Teresa E. Steele

Education

• Ph.D., Anthropology, Stanford University, 2002
• A.M., Anthropology (Human Biocultural Evolution), Stanford University, 1998
• B.S., Anthropology & Human Biology, Emory University, 1996 (summa cum laude)

About

Teresa Steele is a paleoanthropologist who studies the later phases of human evolution – the emergence and evolution of people who were behaviorally and anatomically like recent humans. Her research focuses on why some of these human populations spread out of Africa about 50,000 years ago and were able to replace the Neandertals in Europe. She is particularly interested in the origins of modern human cultural abilities and the relationship between changes in technology, subsistence, and demography

Research Focus

Professor Steele’s research focuses on Middle and Late Pleistocene (780,000-10,000 years ago) archaeology – the Middle Paleolithic made by Neandertals in Europe and the Middle Stone Age (MSA) made by their contemporaries in Africa. She studies the mode and tempo of human behavioral evolution during this time through zooarchaeology – reconstructing human subsistence and ecology through the patterns of variation found in animal bones and mollusks preserved in archaeological sites. She conducts research in South Africa, Morocco and France.

Recent Publications

• Sandgathe, D., V. Aldeias, P. Goldberg, S. P. McPherron, D. I. Olszewski, A. Abdolahzadeh, A. Carrancho, D. Cabanes, G. Gallo, G. Guerin, A. V. Herrera-Herrera, L. Li, C. Mallol, J. del Río, D. Papavasiliou, M. Stahlschmidt and T. E. Steele (2026). Vial Excavation: Microstratigraphic Excavation in the Laboratory - A Methodology for High Resolution Sampling and Integration of Data from Multiple Analytical Methods. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology 9(1): 16.
• Worthey, K. B., E. Y. Hallett, T. E. Steele, A. Oujaa and M. A. El Hajraoui (2026). Late Pleistocene Climate Variability at La Grotte des Contrebandiers, Morocco as Measured by Oxygen Isotope Analyses of Large Herbivore Tooth Enamel. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology 9(1): 6.
• Barakat, S., E.-L. Jimenez, R. K. Heikkilä, A. Royer, J. Hodgkins, L. Niven, M.-C. Soulier, S. Lagle, C. Dancette, T. E. Steele, J.-C. Castel, S. McPherron, J.-J. Hublin, K. Ruebens, E. Discamps and K. Britton (2026). Sulfur isotopes evidence spatial ecology of Late Pleistocene ungulates in southwestern France. Quaternary Science Reviews 374: 109744.
• McNeill, P. J., B. E. Hull-McNeill, S. Gilbertson and T. E. Steele (2025). Does exposure to heat alter stable isotopes in ostrich eggshell? A controlled experiment and analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 67: 105323.
• McCartin, M. J., T. Bolorbat, C. Paine, G. Lkhundev, D. Odsuren, F. Akai, G. Gallo, F. Iizuka, C. L. Johnson, K. Morizaki, Y. Nakazawa, S. Rigaud, P. Zhang, T. E. Steele, M. Izuho, B. Gunchinsuren and N. Zwyns (2025). The Paleolithic open-air site of Tolbor-17 (Mongolia): A preliminary faunal report. Studia Archaeologica 47(1): 77-90.
• Worthey, K. B., P. Fernandez, E. Turner, T. E. Steele, L. Humphrey, R. N. E. Barton, J.-J. Hublin and A. Bouzouggar (2025). Expansion of forest cover and coeval shifts in Later Stone Age land-use at Taforalt and Rhafas Caves, Morocco, as inferred from carbon isotopes in ungulate tooth enamel. PLOS ONE 20(6): e0325691.
• Watson, S. E., N. Zwyns, T. E. Steele, A. Mackay and N. Cleghorn (2025). Robberg Lithic Technology from Knysna Eastern Heads Cave 1. Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology 8(1): 14.
• Steele, T. E., G. Gallo and N. L. Martisius (2025). Animal resources in experimental archaeology: A reflection on standards and ethics. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 61: 104901.
