Abigail Desmond

I am a Palaeolithic Archaeologist (DPhil Oxford), and my research focuses on the coevolution of technology, biology, and cognition. Specifically, I study how technology has shaped humans’ bodies and minds over evolutionary timescales – how the things we make, make us. I have two books under contract with Harvard University Press; one on the evolution of human technology, and a co-authored book demystifying the concept of intelligence.

Applied research specialisms include field excavation,  bone and organic technologies, use-wear analysis, proteomics, ethnographic archaeology, experimental archaeology, data reproducibility, and developing open-source digital imaging techniques. 

Taught Harvard classes have included Key Junctures in African Human Evolution; Thinking Through Human Cognition; Technology, Behaviour, and Human Evolution; Human Evolution, Issues in Human Evolution and Human Health; and Senior Honors Thesis tutorial.