Dr. Blumenthal studies the ecology and evolution of early hominins and other mammals. His research is primarily focused on the diets and environments of early hominins in eastern Africa, but also includes studies of hominins and mammals in other regions, and lies at the intersection of paleoanthropology, paleoecology, and geochemistry. His research integrates work in laboratory, field, and museum settings to study animals, plants, and climates in the past and present. Current projects are focused on diet seasonality in fossil hominins and papionins, fossil mammal diets and paleoenvironments in eastern Africa, the ecology and evolution of fossil mammals in North America, as well as the ecology of extant non-human primates and large mammalian herbivores (especially megaherbivores). Recent publications have appeared in the Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Human Evolution, American Journal of Primatology, Scientific Reports, Quaternary International, and Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. His research has been funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, Natural Environment Research Council (UK), British Academy (UK), Leakey Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation, and National Geographic.
Lab locations: Pacific 13 and Cascade 110C