• Wang, X., G. Bocksberger, … T. E. Steele, … H. S. Kühl, C. Boesch and V. M. Oelze (2024). Strontium isoscape of sub-Saharan Africa allows tracing origins of victims of the transatlantic slave trade. Nature Communications 15(1): 10891.
• Watson SE, T Dogandžić, P Zhang, TE Steele and N Zwyns. 2023. Small tool production in the Howiesons Poort: a view from Montagu Cave, South Africa. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa:1-40.
• Sinet-Mathiot V, W Rendu, TE Steele, R Spasov, S Madelaine, S Renou, M-C Soulier, NL Martisius, V Aldeias, E Endarova, P Goldberg, JP McPherron Shannon, Z Rezek, D Sandgathe, N Sirakov, S Sirakova, M Soressi, T Tsanova, A Turq, J-J Hublin, F Welker and M Smith Geoff. 2023. Identifying the unidentified fauna enhances insights into hominin subsistence strategies during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 15: 139.
• Stahlschmidt, MC, SM Mentzer, S Heinrich, A Cooper, MN Grote, PJ McNeill, JC-B Wilder and TE Steele. 2023. Impact of a recent wildfire on tortoises at Cape Point, South Africa, and implications for the interpretation of heated bones in the archaeological record. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 15: 126.
• Mackay A, SJ Armitage, EM Niespolo, WD Sharp, MC Stahlschmidt, AF Blackwood, KC Boyd, BM Chase, SE Lagle, CF Kaplan, MA Low, NL Martisius, PJ McNeill, I Moffat, CA O’Driscoll, R Rudd, J Orton and TE Steele. 2022. Environmental influences on human innovation and behavioural diversity in southern Africa 92–80 thousand years ago. Nature Ecology & Evolution 6: 361-369.
• Jerardino A, J Orton, TE Steele, D Halkett and T Hart. 2021. Living and foraging at a climatic and coastal biogeographic transition zone: further observations on the mid-Holocene and the megamidden period of the west coast of South Africa. Southern African Humanities 34:175-203.
• Hallett EY, CW Marean, TE Steele, E Álvarez-Fernández, Z Jacobs, JN Cerasoni, V Aldeias, EML Scerri, DI Olszewski, MA El Hajraoui and HL Dibble. 2021. A worked bone assemblage from 120,000–90,000 year old deposits at Contrebandiers Cave, Atlantic Coast, Morocco. iScience 24:102988.
• Pederzani S, V Aldeias, HL Dibble, P Goldberg, J-J Hublin, S Madelaine, SP McPherron, D Sandgathe, TE Steele, A Turq and K Britton. 2021. Reconstructing Late Pleistocene paleoclimate at the scale of human behavior: an example from the Neandertal occupation of La Ferrassie (France). Scientific Reports 11: 1419.
• Martisius NL, SP McPherron, E Schulz-Kornas, M Soressi and TE Steele. 2020. A method for the taphonomic assessment of bone tools using 3D surface texture analysis of bone microtopography. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 12: 251.
• Talamo S, V Aldeias, P Goldberg, L Chiotti, HL Dibble, G Guérin, J-J Hublin, S Madelaine, R Maria, D Sandgathe, TE Steele, A Turq and SJP McPherron. 2020. The new 14C chronology for the Palaeolithic site of La Ferrassie, France. The disappearance of Neandertals and the arrival of Homo sapiens in France. Journal of Quaternary Science 35(7): 961-973.
• Martisius NL, F Welker, T Dogandžić, MN Grote, W Rendu, V Sinet-Mathiot, A Wilcke, SJP McPherron, M Soressi and TE Steele. 2020. Non-destructive ZooMS identification reveals strategic bone tool raw material selection by Neandertals. Scientific Reports 10: 7746.

Teaching

• ANT 003: Introduction to Archaeology
• ANT 25: Ancient Animals and People
• ANT 174: European Archaeology - Spring 2027
• ANT 177: African Archaeology
• ANT 180: Zooarchaeology
• ANT 216: Problems in Archeological Method: Advanced Zooarchaeology - Winter 2027
• ANT 216: Problems in Archeological Method: Proposal Writing

Awards

• 2020 Graduate Program Advising and Mentoring Award
• 2014-2019 University of California, Davis Chancellor’s Fellow
• 2016-2017 Faculty Development Award
• 2011 Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association’s Excellence in Teaching Award