Professor Simon Underdown

BSc, PCTHE, PhD (Cantab), CSciTeach, FSA, FRSB, FRGS, FRAI, FCPS, SFHEA

Professor of Biological Anthropology

School of Social Sciences

Role

Please visit my website for more information.

Research

Centres and institutes

Centre for Environment and Society (CES)

Groups

Human Origins and Palaeo Environments (HOPE)

Projects

Human-Disease Co-Evolution in Deep Time

Projects as Principal Investigator, or Lead Academic if project is led by another Institution

DNA and The Ancient Flora of Oman: A Research and Training Partnership (01/01/2021 - 31/12/2023), funded by: The Anglo-Omani Society, funding amount received by Brookes: £45,000
sedaDNA, Environmental Changes and Demography In Oman (01/09/2019 - 31/07/2024), funded by: Society of Antiquities of London, funding amount received by Brookes: £14,907

Publications

Truter, M, Koopman, J, Jordaan, K, Tsamkxao, L, Cowan, D, Underdown, S, Ramond, J,Rifkin, R, Documenting the diversity of the Namibian Ju|’hoansi intestinal microbiome
Cell Reports 43 (2) (2024) ISSN: 2211-1247 eISSN: 2211-1247 Documenting the diversity of the Namibian Ju|’hoansi intestinal microbiome Open Access version on RADAR
Houldcroft CJ, Underdown SJ, Infectious disease in the Pleistocene: Old friends or old foes?
American Journal of Biological Anthropology [online first] (2023) ISSN: 2692-7691 eISSN: 2692-7691 Infectious disease in the Pleistocene: Old friends or old foes? Open Access version on RADAR
Bretzke K, Preusser F, Jasim S, Miller C, Preston G, Raith K, Underdown SJ, Parton A, Parker AG, Multiple phases of human occupation in Southeast Arabia between 210,000 and 120,000 years ago
Scientific Reports 12 (2022) ISSN: 2045-2322 eISSN: 2045-2322 Multiple phases of human occupation in Southeast Arabia between 210,000 and 120,000 years ago Open Access version on RADAR
RF Rifkin, S Vikram, J-B Ramond, A Rey-Iglesia, TB Brand, G Porraz, A Val, G Hall, S Woodborne, M Le Bailly, M Potgieter, SJ Underdown, JE Koopman, DA Cowan, Y Van de Peer, E Willerslev, AJ Hansen, Multi-proxy analyses of a mid-15th century Middle Iron Age Bantu-speaker palaeo- faecal specimen elucidates the configuration of the ‘ancestral’ sub-Saharan African intestinal microbiome
Microbiome 8 (2020) ISSN: 2049-2618 eISSN: 2049-2618 Multi-proxy analyses of a mid-15th century Middle Iron Age Bantu-speaker palaeo- faecal specimen elucidates the configuration of the ‘ancestral’ sub-Saharan African intestinal microbiome Open Access version on RADAR
Houldcroft CJ, Rifkin RF, Underdown SJ, Human biology and ancient DNA: exploring disease, domestication and movement
Annals of Human Biology 46 (2) (2019) pp.95-98 ISSN: 0301-4460 eISSN: 1464-5033 Human biology and ancient DNA: exploring disease, domestication and movement Open Access version on RADAR
Ham E, Underdown SJ, Houldcroft CJ, The relative roles of maternal survival and inter-personal violence as selection pressures on the persistence of Neanderthal hypercoagulability alleles in modern Europeans
Annals of Human Biology 46 (2) (2019) pp.99-108 ISSN: 0301-4460 eISSN: 1464-5033 The relative roles of maternal survival and inter-personal violence as selection pressures on the persistence of Neanderthal hypercoagulability alleles in modern Europeans Open Access version on RADAR
Pimenoff VP, Houldcroft CH, Rifkin RF, Underdown SJ, The Role of aDNA in Understanding the Co-Evolutionary Patterns of Human Sexually Transmitted Infections
Genes 9 (7) (2018) ISSN: 2073-4425 The Role of aDNA in Understanding the Co-Evolutionary Patterns of Human Sexually Transmitted Infections Open Access version on RADAR
Underdown, SJ Kumar, K Houldcroft, CJ, Network analysis of the hominin origin of Herpes Simplex virus 2 from fossil data
Virus Evolution 3 (2) (2017) ISSN: 2057-1577 Network analysis of the hominin origin of Herpes Simplex virus 2 from fossil data Open Access version on RADAR
Veldhuis D, Underdown S, Human Biology of Migration
Annals of Human Biology 44 (5) (2017) pp.393-396 ISSN: 0301-4460 eISSN: 1464-5033 Human Biology of Migration Open Access version on RADAR
Houldcroft CJ, Ramond J, Rifkind RF, Underdown SJ, Migrating microbes: What pathogens can tell us about population movements and human evolution
Annals of Human Biology 44 (5) (2017) pp.397-407 ISSN: 0301-4460 eISSN: 1464-5033 Migrating microbes: What pathogens can tell us about population movements and human evolution Open Access version on RADAR
Houldcroft C, Underdown S, Neanderthal genomics suggests a Pleistocene time frame for the first epidemiologic transition
American Journal of Physical Anthropology 160 (3) (2016) pp.379-388 ISSN: 0002-9483 eISSN: 1096-8644 Neanderthal genomics suggests a Pleistocene time frame for the first epidemiologic transition Open Access version on RADAR
Underdown S, Oppenheimer S J, Do patterns of covariation between human pelvis shape, stature, and head size alleviate the obstetric dilemma?
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113 (3) (2016) ISSN: 0027-8424 eISSN: 1091-6490 Do patterns of covariation between human pelvis shape, stature, and head size alleviate the obstetric dilemma? Open Access version on RADAR
Underdown S J, Fitzroy's fighting Fuegians: comparisons of palaeopathological and ethnographic indications of fighting behaviour in an extinct human population
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 22 (3) (2010) pp.373-378 ISSN: 1047-482X eISSN: 1099-1212
Priston N E C, Underdown S J, A simple method for calculating the liklihood crop damage by primates: an epidemiological approach
International Journal of Pest Management 55 (1) (2009) pp.51-56 ISSN: 0967-0874 eISSN: 1366-5863
Underdown S J, A potential role for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in neanderthal extinction
Medical Hypotheses 71 (1) (2008) pp.4-7 ISSN: 0306-9877
Underdown S, A Comparative Approach to Understanding Neanderthal Trauma
Periodicum Biologorum 108 (2006) pp.485-493 ISSN: 0031-5362

Parker AG, Underdown SJ, Environmental Controls on Human Dispersal and Adaptation
in Pollard AM, Armitage RA, Makarewicz CA, (ed.), Handbook of Archaeological Sciences, Wiley (2023)

Smith S, Underdown S, Lifting the Gloomy Curtain of Time Past: Tracing the Identity of the First Cognitively Modern Hominin in Deep History
(2019) ISBN: 9781912385034

Davies R, Underdown S, review of The Neanderthals: a Social Synthesis
Cambridge Archaeological Journal 16 (2006) pp.145-164 ISSN: 0959-7743 eISSN: 1474-0540

Underdown S, How the Word Hominid Evolved to Include Hominin ,
(2006)
Davies R, Underdown S, Some Observations on the Neanderthals - a Social Synthesis (davies and Underdown Cambridge Archaeological Journal 16.2 (june) 2006, 145-64) - Response,
(2006)

Professor Simon Underdown

Role

Research

Centres and institutes

Groups

Projects

Projects as Principal Investigator, or Lead Academic if project is led by another Institution

Publications

Journal articles