Scott A. Williams
Associate Professor
Ape and human evolution; Evolutionary morphology; Fossil hominins; Upright posture; Bipedalism; Spine and torso; Vertebral column
I am an evolutionary morphologist and paleoanthropologist with primary research interests in the evolution of positional behavior (posture and locomotion) during human evolution. My research focus is not on a particular time period; rather, I am interested in evolutionary transitions in the hominoid fossil record, from 20 million-year-old extinct apes to modern human and ape variation and the entirety of human evolution in between. The major focus of my academic work has been on the primate postcranial skeleton and specifically the vertebral column (spine).
Core Faculty, New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology
Honorary Research Affiliate, Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand
Fellowships and Honors
- 2018 Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society Nomination for Membership
- 2016 New York University College of Arts and Sciences Golden Dozen Teaching Award
- 2016 Manchester High School Distinguished Alumni Award: Early Career Achievement
- 2015 New York University Goddard Junior Faculty Fellowship
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
2020. Bastir M, García-Martínez, D Torre-Tamayo N, Palancar CA, Beyer B, Barash A, Villa C, Sanchis-Gimeno JA, Riesco-López A, Nalla S, Torre-Sánchez I, García-Rio F, Been E, Gómez-Olivencia A, Haeusler M, Williams SA, Spoor F. Rib cage anatomy in Homo erectus suggests a recent evolutionary origin of modern human body shape. Nature Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1240-4
2020. Roseman CC, Capellini TD, Jagoda E, Williams SA, Grabowski M, O’Connor C, Polk JD, Cheverud JM. Variation in mouse pelvic morphology maps to locations enriched in Sox9 Class II and Pitx1 regulatory features. Journal of Experimental Zoology (Molecular and Developmental Evolution) 334, 100-112. https://doi.org/10.1002/jez.b.22926
2019. Meyer MR, Williams SA. Earliest axial fossils from the genus Australopithecus. Journal of Human Evolution 132, 189-214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.05.004
2019. Williams SA, Spear JK, Petrullo L, Goldstein DM, Lee AB, Peterson AL, Miano, D.A., Kaczmarek E, Shattuck MR. Increased variation in numbers of vertebrae in suspensory mammals. Nature Ecology and Evolution 3, 949-956. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0894-2
2018. Williams S.A. Lead Book Review: Was the last common ancestor aping a chimp or just monkeying around? Journal of Human Evolution 121, 72-74. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248418300381
2018. Williams S.A., Meyer M.R., Nalla S., García-Martínez D., Eyre J., Prang T.C.,
2018. Williams S.A., DeSilva J.M., de Ruiter D.J. Malapa at 10: Introduction to the special issue on Australopithecus
2018. DeCasien A.R., Thompson N., Shattuck M.R., Williams S.A. Encephalization and longevity evolved in a correlated fashion in Euarchontoglires but not in other mammals. Evolution 72, 2617-2631. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/evo.13633
2018. VanSickle C., Cofran Z.D., García-Martínez D., Williams S.A., Churchill S.E., Berger L.R., Hawks J. Homo
2018. Spear J.K., Williams S.A. Scapular breadth is associated with forelimb-dominated suspensory behavior in Atelidae: Comments on Selby and Lovejoy (2017). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 167, 194-196. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajpa.23599
2017. Bastir M., García-Martínez D., Williams S.A., Recheis W., Torres I., García Río F., Oishi M., Ogihara N. 3D geometric
2017. Meyer M.R., Williams S.A., Schmid P., Churchill S.E., Berger L.R. The cervical spine of Australopithecus
2017. Hawks, J., Elliott, M., Schmid, P., Churchill, S.E., de Ruiter, D.J., Roberts, E.M., Hilbert-Wolf, H., Garvin, H.M., Williams, S.A., Delezene, L.K., Feuerriegel, E.M., Randolph-Quinney, P., Kivell, T.L., Laird, M.F., Tawane, G., DeSilva, J.M., Bailey, S.E., Brophy, J.K., Meyer, M.R., Skinner, M.M., Tocheri, M.W., VanSickle, C., Walker, C.S.., Campbell, T.L., Kuhn, B., Kruger, A., Tucker, S., Gurtov, A., Hlophe, N., Hunter, R., Morris, H., Peixotto, B., Ramalepa, M., van Rooyen, D., Tsikoane, M.,
2017. DeCasien, A.R., Williams, S.A., Higham, J.P. Primate brain size is predicted by diet but not sociality. Nature Ecology & Evolution 1, 0112. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017- 0112
