Lucas Delezene

Lucas K. Delezene is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas since 2014. His research focuses on dental morphology and its implications for hominin evolution, with a particular emphasis on Homo naledi and Australopithecus species. He has contributed significantly to understanding tooth development patterns, dental wear analysis, and evolutionary relationships among early hominins.

Key research interests include:

• Paleoanthropological analysis of dental remains
• Microevolutionary patterns in hominin dentition
• Functional morphology of teeth
• Geometric morphometric analysis of dental structures
• Phylogenetic placement of Homo naledi

His work has been published extensively in Journal of Human Evolution and American Journal of Physical Anthropology, with 21 peer-reviewed articles since 2009. Notably, he has been involved in multiple studies analyzing the Dinaledi Chamber fossils from South Africa, contributing to the description of Homo naledi's dentition.

No specific academic awards or grants are listed in the provided information.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates extensively with global paleoanthropology networks, including studies with Lee R. Berger's team on the Rising Star Cave Project.