Miikka Tallavaara

Miikka Tallavaara is an Associate Professor at the Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, and serves as the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Hominin Ecology research group. His work bridges archaeology and environmental science, focusing on hominin-environment interactions.

Research Interests: Tallavaara investigates hominin ecology and evolution, hunter-gatherer population dynamics, and lithic technology. He emphasizes how biotic and abiotic factors shape human distributions, diet, and population trends, while maintaining expertise in lithic tool analysis for understanding prehistoric behavior.

Publications: His research on hunter-gatherer ecology spans ecological modeling, Holocene environmental changes, and lithic analytical methods. Key works include studies on biodiversity-pathogen impacts (2018), Last Glacial Maximum population shifts (2015), and postglacial dispersal patterns (2014).

Projects: He leads the Hominin Ecology group and contributes to multidisciplinary efforts like the Pleistocene ecological niche project (2024-2027) and postglacial dispersal studies (2019-2025).