My research explores how variation in skeletal morphology is related to mechanical forces applied during life. Many experimental and comparative studies show that the skeleton adapts to its mechanical environment, both developmentally and through evolutionary time, by altering its structural organization. Thus, using engineering principles, the preserved morphology of skeletal elements can be used to reconstruct past behavior and other characteristics such as body size and proportions. My work has applied this general approach to a variety of issues in vertebrate biology, focusing in particular on the primate postcranial skeleton: locomotor adaptations among anthropoid primates, the evolution of human bipedal locomotion, reconstruction of stature and body mass, bioarchaeological studies of various recent populations, climatic adaptation, and skeletal growth and aging in both humans and nonhuman primates. My current research is focused on how changes in subsistence strategy and other environmental variables affected skeletal morphology in Holocene European populations; the interaction between locomotion, obstetrics, and body shape among early hominins; and the effects of locomotor transitions during growth on skeletal structure in gorillas and other hominoids.

Education

• Ph.D. Biological Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 1981
• B.A. Anthropology, Stanford University, 1975

Research Focuses

• biomechanics and primate locomotion
• evolution of the hominoid postcranium
• skeletal growth and development
• osteoporosis
• skeletal remodeling & behavioral reconstruction in human populations

Ruff, C. B., Sylvester, A. D., Rahmawati, N. T., Suriyanto, R., Storm, P., Aubert, M., Joannes-Boyau, R., Berghuis, H., Pop, E., Batenburg, K. J., Coban, S. B., Kostenko, A., Noerwidi, S., Renema, W., Adhityatama, S., & Joordens, J. C. (2022) Two Late Pleistocene human femora from Trinil, Indonesia: Implications for body size and behavior in Southeast Asia. J. Hum. Evol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103252

Ruff, C.B., Junno, J.-A., Burgess, M.L., Canington, S.L., Harper, C., Mudakikwa, A., and McFarlin, S.M. (2022) Body proportions and environmental adaptation in gorillas. Am. J. Biol. Anthropol. 177: 501-529. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24443

Ruff, C.B., Wunderlich,  R.E., Hatala, K.G., Tuttle, R.H., Hilton, C.E., D’Août , K., Webb, D.M., Hallgrímsson, B., Musiba, C., and Baksh, M. (2021) Body mass estimation from footprint size in hominins. J. Hum. Evol. 156: 102997. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102997

Ruff, C.B., Junno, J.A., Eckhardt, W., Gilardi, K., Mudakikwa, A., and McFarlin, S.C. (2020) Skeletal ageing in Virunga mountain gorillas. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 375: 20190606.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0606

Ruff, C.B., Squyres, N., and Junno, J.A. (2020) Body mass estimation in hominins from humeral articular dimensions. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 173: 480-499. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24090

Ruff, C.B., Higgins, R.W., and Carlson, K.J. (2020) Long bone cross-sectional geometry. In: Zipfel, B., Richmond, B.G., and Ward, C.V. (eds), Hominin postcranial remains from Sterkfontein, South Africa, 1936-1996. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, pp. 307-320.

Ruff, C.B., Harper, C., Goldstein, D., Daegling, D., and McGraw, W.S. (2019) Long bone structural proportions and locomotor behavior in Cercopithecidae. J. Hum. Evol. 132: 47-60. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.04.003

Ruff C. B. (2019) Biomechanical analyses of archaeological human skeletal samples. In: Katzenburg, M.A. and Grauer, A.L. (eds.), Biological anthropology of the human skeleton, 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. , pp. 189-224.

Ruff, C.B., Burgess, M.L., Squyres, N., Junno, J.-A., Trinkaus, E. (2018) Lower limb articular scaling and body mass estimation in Pliocene and Pleistocene hominins. J. Hum. Evol., 115: 85-111. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.10.014

Ruff, C.B., Burgess, M.L., Junno, J.-A., Mudakikwa, A., Zollikofer, P.E., Ponce de Leon, M.S., McFarlin, S.C. (2018) Phylogenetic and environmental effects on limb bone structure in gorillas. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 166: 353-372. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23437

Ruff, C.B. (2018) Biomechanical analyses of archaeological human skeletons. In: Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton, 3rd ed. Katzenberg, M.A. and Grauer, A.L., eds. Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell, pp. 189-224.

Ruff, C. (2017) Mechanical constraints on the hominin pelvis and the “obstetrical dilemma”. Anat. Rec. 300:946-955. DOI: 10.1002/ar.23539

Ruff, C.B., Burgess, M.L., Ketcham, R.A., and Kappelman, J. (2016) Limb bone structural proportions and locomotor behavior in A.L. 288-1 (“Lucy”). PLOS ONE 11. DOI: e0166095

Ruff, C.B. and Burgess, M.L. (2015) How much more would KNM-WT 15000 have grown? J. Hum. Evol. 80: 74-82. (view from Elsevier JHE page)

Ruff, C.B., Puymerail, L., Machiarelli, R., Sipla, J., and Ciochon, R.L. (2015) Structure and composition of the Trinil femora: functional and taxonomic implications. J. Hum. Evol.80: 147-158. (view from Elsevier JHE page)

Ruff, C.B., Holt, B.M., Niskanen, M., Sladek, V., Berner, M., Garofalo, E., Garvin, H.M., Hora, M., Junno, J.-A., Schuplerova, E., Vilkama, R., and Whittey, E. (2015) Gradual decline in mobility with the adoption of food production in Europe. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 112: 7147-7152. (view from PNAS page)

Ruff, C.B., Burgess, M.L., Bromage, T.G., Mudakikwa, A., McFarlin, S.C. (2013) Ontogenetic changes in limb bone structural proportions in mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei). J. Hum. Evol. 65: 693-703. (view from Elsevier JHE page)

Ruff, C.B., Garofalo, E., and Holmes, M.A. (2013) Interpreting skeletal growth in the past from a functional and physiological perspective. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 150:29-37. (view from Wiley AJPA page)

Ruff, C.B. and Higgins, R. (2013) Femoral neck structure and function in early hominins. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 150:512-525. (view from Wiley AJPA page)

Ruff C.B., Holt, B.M., Niskanen, M., Sladek, V., Berner, M., Garofalo, E., Garvin, H.M., Hora, M., Maijanen, H., Niinimaki, S., Salo, K., Schuplerova, E., and Tompkins, D. (2012) Stature and body mass estimation from skeletal remains in the European Holocene. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 148: 601-617. (view from Wiley AJPA page)

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