Rebecca Rogers Ackermann
Senior Lecturer, Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town
Becky Ackermann received a PhD in physical anthropology (Washington University in St. Louis), and was a post-doctoral associate in anatomy (Wash U.) in the USA before taking up her post at UCT in 2000. Her research interests centre broadly on the relationship between phylogenetic divergence and morphological variation, and she works in both living and ancient systems in order to understand this relationship. This work crosses many taxonomic boundaries (having included studies of apes, humans, Old World monkeys, and ancient hominins and papionins), and she is currently working on a number of projects related to baboon evolution. These include research into: ancient diets and niche differentiation; ontogeny and developmental divergence of fossil papionins; the morphology and evolutionary underpinnings of baboon hybridization and diversification.
