Dr Lydia Luncz

Lydia Luncz

Research Affiliate

Lydia Luncz recently completed her Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship at the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology. She is a primatologist mainly interested in the origin and evolution of material culture, particularly in the emergence and maintenance of cultural diversity in primates. Using archaeological methods, she compares the development of percussive technologies of wild primate species that use stone tools, including capuchin monkeys in Brazil, macaques in Thailand and chimpanzees in West-Africa. Lydia’s current project seeks to investigate selection processes, efficiency, and the developments of use wear traces in percussive tools on non-human primates.

For further information please visit lydialuncz.com 

Publication list

Journal Articles

Proffitt T., Haslam M., Mercader J.F., Boesch C., Luncz L.V. (2018): Revisiting Panda 100, the first archaeological chimpanzee nut-cracking site. Journal of Human Evolution, DOI: 10.1016/j.hevol.2018.04.016

Svensson M., Nekaris K.A.I, Bearder S., Bettridge C., Butynski T., Cheyne S., Das N., de Jong Y., Luhrs A., Luncz L.V., Maddock T., Perkin A., Pimley E., Poindexter S., Reinhardt K., Spaan D., Stark D., Starr C., Nijman V. (2018): Sleep patterns, daytime predation, and the evolution of diurnal sleep site selection in lorisiforms. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 166 (3), 563-577.

Proffitt T., Luncz L.V., Malaivijitnond S., Gumert M., Svensson M., Haslam M. (2018): Analysis of wild macaque stone tools used to crack oil palm nuts. Royal Society Open Science, DOI: 10.1098/rsos.171904. [OA]

Luncz L.V., Sirianni G., Mundry R., Boesch C. (2018): Costly culture: differences in nut-cracking efficiency between wild chimpanzee groups. Animal Behaviour, 137:63-73.

Stewart F.A., Piel A.K, Luncz L.V., Osborn J., Li Y., Hahn B.H., Haslam M. (2018): DNA recovery from wild chimpanzee tools. PloS One, 13 (1), doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0189657. [OA]

Luncz L.V., Tan A., Haslam M, Kulik L., Proffitt T., Malaivijitnond S., Gumert M. (2017): Resource depletion through primate stone technology. eLife, doi:10.7554/eLife.23647. [OA]

Luncz L.V., Svensson M., Haslam M., Malaivijitnond S., Proffitt T., Gumert M. (2017): Technological response of wild macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to anthropogenic change. International Journal of Primatology, 38(5), 872-880.

Haslam M., Hernandez-Aguilar A., Proffitt T, Arroyo A., Falótico F., Fragaszy D., Gumert M., Harris J., Huffman M., Kalan A., Malaivijitnond S., Matsuzawa T., McGrew W., Ottoni E., Pascual-Garrido A., Piel A., Pruetz J., Schuppli C., Stewart F., Tan A., Visalberghi E., Luncz L.V. (2017): Primate Archaeology Evolves. Nature: Ecology and Evolution, 1 (10), 1431-1437. doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0286-4.

Luncz L.V., Haslam M. (2017): `Latent solutions` are untestable for early stone tools. Current Anthropology, 58 (5), 656-657. [Reply to Tennie et al. 2017, Current Anthropology, 58 (5), 664-672].

Falotico T., Luncz L., Svensson M., Haslam M. (2017): Cashew nut positioning during stone tool use in wild bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus). Primates, 87:392-397, doi:10.1159/000459621.

Luncz L., Proffitt T., Kulik L., Haslam M., Wittig R.: Distance-decay effect in stone tool transport by wild chimpanzees, Proceedings of the Royal, 283, doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.1607.

Luncz L.V., Proffitt T., Kulik L., Haslam M., Wittig R. (2016): Distance-decay effect in stone tool transport by wild chimpanzees, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 283, doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.1607.

Falótico T., Spangoletti N., Luncz L., Haslam M., Malaivijitnond S., Gumert M: Analysis of sea almonds (Terminalia catappa) nut cracking sites used by wild Burmese long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis aurea). American Journal of Primatolgoy, 79 (5), doi: 10.1002/ajp.22629.

*Proffitt T., *Luncz L.*(*shared first authorship), Falótico T., Ottoni E., de la Torre I., Haslam M. (2016): Wild monkeys flake stone tools. Nature, 539, 85-88, doi:10.1038/nature20112.

Luncz L.V., Falótico T., Pascual-Garrido A., Corat C., Mosley H., Haslam M. (2016): Wild capuchin monkeys adjust percussive tool selection according to changing nut properties. Scientific Reports, DOI: 10.1038/srep33089

Haslam M., Luncz L.V., Staff R., Bradshow F., Ottoni E., Falótico T. (2016): Pre-Columbian Monkey Tools. Current Biology, 26 (13), R515-R522.

Haslam M., Luncz L., Pascual-Garrido A., Falótico T., Malaivijitnond S., Gumert M. (2016): Archaeological excavation of wild macaque stone tools, Journal of Human Evolution, 96, 134-138. 

Tan A., Luncz L., Haslam M., Malaivijitnond S, Gumert M (2016): Complex processing of prickly pear cactus (Opuntia sp) by free-ranging long-tailed macaques: preliminary analysis of hierarchical organisation. Primates, DOI: 10.1007/s10329.

Luncz L.V., Wittig R., Boesch C. (2015): Primate archaeology reveals cultural transmission in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus), Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society B, 370(1682): 20140348. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2014.0348.

Luncz L.V., Boesch C. (2015): The extent of cultural variation between adjacent chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) communities; a microecological approach, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22628

Luncz L.V., Boesch C. (2014): Tradition over trend: Neighboring chimpanzee communities maintain differences in cultural behavior despite frequent female immigration, American Journal of Primatology, DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22259.

Luncz L.V., Mundry R., Boesch C. (2012): Evidence of Cultural Differences between Neighboring Chimpanzee Communities, Current Biology, 22 (10), 922-926.

Málaga-Trillo E., Solis G.P., Schrock Y., Geiss C., Luncz L., et al. (2009) Regulation of Embryonic Cell Adhesion by the Prion Protein. PLoS Biol 7(3).

Book chapters

Haslam M., Falotico T., Luncz L.V. (2018): Recognizing culture in wild primate tool use. Evolution of wild Primate Social Cognition, DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-93776-2_13.