David Strait

David Strait

​Professor of Biological Anthropology
PhD, State University of New York at Stony Brook

contact info:

office hours:

  • Tuesday 10:00 am - 2:00 pm​
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mailing address:

  • Washington University
    CB 1114
    One Brookings Drive
    St. Louis, MO 63130-4899

​Professor Strait is a paleoanthropologist who studies the fossil record of human evolution. Humans diverged from non-human apes about seven million years ago in Africa, and his research is directed towards trying to understand several key aspects of our evolutionary history.

First, Strait is interested in understanding how and why the various species of early humans (known as hominins) diversified. A large part of this entails understanding the pattern by which these species are related to each other in an evolutionary sense.  This is known as reconstructing phylogeny. In other words, he asks the question, “Are these species closely related to each other, or distantly related to each other?” Answering this question involves careful analysis of the anatomical similarities and differences among fossil hominins in order to infer which of those traits are likely to have been inherited from a common ancestor, and which are likely to have evolved independently in distantly related species. The method by which he does this is called cladistic analysis.

Second, he is interested in the evolution of diet and feeding in fossil hominins. Diet is an enormously important biological variable that has shaped the evolutionary history of many organisms, and humans are no exception. Hominins exhibit a trend whereby early in their evolution many species and certain lineages evolved adaptations for feeding on foods that were mechanically challenging to eat. Many of these hominins evolved massive jaws, faces, teeth and chewing muscles that allowed them to process foods that they otherwise would not have been able to access. The ability to consume these foods may have been critical to their survival because these hominins lived through a period of major climatic change and instability. In order to better understand this trend, he works with a large team of collaborators from many universities that uses engineering, experimental, comparative and ecological methods to test hypotheses about feeding biomechanics in fossil hominins and non-human primates.

Third, he is interested in paleoanthropological fieldwork. In order to better understand human evolution, it is vital to discover new fossils in order to understand their variation, diversity, evolutionary relationships and ecological context. Towards that end Strait has led and/or participated in excavations in Africa, the Near East and Europe. Currently, he is working at two paeoanthropological sites. One is a late Pleistocene cave site, Arma Veirana, in northern Italy that preserves archaeological and fossil evidence relevant to understanding the origin of modern humans. The second is an early Pleistocene cave in South Africa, Drimolen, that preserves evidence of robust australopiths and early members of the genus Homo. Strait and Washington University in St. Louis runs a summer field school at Drimolen. For more information: http://sa.wustl.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=10455

Selected Publications

Strait, D.S., Grine, F.E. and Moniz, M.A.(1997) A reappraisal of early hominid phylogeny. J. Hum. Evol. 32: 17 - 82.

 Strait, D.S. and Grine, F.E. (2004) Inferring hominoid and early hominid phylogeny using craniodental data: the role of fossil taxa. J Hum Evol.47: 399-452.

 Strait, D.S., Weber, G.W., Neubauer, S., Chalk, J. Richmond, B.G., Lucas, P.W., Spencer, M.A., Schrein, C., Dechow, P.C., Ross, C.F., Grosse, I., Wright, B.W., Constantino, P., Wood, B.A., Lawn B., Hylander, W.L., Wang, Q., Byron, C., Slice, D.E., Smith, A.L. (2009) The feeding biomechanics and dietary ecology of Australopithecus africanus. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106: 2124-2129.

 Strait, D.S., Constantino, P., Lucas, P.W., Richmond, B.G., Spencer, M.A., Dechow, P.C., Ross, C.F., Grosse, I.R., Wright, B.W., Wood, B.A., Weber, G.W., Wang, Q., Byron, C., Slice, D.E., Chalk, J., Smith, A.L., Smith, L.C., Wood, S., Berthaume, M., Benazzi, S., Dzialo, C., Tamvada, K., Ledogar, J.A. (2013) Viewpoints: Diet and dietary adaptations in early hominins: the hard food perspective. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 151: 339-355.

 Smith, A.L., Benazzi, S., Ledogar, J.A., Tamvada, K., Smith, L.C., Weber, G.W., Spencer, M.A., Lucas, P.W., Michael, S., Shekeban, A., Al2 Fadhalah, K., Almusallam, A.S., Dechow, P.C., Grosse, I.R., Ross, C.F., Madden, R., Richmond, B.G., Wright, B.W., Wang, Q., Byron, C., Slice, D.E., Wood, S., Dzialo, C., Berthaume, M., van Castern, A., Strait, D.S. (2015) The feeding biomechanics and dietary ecology of Paranthropus boisei. Anat. Rec. 298: 145-167.

 Wood, B.A. and Strait, D.S. (2004) Patterns of resource use in early Homo and Paranthropus. J Hum Evol. 46: 119-162.

 Richmond, B.G. and Strait, D.S. (2000) Evidence that humans evolved from a knuckle-walking ancestor. Nature 404: 382-385.

Awards

University Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, SUNY, 2014
University President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, U. Albany, 2014
President’s Award for Distinguished Doctoral Research, SUNY Stony Brook, 1998
Honorable Mention National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, 1992
Harvard College Scholarship for Academic Distinction, 1990
Westinghouse Science Talent Search Semi-Finalist, 1987