Dr. Oliver Paine

Assistant Professor
Office: AL-459 | Email: [email protected]

Oliver Paine is a paleoanthropologist interested in early hominin feeding ecology. His research is currently focused on quantifying the nutritional and mechanical properties of wild plants growing in African savanna habitats and how these data can inform broader debates about human evolution. Dr. Paine is particularly interested in the types of grasses and sedges that early hominins potentially ate and how their consumption may have influenced the distinct morphological adaptations revealed by the hominin fossil record. He primarily works in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, and The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa, though his research has now shifted to Kruger National Park, South Africa. Though early hominins are his primary concern, he also focuses on the nutritional ecology of savanna baboons and African ungulates, as well as broader topics in studies of African savanna ecology. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the Leakey Foundation.