A preliminary step to uncovering evolutionary relationships between fossil populations is to describe and understand the extent of morphological variation that exists within the fossil record.

My primary research interest lays in reconsidering the genus Homo fossil record morphological diversity in order to provide a reassessment of the debated classification of the genus.

More specifically, I am interested in testing the validity of hominin taxa which are relevant to the understanding of key moments of the evolutionary history of our genus.

For instance, I have been working on the validity and definition of Homo heidelbergensis Schoetensack, 1908 a key palaeoanthropological species to the understanding of the common origin of Neandertals and Modern Humans. The species was invented after the discovery of the Mauer mandible (Heidelberg, Germany) and has been used to refer to a possible last common ancestor to both species. I used comparative morphology along with phenetic approaches (numerical taxonomy run on discrete morphological features), and 3D Geometric Morphometric techniques (landmarks, semi-landmarks) to validate H. heidelbergensis and offer a proposal of diagnosis for the Middle Pleistocene palaéospecies (see, Mounier, 2009; Mounier et al. 2009; Mounier, 2011 and 2012).

I am now focusing my efforts on the Late Middle Pleistocene African hominin fossil record and the origin of H. sapiens, as well as, on the transition from Early to Middle Pleistocene which witnesses important climatic and environmental changes along with with biological and cultural innovation within the genus Homo.

Finally, to better understand what makes us human, one must investigate the selective forces that shaped the evolution of our genus. For this purpose, cultural and environmental data have to be taken into account, together with palaeoanthropological data.

In this framework, I am co-coordinating the transversal research group OEPP which aims at tackling the evolution of the genus Homo during Early and Middle Pleistocene in the light of massive climatic and environmental changes which characterises the transition between Early and Middle Pleistocene.

Additionally, I have conducted a preliminary study to explore the evolution of the brain as a key organ to understand our species in its cultural and biological components. This study shows that important changes in brain morphology occurred in the ancestral population of Neandertals and modern humans, giving both species a shared derived brain morphology, especially concerning key morphologies associated to phonological and articulatory processing of words. These results have implications regarding the origin of modern human behaviour, which could have have appeared after the speciation of H. sapiens (‘cultural modernity’).

An important find regarding the behaviour of prehistoric human populations was the discovery and description of an archaeological site which preserved evidence of inter-group violence between hunter-gatherers populations in Kenya. The site was excavated under the direction of Marta Mirazón Lahr within the In Africa project and provided important information regarding the behaviour of prehistoric hunter-gatherer groups.

I have organised and participated to numerous workshops, seminars and discussion groups aimed at capturing a wider audience.

For instance, I gave a public Lecture at the Musée de l'Homme in October 2020 at the invitation of the Société des Amis du Musée de l'Homme. In 2018, I also participated to the Balcon des Sciences which aims at bringing scientists into the Musée de l'Homme galleries to engage with visitors about their research.

From 2014 to 2016 I was also co-organising the Biological Anthropology Seminar Series of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. During that time period 45 seminars took place with high profile researchers from all over the world, and in the past few years I have been a member of the Organisation Committees of the Scientific Meetings of the Société d'Anthropologie de Paris.

Finally, I am also giving seminars on human evolution to primary school students (e.g. European School in The Hague, The Netherlands; Primary School in Le Biot, France; Primary School in Brison-Saint-Innocent France).

The BMSAP (Bulletin et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris), were created in 1859 along with the Société d'Anthropologie de Paris (SAP). The SAP and the BMSAP are the oldest Biological Anthropology association and scientific journal in the world.

The BMSAP publishes research articles on various topics related to Biological Anthropology in English and French.

Since May 2021 the journal is fully open access and hosted on the OpenEdition Journals platform.

Until 2022, I was the Chief Editor of the journal along with Sacha Kacki.

Instructions to authors to submit your research to the BMSAP are available in French and in English.

Manuscripts should be sent to: redacchef@sapweb.fr