Rebecca Rogers Ackermann is Professor in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and co-director of UCTs Human Evolution Research Institute (HERI), which engages in African-led cutting-edge human origins research in the palaeosciences.

She was also Deputy Dean for Transformation in the Faculty of Science from 2019-2021. She is one of the foremost biological anthropologists fundamentally reshaping our understanding of how we have evolved to be the diverse humans we are today. Ackermann and her research group (housed in the Morphology Laboratory) are focussed on understanding how adaptive (selection) and non-adaptive (e.g drift, gene flow) evolutionary processes shape the phenotype in mammals, with a goal of providing a foundation for detecting these processes in the fossil record of primate and especially human evolution. 

She has authored over 60 manuscripts and published in the world's top scientific journals including Science, PNAS, Nature Ecology and Evolution, and PLOS. Continuously funded by the NRF since 2000, she has also trained numerous post-graduate students, most of whom are women, especially women of colour, who now hold independent academic and research positions nationally and internationally.

Because she understands how greater gender and cultural diversity are vital for both science and society, Ackermann has been deeply involved in developing practice and policy around transformative cultural and institutional change at UCT, in STEM disciplines, and in her specific field including as Chair of the Committee on Diversity–International for the American Association of Biological Anthropologists. HERI also has a strong transformative thrust, addressing the historical lack of diversity within the field by developing students, research networks, and communications programmes, and promoting socially responsible practice.

In recognition of these efforts, Ackermann was named a Mail & Guardian Woman Changing South Africa in 2019, and an Inspiring Fifty South Africa winner in 2021. She has also been recognised for her teaching excellence as recipient of UCT's highest teaching honour, a Distinguished Teaching Award, and is a noted public speaker on scientific topics, having appeared and featured on the BBC, PBS, NOVA, NatGeo, SABC, CapeTalk, SAFM, Radio 702, and has been covered and quoted in the Washington Post, BBC News, Scientific American, Discover Magazine, Fast Company, Huffington Post, Science News and Popular Science among others.

Ackermann’s research interests include evolutionary process and theory, hybridisation, genetic drift, anthropoid variation and Integration, hominin craniofacial development and morphology, mammalian models, and decolonisation.

Archaeology Dept, Beattie Building, Room 3.19
Fax: +27 (0)21 650 2352
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?user=ItvLafYAAAAJ&hl=en

Courses lectured

• AGE4000W - Archaeology Honours
• BIO1004S/F - Biological diversity (Lectures on primate/human diversity and evolution)

Course Convener

• AGE2011S - Human Evolution
• AGE1005L - Towards a Decolonised Science in South Africa

Publications:

Schroeder L and RR Ackermann. Moving beyond the adaptationist paradigm for human evolution, and why it matters. Journal of Human Evolution. Special Virtual Anniversary Edition (In press).

Harvati K and RR Ackermann. Merging morphological and genetic evidence to assess hybridization in Eurasian Late Pleistocene hominins. Nature Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01875-z

Schroeder L, S Elton, RR Ackermann. Skull variation in Afro-Eurasian monkeys results from both adaptive and non-adaptive evolutionary processes. Nature Scientific Reports 12:12516. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-16734-x

Popadin K, K Gunbin, L Peshkin, S Annis, Z Fleischmann, M Franco, V Kraytsberg, N Markuzon, RR Ackermann, K Khrapko. Mitochondrial pseudogenes suggest repeated inter-species hybridization among direct human ancestors. Genes: 13(5), 810.

Ackermann RR. On the science and scientists behind our origin narrative: A review of Higham (2021). American Journal of Biological Anthropology. 2022:1-2. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24530

Devine J, M Vidal-García, W Liu, A Neves, LD Lo Vercio, RM Green, HA Richbourg, M Marchini, CM Unger, AC Nickle, B Radford, NM Young, PN Gonzalez, RE Schuler, A Bugacov, C Rolian, CJ Percival, T Williams, L Niswander, AL Calof, AD Lander, A Visel, FR Jirik, JM Cheverud, O Klein, RY Birnbaum, AE Merrill, RR Ackermann, D Graf, M Hemberger, W Dean, ND Forkert, SA Murray, H Westerberg, RS Marcucio, B Hallgrímsson. MusMorph, a database of standardized mouse morphology data for morphometric meta-analyses. Nature Scientific Data 9(1). 1-18. Preprint: bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.11.468142

Zdjelar N, L Nagendran, C Kendall, RR Ackermann, L Schroeder. 2021. The hybrid skull of the eastern coyote (Canis latrans var.): nonmetric traits and craniomandibular shape. Journal of Morphology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.21417

Buck LT, DC Katz, RR Ackermann, L Hlusko, S Kanthaswamy, TD Weaver. 2021. Effects of hybridisation on pelvic morphology: a macaque model. Journal of Human Evolution. 159, 1030-1049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103049

Athreya S and RR Ackermann. 2020. Colonialism and narratives of human origins in Asia and Africa. In: Interrogating Human Origins: Decolonisation and the Deep Past.  M Porr and J Matthews, Eds. Archaeological Orientation Series. Routledge: Abingdon. (Series editors: Christopher Witmore and Gavin Lucas). Preprint AfricaArxiv DOI: 10.31730/osf.io/jtkn2

Humphreys R, J Bam-Hutchison, RR Ackermann. 2020. Archaeology is changing, slowly, but it’s still too tied up in colonial practices. The Conversation. May 27
https://theconversation.com/archaeology-is-changing-slowly-but-its-still-too-tied-up-in-colonial-practices-133243

