some way, the world's archaic humans, such as Homo floresiensis and Neanderthals, after migrating within and then out of Africa to the non-African world within the last 50,000 to 100,000 years. He always considered that some interbreeding between the different groups could have occurred, but thought this would have been trivial in the big picture. However, recent genetic data show that the replacement process did include some interbreeding. In the last decade he has proposed a more complex version of events within Africa, which he has termed ″multiregional African origin″.

He also directed the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project which ran for about 10 years from 2001. This consortium reconstructed and studied the episodic pattern of human colonisation of Britain during the Pleistocene. He is co-director of the follow-up project "Pathways to Ancient Britain".^[4]

Honours[]

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and Honorary Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He won the 2008 Frink Medal of the Zoological Society of London and the Rivers Memorial Medal from the Royal Anthropological Institute in 2004^[5]

He was elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019.

Publications[]

Papers[]

• C.B. Stringer; P. Andrews (1988). "Genetic and Fossil Evidence for the Origin of Modern Humans". Science. 239 (4845): 1263–1268. Bibcode:1988Sci...239.1263S. doi:10.1126/science.3125610. PMID 3125610.
• C.B. Stringer (2002). "Modern human origins – progress and prospects". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 357 (1420): 563–579. doi:10.1098/rstb.2001.1057. PMC 1692961. PMID 12028792.

Books[]

• Stringer, Chris, ed. (1981). Aspects of human evolution: Symposium on human evolution, January 1980. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-85066-209-5.
• Stringer, Chris (1986). "The credibility of Homo habilis". In B. Wood, L.; Martin, P. Andrews (eds.). Major topics in primate and human evolution. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-521-11338-0.
• Chris Stringer (1989). "Neandertals, their contemporaries and modern human origins". In Giacomo Giacobini (ed.). Hominidae: Proceedings of the 2nd International Congress of Human Paleontology. Turin, September 28 – October 3, 1987. pp. 351–356. ISBN 88-16-28026-3.
• Peter Andrews; Chris Stringer (1989). Human Evolution: An Illustrated Guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-38824-4.
• Paul Mellars & Chris Stringer (Editors) (1989). The Human Revolution: Behavioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origins of Modern Humans. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-08539-5.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
• Chris Stringer; Robin McKie (1997). African Exodus. The Origins of Modern Humanity. New York: Henry Holt. ISBN 0-8050-2759-9.
• Christopher B. Stringer, R.N.E. Barton, J.C. Finlayson (Editors) (2000). Neanderthals on the Edge: Papers from a Conference Marking the 150th Anniversary of the Forbes' Quarry Discovery, Gibraltar. Oxford: Oxbow Books. ISBN 978-1-84217-015-1.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
• "Introduction to the fiftieth anniversary edition of The Piltdown Forgery" (pp. vii–x | and "Afterword: Piltdown 2003" (pp. 188–201). In The Piltdown Forgery By J. S. Weiner (2003) Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860780-6
• Chris Stringer; Peter Andrews (2005). The Complete World of Human Evolution. London & New York: Thames & Hudson..^[6] ISBN 0-500-05132-1
• Chris Stringer (2007). Homo britannicus. The Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-101813-3.^[7]
• Chris Stringer (2011). The Origin of Our Species. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-1-84614-140-9., published in the United States in 2012 retitled as Lone Survivors: How We Came to Be the Only Humans on Earth. London: Times Books. 13 March 2012. ISBN 978-0805088915.

See also[]

• Happisburgh footprints

References[]

External links[]

• Prof Chris Stringer's Home Page at Natural History Museum
• Natural History Museum Homo britannicus news (11 October 2006)
• AHOB Home Page
• World Land Trust Supporter news (Wednesday, 25 June 2008)
• Homo britannicus Archaeology award (13 November 2008)
• RESET Project
• Human Evolution book news (19 May 2005)