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The Grandmother Hypothesis and Human Origins
Webcasts & OnlineThursday, February 19, 2026, 11:30am – 12:30pm EST
Extended postmenopausal longevity, pair bonding, and helpless (adorable) babies are aspects of life history that distinguish us from other great apes. How did they evolve?
Kristen Hawkes, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Utah, will show how the grandmother hypothesis can explain the evolution of these human features, using lessons from her ethnographic fieldwork with hunter-gatherers in Paraguay and Tanzania.
Moderator: Briana Pobiner, paleoanthropologist and educator at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
This program is part of the ongoing HOT (Human Origins Today) Topic series and will be presented as a Zoom video webinar. A link will be emailed to all registrants.
Free; Registration Required.
Online; Internet connection required
Natural History Museum