Brian G. Richmond

Associate Professor of Anthropology
Graduate Advisor, Hominid Paleobiology Doctoral Program
Associate Editor, American Journal of Physical Anthropology
E-mail brich@gwu.edu
Office: 2114 G St., 208 / (202) 994-0873

Dr. Richmond is a biological anthropologist whose research involves human paleontology and functional anatomy aimed at understanding the origin and evolution of human gait, feeding biomechanics, and manual dexterity.

Research

Dr. Richmond has conducted paleontological fieldwork in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Turkey in sediments spanning the Oligocene to the Pleistocene, with an emphasis on great ape and human fossils. He has also done experimental laboratory studies on the locomotion of chimpanzees, gibbons, and several Old World monkey species, and finite element analysis work on skeletal architecture.

Current Research Projects

1. Paleontological fieldwork in the early Pleistocene at Ileret, Kenya. New fossil discoveries form one of the foundations of human evolutionary research, and provide the raw data of the hominin fossil record and its environmental and behavioral context.
   
2. Trabecular bone functional morphology. Trabecular bone structure (the spongy bone matrix within joints) tracks habitual joint function, and therefore holds promise for resolving long-standing debates over the nature of locomotion in early hominins, including Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, and early Homo.
   
3. Finite element analysis of primate craniofacial biomechanics. As part of a NSF HOMINID-funded collaborative research project, we use finite element analysis in conjunction with experimental data to test hypotheses about how the face and skull are strained during biting and chewing, how craniofacial shape influences feeding biomechanics, and ultimately the biomechanical significance of hominin skull morphology.

Click here to read more about Dr. Richmond's research.

Selected Publications

A complete list of publications, and PDF copies, can be found here

Articles and Book Chapters

2008	Richmond, B.G., W.L. Jungers. "Orrorin tugenensis Femoral morphology and the evolution of hominin bipedalism," Science 319: 1662-1665.
2007	Richmond, B.G. "Biomechanics of phalangeal curvature," Journal of Human Evolution 53: 678-690.
2007	Green, D., A. Gordon, and B.G. Richmond. "Limb-size proportions in Australopithecus afarensis and Australopithecus africanus," Journal of Human Evolution 52: 187-200.
2005	Richmond, B.G., B.W. Wright, I. Grosse, P.C. Dechow, C. Ross, M. Spencer, and D. Strait. "Finite element analysis in functional morphology," Anatomical Record 238A: 259-274.
2001	Richmond, B.G., D.R. Begun, D.S. Strait. "The origin of human bipedalism: The knuckle-walking hypothesis revisited," Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 44: 70-105.

Courses Taught

Anth 001: Introduction to Biological Anthropology
Anth 005: Biological Bases of Human Behavior
Anth 141: Human Functional Anatomy
Anth 142: Human Evolutionary Anatomy
Anth 241: Functional Anatomy
Anth 244: Analytical Methods in Human Evolutionary Studies
Homp 201: Hominid Paleobiology

Education

Ph.D. 1998, SUNY at Stony Brook
M.A. 1995, SUNY at Stony Brook
B.A. 1990, Rice University