Dr Pia Nystrom
Telephone - 0114 222 2902
Email - p.nystrom@sheffield.ac.uk
Dr Nystrom is a Lecturer in the Department
I teach on topics related to Biological anthropology, Human anatomy, Primate comparative anatomy, Primate evolution and Primate cognition
Research Interests
My main research interests pertain to the understanding of human and non-human primate behavioural ecology, and how living human populations and primate species can be used as models to infer behavioural adaptations of past human populations.
Examination of diet adaptation using dental microwear analysis
I examine the dental microwear pattern of live, wild caught baboons (Papio sp.). This is an on-going project, and I plan to examine the dental microwear pattern of baboon populations from different ecological zones, as well as same populations during different seasons to be able to discern the extent of habitat and seasonality on the dental microwear patterns.
I am also examining the dental microwear pattern of past human populations, especially focussing on the hunter-gatherer to agriculturalist transition in Europe. This research feeds into the more global question of whether or not this transition took place as a colonisation event or was based on a behavioural diffusion through direct of indirect contact with local populations.
Future projects include the use of dental microwear analysis to a) examine extra-dietary use of teeth, especially as it pertains to the use of anterior teeth, in past human populations, and b) determine the weaning process in past human populations by combining information gained from biomolecular studies with dental microwear analysis.
Human and primate behavioural ecology; making detailed observations of extant populations to better be able to reconstruct models of early hominids and fossil primates
This research is taking place at two locations: the Makapansgat Valley, South Africa and Sinya, Tanzania. I visited the site of Sinya for the first time in 2000 to collect preliminary ecological data on the use of an artificial water source by humans, their domestic animals and the wildlife in the surrounding area. Preliminary observations and interviews of local Maasai suggest that wildlife populations are increasing (both from high fecundity rates and emigration into the area) despite the presence of domestic animals. Pool use data indicate a complex, articulated and interactive pattern of drinking activities.
I will begin to collect ecological data at Makapansgat in the summer of 2004, recording information on the surrounding environment and the animals utilising the area (with a special focus on primates and carnivores). The research in South Africa and Tanzania is part of a multidisciplinary collaboration with researchers from both South Africa and USA.
Publications
Nystrom, P. (in press) Dental microwear signatures of an early LKB population from Vedrovice, Moravia, the Czech Republic. Anthropologie.
Harrison R M, Nystrom P. 2008. Handedness in captive bonobos (Pan paniscus). Folia Primatologica 79:253-268.
Nystrom P., Ashmore P. 2008. Life of Primates. New York: Prentice Hall.
Nystrom P, Phillips-Conroy JE, Jolly CJ. (2004) Dental microwear in anubis and hybrid baboons (Papio hamadryas, s.l.) living in the Awash National Park, Ethiopia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 125:279-291.
Nystrom P. (2005) Aggression in primates. British Archaeology Reports International Series 1374:35-40
Nystrom P, Cox S (2003) A comparison of dental microwear pattern in Neolithic, Anglo-Saxon and recent human populations in Britain. British Archaeology Reports International Series 1117:59-67.
Carlson M, Nystrom P. (1994). Tactile discrimination capacity in relation to size and organization of somatic sensory cortex in primates: I. Old World prosimian, Galago; II. New World anthropoids, Saimiri and Cebus. Journal of Neuroscience 14(3):1516-1541.
Phillips-Conroy JE, Jolly CJ, Nystrom P., Hemmalin HA. (1992). Migration of Male Hamadryas Baboons into Anubis Groups in the Awash National Park, Ethiopia. International Journal of Primatology 13(4):455-476.
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