BRAGA Jose

(c) Yann Combe

Contact

Email : jose.braga@univ-tlse3.fr

Skype : australopithecusafricanus / Instagram : jose_braga_kromdraai

Researcher ID A-4025-2010
Orcid ID : 0000-0002-8483-076X

http://scholar.google.fr/citations?user=IdEkyGgAAAAJ

Biosketch

José Braga has graduated in Geology (‘Licence’, Clermont-Ferrand, 1987 – ‘Maitrise’, Bordeaux, 1988), Evolutionary Biology (‘DEA’, Bordeaux, 1989 – PhD, Bordeaux, 1995), Radiation and Medical Imagery (‘DEA’, Toulouse, 1998) with the aims of combining the development of new research tools and intensive field research in Africa for the study of early human evolution. As part of his academic career, he took on several post-doctoral fellowships in the University of Zürich (1996), the National Museums of Ethiopia and Kenya (Addis Ababa and Nairobi, 1996/1997) and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa (Johannesburg, 1997). He was first appointed as a permanent Associate Professor at the University Bordeaux 1 (1998-2006). He because a full Professor in 2006 at the University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse) and has supervised a total of 13 PhD students (since 2004).

Since 2002, he conducts long-standing fieldwork at the world-class UNESCO Plio-Pleistocene site of Kromdraai (South Africa) (26°00’41’’S, 27°44’60’’E) where he discovered new early Paranthropus and early Homo remains that fill important gaps in what is currently available in the fossil record. He was awarded two prestigious Erasmus Mundus Programmes (AESOP/+ from 2014 to 2018, € 4 600 000), which consisted of two multidisciplinary and intersectorial consortia promoting exchange between 14 European and 12 South African universities. He was Training Manager of the European Virtual Anthropology Network (EVAN from 2004 to 2007, € 3 297 000) and Co-Director of a Research Group in the CNRS (GDR 2142) from 2004 to 2007. He was Vice-Chairman of a national academic committee (Conseil National des Universités, Section 20, 2004-2005) and member of a national research committee (Comité National du CNRS, Section 31, 2016-2020).

Selected Invited Seminars

Five Selected Publications

  • Braga, J., Samir, C., Fradi, A., Feunteun, Y., Jakata, K., Zimmer, V.A., Zipfel, B., Thackeray, J.F., Macé, M., Wood, B.A., Grine, F.E. 2021. Cochlear shape distinguishes southern African early hominin taxa with unique auditory ecologies. Scientific Reports 11, 17018. 
  • Martin, J., Tacail, T., Braga, J., Cerling, T.E., Balter, V., 2020. Calcium isotopic ecology of Turkana Basin hominins. Nature Communications. 11, 3587 
  • Braga J, Samir C, Risser L, Dumoncel J, Descouens D, Thackeray JF, Balaresque P, Oettle A, Loubes J-M, Fradi A 2019. Cochlear shape reveals that the human organ of hearing is sex-typed from birth. Scientific Reports 9, 10889.
  • Tacail T, Martin J, Arnaud-Godet F, Thackeray JF, Cerling T, Braga J, Balter V 2019. Calcium isotopic patterns of weaning behavior in enamel of South African early hominins. Science Advances 5, eaax3250.
  • Balter V, Braga J, Télouk P, Thackeray F, 2012. Evidence for dietary change but not landscape use in South African early hominins. Nature 489, 558-560.

Selected books and chapters

  • Braga J. 2021. Humains : une histoire d’abord africaine. In Homo faber. Deux Millions d’Années d’Histoire de la Pierre Taillée. De l’Afrique aux Portes de l’Europe. 44-49 (Ed. Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris).
  • Braga J. 2021. Les nouveaux homininés de l’Unité P à Kromdraai. Un aperçu de l’évolution humaine en Afrique du Sud autour de 2 millions d’années. In Un Bouquet d’Ancêtres. Premiers humains : Qui était qui, Qui a fait quoi, Où et Quand ? (eds Coppens, Y. & Vialet, A.) 161-172 ( CNRS Editions et Académie Pontificale des Sciences).
  • Braga J., Cohen C., Maureille B., Teyssandier N. 2016. Evolution Humaine. Les nouveaux scénarios. Ville Brûle Eds. 224 pages. »

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