Dr Phil Hopley
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Overview
Overview
Biography
I use stable isotope geochemistry in cave carbonates (speleothems) and fossil teeth to understand Pliocene and Pleistocene climate and environments. Much of this work offers context to human evolution in Africa.
Administrative responsibilities
- Chair of the Earth and Planetary Sciences Sub-Board of Examiners
Visiting posts
- Honorary Research Associate, Department of Earth Sciences, UCL,
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Research
Research
Research interests
- Cave Science
- Palaeodietary Reconstruction
- Palaeoclimatology
- Hominin Evolution
Research overview
I am interested in the interplay between climate, vegetation and mammalian communities during the Miocene to Pleistocene of Africa. My work employs sedimentological, palaeobiological and geochemical approaches to understand the environmental context of early hominin evolution in Africa.
Particular interests include the reconstruction past climate change using cave carbonates (flowstones, stalagmites) and palaeodietary analysis using fossil teeth.
Research Centres and Institutes
Research clusters and groups
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Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Supervision
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest.
Doctoral alumni since 2013-14
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SIMON MAXWELL
Teaching
I teach the Level 4 module Earth History and the Level 6 module Palaeoclimatology.
Teaching modules
- Earth History (EASC050H4)
- Methods in Natural Sciences I (SC11001H4)
- Map and Thesis (SCES015D6)
- Introduction to Field Geology (SCES062S4)
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Hopley, Philip and Cerling, T. and Crete, L. and Werdelin, L. and Mwebi, O. and Manthi, F. and Leakey, L. (2023) Stable isotope analysis of carnivores from the Turkana Basin, Kenya: evidence for temporally-mixed fossil assemblages. Quaternary International 650, pp. 12-27. ISSN 1040-6182.
- Wilson, D.J. and Pogge von Strandmann, Philip A.E. and White, Joanne and Tarbuck, G. and Marca, A.D. and Atkinson, T.C. and Hopley, Philip J. (2021) Seasonal variability in silicate weathering signatures recorded by Li isotopes in cave drip-waters. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 312, pp. 194-216. ISSN 0016-7037.
- Macho, Gabriele and Fornai, C. and Tardieu, C. and Hopley, Philip and Haeusler, M. and Toussaint, M. (2020) The partial skeleton StW 431 from Sterkfontein – Is it time to rethink the Plio-Pleistocene hominin diversity in South Africa?. Journal of Anthropological Sciences 98, pp. 73-88. ISSN 1827-4765.
- Hopley, Phil and Reade, H. and Parrish, R. and De Kock, M. and Adams, J.W. (2019) Speleothem evidence for C3 dominated vegetation during the Late Miocene (Messinian) of South Africa. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 264, pp. 75-89. ISSN 0034-6667.
- Sewell, L. and Merceron, G. and Hopley, Philip and Zipfel, B. and Reynolds, S. (2019) Using springbok (Antidorcas) dietary proxies to reconstruct inferred palaeovegetational changes over 2 million years in Southern Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 23, pp. 1014-1028. ISSN 2352-409X.
- Hopley, Philip J. and Weedon, G.P. and Brierley, C. and Thrasivoulou, C. and Herries, A.I.R. and Dinckal, A. and Richards, D.A. and Nita, D.C. and Parrish, R.R. and Roberts, N.M.W. and Sahy, D. and Smith, C.L. (2018) Orbital precession modulates interannual rainfall variability, as recorded in an Early Pleistocene speleothem. Geology 46 (8), pp. 731-734. ISSN 0091-7613.
- Maxwell, Simon J. and Hopley, Philip J. and Upchurch, P. and Soligo, C. (2018) Sporadic sampling, not climatic forcing, drives observed early hominin diversity.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 115 (19), pp. 4891-4896. ISSN 0027-8424.
- Kuhn, B.F. and Herries, A.I.R. and Pickering, R. and Price, G. and Baker, S.E. and Hopley, Philip J. and Menter, C. and Caruana, M.V. (2016) Renewed investigations at Taung; 90 years after Australopithecus africanus. Palaeontologia africana 51, pp. 10-26. ISSN ISSN 2410-4418.
- Parker, J.F. and Hopley, Philip J. and Kuhn, B.F. (2016) Fossil Carder Bee's nest from the Hominin locality of Taung, South Africa. PLoS One 11 (9), pp. e0161198. ISSN 1932-6203.
- Dorana, T.L. and Herries, A.I.R. and Hopley, Philip J. and Somebroek, H. and Hellstrom, J. and Hodge, E. and Kuhng, B.F. (2015) Assessing the paleoenvironmental potential of Pliocene to Holocene tufa deposits along the Ghaap Plateau escarpment (South Africa) using stable isotopes. Quaternary Research 84 (1), pp. 133-143. ISSN 0033-5894.
