Dean Falk
Encyclopedia
Dean Falk is an American
academic anthropologist who specializes in the evolution of the brain and cognition in higher primates. She is presently a Professor of Anthropology at Florida State University
.
After the skeletal remains of an 18,000-year-old, "Hobbit"-sized human were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003 they were identified as a new species labelled Homo floresiensis
. Some scientists thought that the specimen must have been a pygmy or a microcephalic — a human with an abnormally small skull. Falk undertook a study in 2005 which supported the claim that the find represented a new species.
Falk's original 2005 study was criticised by other experts. In 2007, with an international team of experts, Falk created detailed maps of imprints left on the ancient hominid's braincase and concluded that the so-called Hobbit was actually a new species closely related to Homo erectus. Falk's team have repeatedly asserted that their findings confirm that the species cataloged as LB1, Homo floresiensis
, is definitely not a human born with microcephalia — a somewhat rare pathological condition that still occurs today.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
academic anthropologist who specializes in the evolution of the brain and cognition in higher primates. She is presently a Professor of Anthropology at Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
.
After the skeletal remains of an 18,000-year-old, "Hobbit"-sized human were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003 they were identified as a new species labelled Homo floresiensis
Homo floresiensis
Homo floresiensis is a possible species, now extinct, in the genus Homo. The remains were discovered in 2003 on the island of Flores in Indonesia. Partial skeletons of nine individuals have been recovered, including one complete cranium...
. Some scientists thought that the specimen must have been a pygmy or a microcephalic — a human with an abnormally small skull. Falk undertook a study in 2005 which supported the claim that the find represented a new species.
Falk's original 2005 study was criticised by other experts. In 2007, with an international team of experts, Falk created detailed maps of imprints left on the ancient hominid's braincase and concluded that the so-called Hobbit was actually a new species closely related to Homo erectus. Falk's team have repeatedly asserted that their findings confirm that the species cataloged as LB1, Homo floresiensis
Homo floresiensis
Homo floresiensis is a possible species, now extinct, in the genus Homo. The remains were discovered in 2003 on the island of Flores in Indonesia. Partial skeletons of nine individuals have been recovered, including one complete cranium...
, is definitely not a human born with microcephalia — a somewhat rare pathological condition that still occurs today.
Works
Dean Falk's books include:- Falk, D. External Neuroanatomy of Old World Monkeys (Cercopithecoidea). Contributions to Primatology 15:1-95, 1978
- Armstrong, E. and D. Falk, (eds.). Primate Brain Evolution: Methods and Concepts. New York: Plenum Publishing Company, 1982
- Falk, D. Evolution of the Brain and Cognition in Hominids. The sixty-second James Arthur Lecture. New York: The American Museum of Natural History, 1992
- Falk, D. Braindance: New Discoveries About Human Origins and Brain Evolution. New York: Henry Holt, 1992
- Owl Book edition, 1994 (paper)
- German edition, Basel: Birkhauser Verlag, 1994
- German translation as Warum Schimpansen nicht steppen konnen (Why Chimpanzees Can’t Tap Dance), Leipzig: Insel Verlag, 1996 (paper)
- Falk, D. Primate Diversity. New York: Norton, 2000
- Falk, D. and K. Gibson (eds) Evolutionary Anatomy of the Primate Cerebral Cortex. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001
- Keenan, J., with Gallup, G. and D. Falk. The Face in the Mirror: The Search for the Origins of Consciousness, Ecco (Harper Collins), 2003
- Falk, D. Braindance Revised and Expanded. University Press of Florida, 2004
- Falk, D., Finding Our Tongues: Mothers, Infants and the Origin of Language, Basic Books, New York 2009 ISBN 978-0-465-00219-1