2017. Williams, S.A., García-Martínez, D., Meyer, M.R., Nalla, S., Schmid, P., Hawks, J., Churchill, S.E., Berger, L.R., Bastir, M. The vertebrae and ribs of Homo
2016. Randolph-Quinney, P.S., Williams, S.A., Steyn, M., Meyer, M.R.,
2016. Williams, S.A., Russo, G.A. The fifth element (of Lucy’s sacrum): Reply to Machnicki, Reno, and Lovejoy. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 161, 374-378. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.23035/abstract
2016. Antón, S.C.,
2016. Tawane, G., García-Martínez, D., Eyre, J., Bastir, M., Berger, L., Schmid, P., Nalla, S., Williams, S.A. A hominin first rib discovered at the Sterkfontein caves. South African Journal of Science. 112 (5/6), 1-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2016/20150278
2016. Williams, S.A., Middleton, E.R., Villamil, C.I., Shattuck, M.R. Vertebral numbers and human evolution. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 159 (S61), 19-36. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.22901/full
2015. Russo, G.A., Williams,
2015. Berger, L.R., Hawks, J., DeRuiter, D., Churchill, S.E., Schmid, P., Delezene, L., Kivell, T., Garvin, H.M., Williams, S.A., DeSilva, J.M., Skinner, M., Musiba, C.M., Cameron, N., Holliday, T.W., Harcourt-Smith, W., Ackermann, R.R., Bastir, M., Brophy, J., Cofran, Z.D., Congdon, K.A., Deane, A.S., Dembo, M., Elliot, M., Feuerriegel, E.M., García- Martínez, D., Green, D.J., Gurtov, A., Kruger, A., Laird, M.F., Marchi, D., Meyer, M.R., Nalla, S., Negash, E.W., Radovcic, D., Scott, J.E., Schroeder, L., Throckmorton, Z., VanSickle, C., Walker, C.S., Wei, P., Zipfel, B. Homo
2015. Meyer, M.R., Williams, S.A., Smith, M., Sawyer, G. Lucy's back:
2015. Williams, S.A., Russo, G.A. Evolution of the hominoid vertebral column: the long and the short of it. Evolutionary Anthropology 24, 15-32. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/evan.21437/full
2015. Williams, S.A., Shattuck, M.R. Ecology, longevity, and naked mole-rats: confounding effects of sociality? Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 282, 20141664. http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1802/20141664
2015. Russo, G.A., Williams, S.A. Lucy (A.L. 288-1) had five sacral vertebrae. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 156, 295-303. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.22642/full
2013. Williams, S.A., Ostrofsky, K.R., Frater, N., Churchill, S.E., Schmid, P., Berger, L.R. The vertebral column of Australopithecus
2012. Williams, S.A. Modern or distinct axial bauplan in early hominins? Comments on Haeusler et al. (2011). Journal of Human Evolution 63, 552-556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.01.007
2012. Williams, S.A. Placement of the diaphragmatic vertebra in catarrhines: implications for the evolution of
2011. Williams, S.A. Variation in anthropoid vertebral formulae: implications for homology and homoplasy in hominoid evolution. Journal of Experimental Zoology B (Molecular and Developmental Evolution) 318, 134-147. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jez.b.21451/full
2010. Williams, S.A. Morphological integration and the evolution of knuckle-walking. Journal of Human Evolution 58, 432-440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.03.005
2010. Shattuck, M.R., Williams, S.A. Arboreality has allowed for the evolution of increased longevity in mammals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107, 4635- 4639. http://www.pnas.org/content/107/10/4635.abstract
2010. Polk, J.D., Williams, S.A., Peterson, J.V., Roseman, C.C., Godfrey, L.R. Subchondral bone apparent density and locomotor behavior in extant primates and subfossil lemurs Hadropithecus and Pachylemur. International Journal of Primatology 31, 275-299. 10.1007/s10764-010- 9401-y
2009. Polk, J.D., Williams, S.A., Peterson, J.V. Body size and joint posture in primates. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 140, 359-367. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.21083/full
Editor-reviewed Papers and Books
2019. Williams SA, Gomez-Olivencia A, Pilbeam D. Numbers of vertebrae in hominoid evolution. In Been E, Gomez-Olivencia A, Kramer P. (eds.), Spinal Evolution: Morphology, Function, and Pathology of the Spine in Hominoid Evolution. Springer, p 97-124.
