World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

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Earth Science

D-Index
55
Citations
13302
World Ranking
2524
National Ranking
1054

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2005 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • 2004 - Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Overview

Richard Potts is affiliated with the National Museum of Natural History in the United States and specializes in research spanning Earth and Planetary Sciences, Social Sciences, and Environmental Science. Their work frequently intersects the subfields of Anthropology, Paleontology, Ecology, Atmospheric Science, and Social Psychology.

Potts has contributed extensively to topics including Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology, Evolution and Paleontology Studies, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Geology and Paleoclimatology Research, Primate Behavior and Ecology, Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies, as well as Archaeology and ancient environmental studies.

Their recent papers demonstrate a continued focus on hominin evolution and environmental variation. Key publications include:

  • "Expanded geographic distribution and dietary strategies of the earliest Oldowan hominins and Paranthropus" (2023) in Science
  • "Increased ecological resource variability during a critical transition in hominin evolution" (2020) in Science Advances
  • "Investigating Biotic Interactions in Deep Time" (2020) in Trends in Ecology & Evolution
  • "The Challenges of Reconstructing Tropical Biodiversity With Sedimentary Ancient DNA: A 2200-Year-Long Metagenomic Record From Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda" (2020) in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
  • "Eastern African environmental variation and its role in the evolution and cultural change of Homo over the last 1 million years" (2021) in Journal of Human Evolution

Potts has frequently collaborated with several notable researchers in their field. Frequent co-authors include:

  • Rahab N. Kinyanjui
  • René Dommain
  • Anna K. Behrensmeyer
  • Thomas W. Plummer
  • Peter Ditchfield

Publication venues where Potts's work appears consistently include:

  • Science Advances (2 publications)
  • Journal of Human Evolution (2 publications)
  • Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology (2 publications)
  • Science
  • Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Among professional recognitions, Potts has been awarded the status of Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) twice, in 2004 and 2005.

Best Publications

  • Cutmarks made by stone tools on bones from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

    Richard Potts;Patty Lee Shipman

  • The Formation of Human Populations in South and Central Asia

    Vagheesh M. Narasimhan;Nick Patterson;Nick Patterson;Priya Moorjani;Nadin Rohland;Nadin Rohland

  • Terrestrial Ecosystems Through Time: Evolutionary Paleoecology of Terrestrial Plants and Animals

    Norton G. Miller;Anna K. Behrensmeyer;John D. Damuth;William A. DiMichele

  • Mid-Pleistocene Acheulean-like Stone Technology of the Bose Basin, South China

    Hou Yamei;Richard Potts;Yuan Baoyin;Guo Zhengtang

  • Evolution of early Homo: An integrated biological perspective

    Susan C. Antón;Richard Potts;Leslie C. Aiello

  • Terrestrial Ecosystems Through Time

    David Bartley;A.K. Behrensmeyer;J.D. Damuth;W.A. DiMichele

  • New evidence on the earliest human presence at high northern latitudes in northeast Asia

    R. X. Zhu;R. Potts;F. Xie;K. A. Hoffman

  • Early hominid activities at Olduvai

    Richard Potts

  • Humanity's Descent: The Consequences of Ecological Instability

    Richard Potts

  • Single-crystal 40Ar/39Ar dating of the Olorgesailie Formation, Southern Kenya Rift

    Alan Deino;Richard Potts

  • Hominin evolution in settings of strong environmental variability

    Richard Potts

  • Earliest presence of humans in northeast Asia.

    RX Zhu;KA Hoffman;R Potts;CL Deng

  • Long-distance stone transport and pigment use in the earliest Middle Stone Age

    Alison S. Brooks;Alison S. Brooks;John E. Yellen;John E. Yellen;Richard Potts;Anna K. Behrensmeyer

  • Late Pliocene faunal turnover in the Turkana Basin, Kenya and Ethiopia

    Anna K. Behrensmeyer;Nancy E. Todd;Richard Potts;Geraldine E. McBrinn

  • Paleolandscape variation and early pleistocene hominid activities: members 1 and 7, Olorgesailie formation, Kenya.

    Richard Potts;Anna K. Behrensmeyer;Peter Ditchfield

  • High-resolution vegetation and climate change associated with Pliocene Australopithecus afarensis

    Raymonde Bonnefille;R. Potts;F. Chalié;D. Jolly

  • Holocene shifts in the assembly of plant and animal communities implicate human impacts

    S. Kathleen Lyons;Kathryn L. Amatangelo;Anna K. Behrensmeyer;Antoine Bercovici

  • Water Flow and the Formation of Early Pleistocene Artifact Sites in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

    Michael D. Petraglia;Richard P. Potts

  • Alternating high and low climate variability: The context of natural selection and speciation in Plio-Pleistocene hominin evolution.

    Richard Potts;J. Tyler Faith

  • Magnetostratigraphic dating of early humans in China

    Rixiang Zhu;Zhisheng An;Richard Potts;Kenneth A. Hoffman

  • Why the Oldowan? Plio-Pleistocene Toolmaking and the Transport of Resources

    Richard Potts

Frequent Co-Authors

Anna K. Behrensmeyer
Anna K. Behrensmeyer National Museum of Natural History
Alan L. Deino
Alan L. Deino Berkeley Geochronology Center
J. Tyler Faith
J. Tyler Faith University of Utah
Peter Ditchfield
Peter Ditchfield University of Oxford
Robin W. Renaut
Robin W. Renaut University of Saskatchewan
Conrad C. Labandeira
Conrad C. Labandeira Smithsonian Institution
Gary R. Graves
Gary R. Graves National Museum of Natural History
Craig S. Feibel
Craig S. Feibel Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Scott L. Wing
Scott L. Wing National Museum of Natural History
Andrew S. Cohen
Andrew S. Cohen University of Arizona

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