Ronald J. Clarke

For other people with the same name, see Ronald Clarke (disambiguation).

Ronald J. Clarke
Ronald Clarke in 2015
Ronald Clarke in 2015
Scientific career
FieldsPaleoanthropology
InstitutionsJohann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
University of the Witwatersrand
Websitewww.wits.ac.za/staff/academic-a-z-listing/c/ronaldclarkewitsacza/

Ronald John Clarke is a paleoanthropologist most notable for the discovery of "Little Foot", an extraordinarily complete skeleton of Australopithecus, in the Sterkfontein Caves.[1] A more technical description of various aspects of his description of the Australopithecus skeleton was published in the Journal of Quaternary Science.[2]

He also discovered the Homo ergaster partial cranium SK 847.[3] He also played a role in the discovery of a new skeleton of Homo habilis related to Homo rudolfensis.[4]

He was associated with the University of the Witwatersrand, then joined Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main in Frankfurt, Germany where he continued his work excavating "Little Foot".[5] He later rejoined the University of the Witwatersrand's Institute for Human Evolution, where he remains as of present.

  1. ^ Bower, Bruce (1998). "Ancient ancestor reveals skeletal stamina". Science News. 154 (25/26): 389. doi:10.2307/4010879. JSTOR 4010879.
  2. ^ Partridge, Timothy C.; Shaw, John; Heslop, David; Clarke, Ronald J. (1999). "The new hominid skeleton from Sterkfontein, South Africa: age and preliminary assessment". Journal of Quaternary Science. 14 (4): 293. Bibcode:1999JQS....14..293P. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1417(199907)14:4<293::AID-JQS471>3.0.CO;2-X.
  3. ^ Johanson, Donald and Edgar, Blake (1996) From Lucy to Language, New York:Simon & Schuster. p. 184. ISBN 0684810239.
  4. ^ Blumenschine, R. J.; Peters, C. R.; Masao, F. T.; Clarke, R. J.; Deino, A. L.; Hay, R. L.; Swisher, C. C.; Stanistreet, I. G.; Ashley, G. M.; McHenry, L. J.; Sikes, N. E.; Van Der Merwe, N. J.; Tactikos, J. C.; Cushing, A. E.; Deocampo, D. M.; Njau, J. K.; Ebert, J. I. (2003). "Late Pliocene Homo and Hominid Land Use from Western Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania". Science. 299 (5610): 1217–21. Bibcode:2003Sci...299.1217B. doi:10.1126/science.1075374. PMID 12595689. S2CID 11390885.
  5. ^ "World-renowned Scientist sacked". geotoursafrica.com. 14 December 1998