Mark Hubbe’s research program draws from a strong quantitative and evolutionary framework and is structured around wide interdisciplinary collaborative networks with colleagues and students from the US, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Germany. His work spans a broad range of topics, including the early peopling of South America, the evolution of cranial morphology within the genus Homo, and the study of frailty and stress in past populations.

Research

Hubbe is currently focused on a critical review of the anthropology discipline, aimed at refining theoretical and methodological assumptions in the field, with special attention to how we incorporate lived experiences and accumulated stress into interpretations of the past. This new research line has inspired his current National Science Foundation-funded project, which began in 2024, exploring the value of using epigenetic clock markers to estimate chronological age at death from human skeletal remains and evaluates the impact of accumulated physiological stress on these age estimates.

In the last three years, Hubbe has applied his expertise in evolutionary quantitative methods and cranial morphological variation to investigate the evolutionary processes that shaped the genus Homo during the Pleistocene.

Beyond his main research foci, Hubbe maintains a highly interdisciplinary record within and outside Anthropology, having collaborated on research projects and publications across multiple disciplines, including human biology, cultural anthropology, archaeology, geology, paleontology, and zoology.

Publications

• McGuire, Sara A.; Hubbe, Mark; Pestle, William J.; Sharifi, Arash; Pourmand, Ali. 2025. Geochemical tales of individual lives in the industrial revolution: Untangling the impact of pollutant exposure in two English towns. Science advances 11, eadd1047. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add1047
• Nery, Victor; Neves, Walter A.; Valota, Leticia; Hubbe, Mark. 2025. Testing the taxonomy of Dmanisi hominin fossils through dental crown area. PLoS One 20 (12), e0336484
• Menéndez, Lumila; Hubbe, Mark. 2025. Toward a Biocultural Synthesis of the Peopling of the Americas: Introduction to the Special Issue. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 188, e70160. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.70160.
• Pestle, William; Hubbe, Mark; Torres-Rouff, Christina; Pimentel, Gonzalo. 2021. Temporal, Spatial, and Gender-based Dietary Differences in Middle Period San Pedro de Atacama, Chile: A Model-based Approach. PLoS One 16: e0252051. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252051
• Hubbe, Mark; Terrazas Mata, Alejandro; Herrera, Brianne; Benavente Sanvicente, Martha E.; González González, Arturo; Rojas Sandoval, Carmen; Avilés Olguín, Jerónimo; Acevez Núñez, Eugenio; Von Cramon-Taubadel, Noreen. 2020. Morphological variation of the Early Human remains from Quintana Roo, Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico: contributions to the discussions about the settlement of the Americas. PLoS One 15, e0227444. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227444