Professor Robert Foley FBA
- Fellow type
- UK Fellow
- Year elected
- 2007
- Subjects
- Anthropology, Archaeology
- Sections
- Archaeology , Anthropology and Geography
Summary
Robert Foley is Leverhulme Professor of Human Evolution Emeritus at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of King's College. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, and has held posts there and at the University of Durham.
He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and the Linnaean Society, and between 2020 and 2024 was a Fellow of The Alan Turing Institute. In 2010 he was awarded the Rivers Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. He is a co-founder, with Marta Mirazón Lahr FBA, of the Leverhulme Centre of Human Evolutionary Studies at Cambridge, an inter-disciplinary research centre. His research has focused on the evolution and ecology of humans, especially their behaviour and adaptations.
Much of this work has concentrated on understanding humans in terms of general Darwinian patterns and processes, and relating human evolution to more general models of evolution. Among his contributions are the development of off-site archaeology, community ecology and co-evolutionary approaches to hominin evolution, ecological models for human evolution, phylogenetic methods for analysing technological, cultural, social and linguistic evolution, the multiple dispersal model of human origins, and multi-disciplinary approaches to the evolution of human diversity. This research has included early African hominins, the evolution of modern humans, and more recent prehistory and anthropology.
He has carried out field projects in Africa and Melanesia. He is currently involved in major field projects in northern and central Kenya.
His books include 'Off-Site Archaeology', 'Another Unique Species: Patterns in Human Evolutionary Ecology', 'Humans before Humanity', 'Principles of Human Evolution', and 'Notes from Ivory Flats: reflections on the changing landscape of academic life'.
Current post
Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge Leverhulme Professor of Human Evolution and Director
King's College, Cambridge Fellow
Past appointments
King's College University of Cambridge Professorial Fellow
2014 -
University of Cambridge Leverhulme Professor of Human Evolution and Director, Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies
2003 -
King's College University of Cambridge Fellow
2003 -
University of Cambridge Fellow of King's College
1987 -
University of Durham Lecturer in Anthropology
1977 -
Publications
Other Fellows of the British Academy
Professor Roberta Gilchrist FBA
Medieval and social archaeology, particularly gender and religion; burial, magic and religious communities, including nunneries, monasteries, hospitals, Norwich Cathedral and Glastonbury Abbey
Professor Marie Louise Stig Sørensen FBA
Heritage and Prehistory research on material culture, identity politics, and gender. Bronze Age regional dress cultures, change in burial rites, creativity, and tells; heritage studies of memorials and post-conflict
Dr Alison Sheridan FBA
Prehistorian, focusing on the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age of Britain and Ireland and specialising in ceramics, stone axeheads and jewellery of jet and jet-like materials, gold, amber and faience