- Kuhn, B.F. and Carlson, K.J. and Hopley, Philip J. and Zipfel, B. and Berger, L.R. (2015) Identification of fossilized eggshells from the Taung hominin locality, Taung, Northwest Province, South Africa. Palaeontologia Electronica 18 (1), pp. 1-16. ISSN 1094-8074.
- Hopley, Philip J. and Herries, A.I.R. and Baker, S.E. and Kuhn, B.F. and Menter, C.G. (2013) Brief communication: beyond the South African cave paradigm-Australopithecus africanusfrom Plio-Pleistocene paleosol deposits at Taung. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 151 (2), pp. 316-324. ISSN 0002-9483.
- Daley, T.J. and Thomas, E.R. and Holmes, J.A. and Street-Perrott, F.A. and Chapman, M.R. and Tindall, J.C. and Valdes, P.J. and Loader, N.J. and Marshall, J.D. and Wolff, E.W. and Hopley, Philip J. and Atkinson, T. and Barber, K.E. and Fisher, E.H. and Robertson, I. and Hughes, P.D.M. and Roberts, C.N. (2011) The 8200yr BP cold event in stable isotope records from the North Atlantic region. Global and Planetary Change 79 (3-4), pp. 288-302. ISSN 0921-8181.
- Adams, J.W. and Herries, A.I.R. and Hemingway, J. and Kegley, A.D.T. and Kgasi, L. and Hopley, Philip J. and Reade, H. and Potze, S. and Thackeray, J.F. (2010) Initial fossil discoveries from Hoogland, a new Pliocene primate-bearing karstic system in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 59 (6), pp. 685-691. ISSN 0047-2484.
- Herries, A.I.R. and Hopley, Philip J. and Adams, J.W. and Curnoe, D. and Maslin, Mark A. (2010) Letter to the editor: Geochronology and palaeoenvironments of Southern African hominin-bearing localities: a reply to Wrangham et al., 2009. “Shallow-water habitats as sources of fallback foods for hominins”. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 143 (4), pp. 640-646. ISSN 0002-9483.
- Hopley, Philip J. and Maslin, Mark A. (2010) Climate-averaging of terrestrial faunas: an example from the Plio-Pleistocene of South Africa. Paleobiology 36 (1), pp. 32-50. ISSN 0094-8373.
- Hopley, Philip J. and Marshall, J.D. and Latham, A.G. (2009) Speleothem preservation and diagenesis in South African hominin sites implications for paleoenvironments and geochronology. Geoarchaeology 24 (5), pp. 519-547. ISSN 0883-6353.
- Hopley, Philip and Marshall, J.D. and Weedon, G.P. and Latham, A.G. and Herries, A.I.R. and Kuykendall, K.L. (2007) Orbital forcing and the spread of C4 grasses in the late Neogene: stable isotope evidence from South African speleothems. Journal of Human Evolution 53 (5), pp. 620-634. ISSN 0047-2484.
- Hopley, Philip and Weedon, G.P. and Marshall, J.D. and Latham, A.G. and Herries, A.I.R. and Kuykendall, K.L. (2007) High- and low-latitude orbital forcing of early hominin habitats in South Africa. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 256 (3-4), pp. 419-432. ISSN 0012-821X.
- Lunt, D. and Ross, I. and Hopley, Philip and Valdes, P.J. (2007) Modelling late Oligocene C4 grasses and climate. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 251 (2), pp. 239-253. ISSN 0031-0182.
- Curnoe, D. and Herries, A. and Brink, J. and Hopley, Philip and van Reyneveld, K. and Henderson, Z. and Morris, D. (2006) Discovery of Middle Pleistocene fossil and stone tool-bearing deposits at Groot Kloof, Ghaap escarpment, Northern Cape province. South African Journal of Science 102 (5-6), pp. 180-184. ISSN 0038-2353.
- Hopley, Philip and Latham, A.G. and Marshall, J.D. (2006) Palaeoenvironments and palaeodiets of mid-Pliocene micromammals from Makapansgat Limeworks, South Africa: a stable isotope and dental microwear approach. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 233 (3-4), pp. 235-251. ISSN 0031-0182.
- Curnoe, D. and Herries, A. and Brink, J. and Hopley, Philip and Ryneveld, K. and Henderson, Z. and Morris, D. (2005) Beyond Taung: palaeoanthropological research at Groot Kloof, Ghaap Escarpment, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Nyame Akuma 64, pp. 58-65.
- Hopley, Philip (2001) Plesiosaur spinal pathology: the first fossil occurrence of Schmorl's nodes. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 21 (2), pp. 253-260. ISSN 0272-4634.
- Hopley, Philip (2000) A new plesiosaurid specimen from the Liassic (Lower Jurassic) of southern England. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 122, pp. 129-138. ISSN 0070-7112.