

Contact Details
Sandra Martelli
Senior Teaching Fellow
Division of Biosciences
- Tel: 020 7679 3487
- Ext: 33487
- s.martelli@ucl.ac.uk
- Room G18a, Anatomy Building, UCL, London, WC1E 6BT
Human Evolution Interest
My background is in comparative anatomy (humans and primates),
biological sciences and human evolution. Recently, I have been
investigating how the hominoid vertebral column (and to some extent the
sacrum and pelvis) varies throughout evolution in relation to different
functional demands (e.g. bipedal gait and arboreal locomotion) as well
as to variations within (sexual dimorphism) and between recent and
fossil hominoids.
Currently, my interests have shifted to the
variation in larynx and vocal tract anatomy (both hard and soft tissues)
observed in various recent hominoids (humans and great apes). I am
investigating these variations in relation to the presence or absence of
speech and language faculties and what this can tell us about speech
abilities in relation to anatomical constraints of fossil taxa such as
the Neanderthals.