2019. Williams SA, Meyer MR. The spine of Australopithecus. In Been E, Gomez-Olivencia A, Kramer P. (eds.), Spinal Evolution: Morphology, Function, and Pathology of the Spine in Hominoid Evolution. Springer, p 125-151.
2019. Meyer MR, Williams SA. The spine of early Homo. In Been E, Gomez-Olivencia A, Kramer P. (eds.), Spinal Evolution: Morphology, Function, and Pathology of the Spine in Hominoid Evolution. Springer, p 153-183.
Williams, S.A., In press. Australopithecus Group. Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science.
Williams, S.A., 2015. Earliest Hominins. McGraw-Hill Yearbook in Science and Technology (2015).
Williams, S.A., 2015 (invited contribution). Review of Apes and Human Evolution by R.H. Tuttle (2014). Current Anthropology.
Updated August 2020
I am an evolutionary morphologist and paleoanthropologist with primary research interests in the evolution of positional behavior (posture and locomotion) during human evolution. My research focus is not on a particular time period; rather, I am interested in evolutionary transitions in the hominoid fossil record, from 20 million-year- old extinct apes to modern human and ape variation and the entirety of human evolution in between. The major focus of my academic work has been on the primate postcranial skeleton and specifically the vertebral column (spine). I have described and analyzed in large comparative datasets the vertebral columns of a two new species of hominins, Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi. Work on that material continues, and I am completing a research project funded by the Leakey Foundation to study the evolution of lordosis in hominins in the context of a global sample of modern humans.
In addition to continuing PhD students Jeff Spear and Monica Avilez, Julia Galway-Witham and Jordan Guerra joined our lab last year, both co-advised by Susan Antón. Julia is interested in fossil hominin phylogeny and cranial evolution and Jordan is interested in the evolution of the vertebral column. Two new PhD students are joining the lab this year, Madelynne Dudas, a former MA student from our Human Skeletal Biology program, and Xue Wang, who previously worked on vertebrate paleontology. Jeff's dissertation is on the evolution of suspensory behavior in hominoid primates and other mammals, with a focus on the upper limb skeleton. Monica is preparing for her comprehensive exams and her second year project focused on the evolution of the hominoid pelvis. Unfortunately, I will not be accepting applications for admission to our PhD program this (2020-2021) academic year.
I continue to teach undergraduate courses like Human Evolution, Human Origins, Problems and Perspectives in Human Evolution, and Evolution and Biology of Human Behavior, along with graduate courses like Integrative Paleoanthropology I and Interpreting the Human Skeleton: Morphological and Statistical Methods. I am offering History of Biological Anthropology this fall. I hope to offer new graduate and undergraduate courses in the future.
Contact Information
Scott A. Williams
Associate Professor sawilliams@nyu.edu 25 Waverly PlaceRoom 701
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 992-9583
Office Hours: T/R 10:00am-11:30pm