University of Arkansas
Distinguished Professor of Anthropology
Director, Environmental Dynamics Program
Fayetteville, Ark., USA

“Evolution’s Bite: Using Teeth to Reconstruct Diets of Ancient Ancestors”

Peter Ungar is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Director the Environmental Dynamics Program at the University of Arkansas. He is known primarily for his work using fossil teeth to reconstruct diets of human ancestors. Ungar has spent thousands of hours observing wild primates in the forests of Latin America and Southeast Asia, studied fossils from Tyrannosaurus to Neandertals, and developed new techniques for using surface analysis technologies to tease information about evolution and diet from tooth shape and patterns of use wear. Ungar has written or coauthored more than 160 scientific works in journals including Science, Nature, and PNAS, and has three books on teeth to his credit.