Department of Anthropology
2110 G St., NW
Washington, DC 20052

Phone: (202) 994-6075
Fax: (202) 994-6097
anth@gwu.edu

Richard Potts

Richard Potts

Title — Professorial Lecturer in Anthropology
Director, Human Origins Program, Smithsonian Institution

Office — National Museum of Natural History, rm. 351

Phone — 202) 633-1984

E-mail — pottsr@si.edu

Areas of Expertise —

Visiting and Adjunct Faculty
Human origins, early hominid evolution, ecology and behavior, taphonomy.

Current Research

A major long-term project is a study of environmental dynamics and hominid evolution in China, funded jointly by U.S. and Chinese agencies.

Click here for more information on the Human Origins Program.

Education

Ph.D. 1982, Harvard University
B.A. 1975, Temple University

Background

Dr. Potts is a paleoanthropologist with extensive field experience in Kenya, China, and elsewhere. His focus is on human origins, especially the development of human adaptability in changing Pleistocene environments.

To see Dr. Potts's complete CV, click here.

Publications

2010  Potts, R., and C. Sloan What Does It Mean To Be Human? Companion volume to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History's David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.

1996  Potts, R. Humanity's Descent: The Consequences of Ecological Instability. New York: William Morrow & Co.

Selected Articles and Book Chapters

2008  Zhu, R.X., R. Potts, Y.X. Pan, H.T. Yao, L.Q. Lü, X. Zhao, X. Gao, L.W. Chen, F. Gao, C.L. Deng. "Early evidence of the genus Homo in East Asia," Journal of Human Evolution 55: 1075-1085.

2007  Potts, R. "Paleoclimate and human evolution," Evolutionary Anthropology 16: 1-3.

2007 Wang, W., R. Potts, Y. Baoyin, W. Huang, H. Cheng, R. Edwards, and P. Ditchfield. "Sequence of mammalian fossils, including hominoid teeth, from the Bubing Basin Caves, South China," Journal of Human Evolution 52(4): 370-79.

2007  Potts, R., "Environmental context of Pliocene human evolution in Africa." In R. Bobe, Z. Alemseged, and A.K. Behrensmeyer, eds., Hominin Environments in the East African Pliocene: An Assessment of the Faunal Evidence. New York: Springer.

2004  Potts, R., A.K. Behrensmeyer, A. Deino, P. Ditchfield, and J. Clark. "Small Mid-Pleistocene hominin associated with East African Acheulean technology," Science 305: 75-78, with supporting online material: (www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/305/5680/75/DC1).

Classes Taught

Anth 6412 (old 247): Paleoanthropology