Amanda Henry
Associate professor / professor Naturalis
- Name
- Dr. A.G. Henry
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 7844
- a.g.henry@arch.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-2923-4199
Dr Amanda Henry is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Archaeology. She has been developing the use of plant microremains from archaeological contexts as markers of diet. She has explored differences in the plant food consumption between Neanderthals and Early Modern Humans, and has looked at the kinds of foods our very early australopith ancestors ate.
More information about Amanda Henry
News
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Archaeologists bring experts on human evolution together with Kiem grant -
Archaeologist Amanda Henry linked to Naturalis as Professor by Special Appointment on the Evolution of the Human Diet -
International Women's Day: the visibility of women in archaeology -
A look back: LRS meeting @Archaeology -
Hard chews: why mastication played a crucial role in evolution -
Archaeologist Amanda Henry in podcast on dental care in the past -
The Ethics Committee at Archaeology: ‘Think ahead before starting your research, that’s the point’ -
Three Leiden papers in top 10 most cited of Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports -
New Handbook on microscopic archaeological samples crosses disciplines -
Amanda Henry in Sapiens.org about microfossils in a Finnish skeletal collection
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How Stone Age Humans Unlocked the Glucose in Plants -
Sandrine Gallois second place in prestigious Rising Talent Prize -
Video: Ethnobotanical immersion in Cameroon
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Amanda Henry’s Leiden Experience: ‘I want to know why our ancestors made certain choices’ -
Archaeologist Diederik Pomstra subjects himself to wild food experiment
Current PhD candidates
Former PhD candidates
Office days
Monday to Friday
Research
I am broadly interested in the role of diet in shaping our evolutionary history, with a particular interest in plant foods and food processing techniques. Using models derived from behavioral ecology, I explore how the nutritional quality and availability of certain foods may have structured how, when, and where humans developed our unique biological and behavioral traits. I take an explicitly interdisciplinary approach, combining laboratory analyses of plant remains and other biomolecules preserved in dental calculus, with ethnographic and experimental archaeological studies to understand why certain foods may be chosen over others.
Teaching activities
I teach in the Master's program in Archaeological Sciences, primarily the introductory and capstone courses. I also offer internships and supervise BA, MA and RMA theses. If you're interested in doing a project with me, please feel free to send me an email.
Curriculum vitae
I was educated in the North American "four fields" Anthropology system, combining archaeology, cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, and linguistics. For my undergraduate degree at Brown University, I excavated at the Petra Great Temple. I received my PhD from The George Washington University in 2010, for a dissertation on the dietary differences between Neanderthals and Modern Humans. From 2011 until 2017, I was an independent group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, affiliated with the department of Human Evolution. In 2017 I joined the Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden.
Associate professor / professor Naturalis
- Faculteit Archeologie
- Archaeological Sciences
- Bio-Archaeology
- Gur-Arieh S., Eisenmann S., Henry A.G., Lucas M., Lenz D., Paxinos P., Weber H., Morandi L.F., Stone J.R., Schultz M., Roberts P. & Stockhammer P.W. (2024), Reconstructing dietary practices at Tell Kamid el-Loz (Lebanon) during the Bronze and Iron Age III / Persian to Hellenistic periods using plant micro-remains from dental calculus and stable isotope analysis of bone collagen, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 16: 127.
- Bartholdy B.P., Hasselstrøm J.B., Sørensen L.K., Casna M., Hoogland M., Historisch Genootschap Beemster & Henry A.G. (2024), Multiproxy analysis exploring patterns of diet and disease in dental calculus and skeletal remains from a 19th century Dutch population , Peer Community Journal 4: e46.
- Rampelli S., Gallois S.L., D’Amico F., Turroni S., Fabbrini M., Scicchitano D., Candela M. & Henry A.G. (2024), The gut microbiome of Baka forager-horticulturalists from Cameroon is optimized for wild plant foods, iScience 27(3): 109211.
