Clifford Jolly Honored in Journal Current Anthropology

      The April 2009 issue of the journal Current Anthropology honors NYU professor Clifford Jolly for his contributions to the field of biological anthropology. The issue’s series of articles, which highlights the interdisciplinary nature of Jolly’s career, was derived from a 2007 conference held at NYU and co-sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Jolly conducted pioneering work in molecular primatology in the 1960s.
      Jolly’s paleontological and primatological research in the 1970s was also influential on the field. Of particular note was the landmark publication of his “seed-eaters hypothesis,” a model of human evolution using a baboon analogy, which posited that many of the unique human anatomical and behavioral features developed as a result of specialization for feeding on small, hard objects. Jolly’s body of work, which also includes studies of baboons in Ethiopia over the past three decades, has integrated paleontological, morphological, ecological, behavioral, and molecular aspects of primate evolution. After 42 years at NYU, Jolly will be retiring at the end of the spring 2009 semester.