Biography
I am a Research Fellow at the Evolutionary Ecology Group and at Emmanuel College. Previously, I completed my PhD at the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology of the University of Zürich, and an MPhil at the Department of Archaeology in Cambridge.
Research
Broadly, I am interested on the ecological and social drivers of the diversity of ways in which humans live and have lived throughout our evolution. Moreover, how this diversity has shaped our genetic and cultural makeup as well as our similarities and differences with other animals.
To investigate these questions, I combine methods and data from population genetics, computational modelling, archaeology and field research among hunter-gatherers, mainly in the Republic of Congo.
Publications
Padilla-Iglesias, C., Xue, Z., Leonardi, M., Paijmans, J., Colucci, M., Hovhannisyan, A., Hallett, E., Scerri, E.M., Vinicius, L., Migliano, A.B. & Manica, A. Pan African model explains Homo sapiens’ morphological and genetic evolution. Preprint in BiorXiv.
Padilla-Iglesias, C., Blanco-Portillo, J., Pricop, B., Ioannidis, A., Bickel, B., Manica, A., Vinicius, L., & Migliano, A.B. (2024). Deep history of cultural and linguistic evolution among Central African hunter-gatherers. Nature Human Behaviour, 8, 1263–1275.
Padilla-Iglesias, C., Atmore, L. M., Olivero, J., Lupo, K., Manica, A., Arango Isaza, E., ... & Migliano, A. B. (2022). Population interconnectivity over the past 120,000 yearsexplains distribution and diversity of Central African hunter-gatherers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(21), e2113936119
Garg, K., Padilla-Iglesias, C., Ochoa, N. R., & Knight, V. B. (2021). Hunter-gatherer foraging networks promote information transmission. Royal Society OpenScience,.8,211324211324.
Campbell, O., Padilla-Iglesias, C. & Mace, R. (2024). Genetic markers of cousin marriage and honour killings. Evolution and Human Behavior, 45(6), 106636.
Padilla-Iglesias, C., Freeman, E. C. (2024) Racing the clock. Science, 386(6725), 1062.
Gunasekaram, C., Battison, F., Sadekar, O., Padilla-Iglesias, C., van Noordwiijk, M. A., Manica, A., Bertranpetit, J., Whiten, A., van Schaik, C., Vinicius, L., & Migliano, A. B. (2024). Population interconnectivity shapes the distribution and complexity of chimpanzee cumulative culture. Science, 386(6724), 920-925.
Padilla-Iglesias, C. & Bischoff, R. (2024). Hunter-gatherer mobility patterns influence the reconstruction of social networks from archaeological assemblages. Journal ofArchaeological Sciences: Reports, 59, 104798.
Padilla-Iglesias, C. & Derkx, I. (2024). Hunter-gatherer genetics research: Importance and avenues. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 1-48.
Padilla-Iglesias, C. & Migliano, A. B. (2024). Musical instruments, tools, language and genetic data reveal ancient hunter-gatherer networks. Nature Human Behaviour, 8, 1245-1246.
Padilla-Iglesias, C., Grove, M. & Blinkhorn, J. (2023). Ecological drivers of hunter-gatherer lithic technology from the Middle and Later Stone Age in Central Africa. QuaternaryScience Reviews, 322, 108390.
Zonker, J., Padilla-Iglesias, C.* & Conrad, N. (2023). Insights into drivers of mobility and cultural dynamics of African hunter-gatherers over the past 120,000 years. Royal Society OpenScience, 10(11), 230495.
Bischoff, R., Padilla-Iglesias, C.* (2023). A description and sensitivity analysis of the ArchMatNet agent-based model. PeerJ. 9:e1419.
Padilla-Iglesias, C., Basargekar, A., Woodward, A. & Shneidman, L. (2023). Exploring Intra- and Inter-Cultural Differences in Toddler’s Time Allocation in a Yucatec Maya and USCommunity. Social Development, 00, 1-23.
Padilla-Iglesias, C., & Kramer, K. L. (2021). The Role of Language in Structuring Social Networks Following Market Integration in a Yucatec Maya Population. Frontiers in Psychology,12, 656963-656963.
Padilla-Iglesias, C., Woodward, A. L., Goldin-Meadow, S., & Shneidman, L. A. (2021). Changing language input following market integration in a Yucatec Mayan community. PlosOne, 16(6), e0252926.
Padilla-Iglesias, C., Gjesfjeld, E., & Vinicius, L. (2020). Geographical and social isolation drive the evolution of Austronesian languages. Plos One, 15(12), e0243171.
Padilla-Iglesias, C., Foley, R. A., & Shneidman, L. A. (2020). Language as a marker of ethnic identity among the Yucatec Maya. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2.
Teaching and Supervisions
I supervise students for the Part IA Evolution and Behaviour module.