Ackermann RR, ML Arnold, MD Baiz, J Cahill, L Cortes-Ortiz, B Evans, BR Grant, PR Grant, B Hallgrimsson, R Humphreys, CJ Jolly, J Malukiewicz, CJ Percival, T Ritzman, C Roos, CC Roseman, L Schroeder, FH Smith, K Warren, R Wayne, D Zinner. 2020. Hybridization in human evolution: insights from other organisms. Evolutionary Anthropology. Preprint (2018) AfricArxiv DOI: 10.31730/osf.io/y3bp7

Ackermann RR. Reflections on the history and legacy of scientific racism in South African palaeoanthropology and beyond. Journal of Human Evolution. 2019. 126: 106-111. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.11.007 Preprint AfricArxiv DOI: https://doi.org/10.31730/osf.io/t3v9a

Ackermann RR and L Schroeder. 2018. The emergence of complexity and novelty in the human fossil record. In: Humility, Wisdom and Grace in Deep Time. A Fuentes and C Deane-Drummond, Eds. Preprint AfricArxiv DOI: 10.31730/osf.io/k39h2

Warren, K, T Ritzman, R Humphreys, C Percival, B Hallgrimsson, RR Ackermann. 2018. Craniomandibular form and body size variation of first generation mouse hybrids: a model for hominin hybridization. J Hum Evol. 116: 57-74

Gunbin K, L Peshkin, K Popadin, S Annis, RR Ackermann, K Khrapko. Data on the time of integration of the human mitochondrial pseudogenes (NUMTs) into the nuclear genome. 2017. Data in Brief. DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2017.05.024

Schroeder L and RR Ackermann. Evolutionary processes shaping diversity across the Homo lineage. 2017.  J Hum Evol. 111: 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.06.004 (Preprint: BioRxiv DOI: 10.1101/136507)

Gunbin K, L Peshkin, K Popadin, S Annis, RR Ackermann, K Khrapko. 2017. Integration of mtDNA pseudogenes into the nuclear genome coincides with critical periods in human evolution. A hypothesis. Mitochondrion. 34: 20-23. DOI: 10.1016/j.mito.2016.12.001

Laird MF, Schroeder L, HM Garvin, JE Scott, M Dembo, D Radovčić, CM Musiba, RR Ackermann, P Schmid, J Hawks, LR Berger, DJ de Ruiter. 2017. The skull of Homo naledi. J Hum Evol. 104: 100-123. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.09.009

Schroeder L, JE Scott, HM Garvin, MF Laird, M Dembo, D Radovčić, LR Berger, DJ de Ruiter, RR Ackermann. 2017. Skull diversity in the Homo lineage and the relative position of Homo naledi. J Hum Evol. 104: 124-135. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.09.014

Dembo M, D RadovÄiÄ, HM Garvin, MF Laird, L Schroeder, JE Scott, RR Ackermann, C Musiba, DJ de Ruiter, A Mooers, M Collard. 2016. The evolutionary relationships and age of Homo naledi: An assessment using dated Bayesian phylogenetic methods. J Hum Evol. 97: 17-26

Eichel, K & RR Ackermann. 2016. Variation in the nasal cavity of baboon hybrids with implications for late Pleistocene hominins. J Hum Evol. 94:134-145

Ackermann RR, A Mackay, ML Arnold. 2016. The hybrid origin of “modern” humans. Evol Biol. Vol 43, Issue 1, pp.1-11. DOI: 10.1007/s11692-015-9348-1

Berger LR, J Hawks, DJ de Ruiter, SE Churchill, P Schmid, SA Williams, JM DeSilva, T Kivell, M Skinner, CM Musiba, N Cameron, TW Holliday, W Harcourt-Smith, RR Ackermann, Bastir M, Bogin B, Bolter D, Brophy J, Cofran ZD, Congdon KA, Deane AS, Dembo M, Drapeau M, Elliott M, Feuerriegel EM, Garcia-Martinez D, Green DJ, Gurtov A, Irish JD, Kruger A, Laird MF, Marchi D, Meyer MR, Nalla S, Negash EW, Orr CA, Radovcic D, Schroeder L, Scott JE, Throckmorton Z, Tocheri MW, VanSickle C, Walker CS, Wei P, & Zipfel B. 2015. Homo naledi, a new species of the genus Homo from the Dinaledi Chamber, South Africa. eLife. 4:e09560. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.09560

Harvati K, C Bauer, FE Grine, S Benazzi, RR Ackermann, KL van Niekerk, CS Henshilwood. 2015. A human deciduous molar from the Middle Stone Age (Howiesons Poort) of Klipdrift Shelter, South Africa. J Hum Evol. 82:190-196

Warren K, S Hall, RR Ackermann. 2015. Cranio-dental evidence for between-population homogeneity in the archaeological record of southern African Iron Age peoples. S African Archaeological Bulletin 70(201): 76-88

Sithaldeen R, RR Ackermann, JM Bishop. 2015. Pleistocene aridification cycles shaped the contemporary genetic architecture of southern African baboons. PLoS ONE. 10(5): e0123207. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0123207

Schroeder L, CC Roseman, JM Cheverud, RR Ackermann. 2014. Characterizing the evolutionary path(s) to early Homo. PLoS ONE. 9(12): e114307. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0114307

Ackermann RR, L Schroeder, J Rogers, JM Cheverud. 2014. Further evidence for phenotypic signatures of hybridization in descendant baboon populations. J Hum Evol. 74: 54-62. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.05.004