- Velsko I.M., Gallois S.L., Stahl R., Henry A.G. & Warinner C. (2023), High conservation of the dental plaque microbiome community across populations with differing subsistence strategies and levels of market integration, Molecular Ecology 32(14): 3872-3891.
- Bartholdy B.P., Velsko I.M., Gur-Arieh S., Fagernäs Z., Warinner C. & Henry A.G. (2023), Assessing the validity of a calcifying oral biofilm model as a suitable proxy for dental calculus. [other].
- Bartholdy B.P., Hasselstrøm J.B., Sørensen L.K., Casna M., Hoogland M.L.P., Beemster H.G. & Henry A.G. (2023), Multiproxy analysis exploring patterns of diet and disease in dental calculus and skeletal remains from a 19th century Dutch population. [other].
- Salazar-García D.C., Warinner C., Eerkens J.W. & Henry A.G. (2023), The potential of dental calculus as a novel source of biological isotopic data. In: Beasley M.M. & Somerville A.D. (Eds.), Exploring human behavior through isotope analysis. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Cham: Springer. 125-152.
- Bartholdy B.P., Henry A.G. & Reidsma F.H. (2023), FAIR sharing is caring. [conference poster].
- Bartholdy B.P. & Henry A.G. (2022), Investigating biases associated with dietary starch incorporation and retention with an oral biofilm model, Frontiers in Earth Science 10: 886512.
- Ahituv H. & Henry A.G. (2022), An initial key of starch grains from edible plants of the Eastern Mediterranean for use in identifying archaeological starches, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 42: 103396.
- Fagernäs Z., Salazar-García D.C., Haber Uriarte M., Avilés Fernández A., Henry A.G., Lomba Maurandi J., Ozga A.T, Velsko I.M. & Warinner C. (2022), Understanding the microbial biogeography of ancient human dentitions to guide study design and interpretation, FEMS Microbes 3: xtac006.
- Power R.C., Henry A.G., Moosmann J., Beckmann F., Temming H., Roberts A. & Le Cabec A. (2022), Synchrotron radiation-based phase-contrast microtomography of human dental calculus allows nondestructive analysis of inclusions: implications for archeological samples, Journal of Medical Imaging 9(3): 031505.
- Williams F.L., Schmidt C.W., Henry A.G., Droke J.L., Becam G. & De Lumley M.A. (2022), Inferring the diet of La Quina 5 using dental microwear texture analysis and plant microremains from dental calculus. Hlusko L. (Ed.), American Journal of Biological Anthropology. 91st Annual Meeting of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists 23 March 2022 - 1 April 2022 no. 177: Wiley. 197.
- Bartholdy B.P., Gur-Arieh S. & Henry A.G. (2022), The real deal? : Validation of a dental calculus model using FTIR. Hlusko L. (Ed.), American Journal of Biological Anthropology. 91st Annual Meeting of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists 23 March 2022 - 1 April 2022: Wiley. 11.
- L'Engle Williams F., Schmidt C.W., Henry A.G., Discamps E., Droke. J.L., Becam G. & De Lumley M.-A. (2022), The Ice Age diet of the La Quina 5 Neandertal of southwest France, L'Anthropologie 126(4): 103056.
- Van Casteren A., Codd J.R., Kupczik K., Plasqui G., Sellers W.I. & Henry A.G. (2022), The cost of chewing: the energetics and evolutionary significance of mastication in humans, Science Advances 8(33): .
- Chen T., Hou L., Jiang H., Wu Y. & Henry A.G. (2021), Starch grains from human teeth reveal the plant consumption of proto-Shang people (c. 2000-1600 BC) from Nancheng site, Hebei, China, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 13: 153.
- Gallois S.L., Heger T., Henry A.G. & Andel T.R. van (2021), The importance of choosing appropriate methods for assessing wild food plant knowledge and use: a case study among the Baka in Cameroon, PLoS ONE 16(2): e0247108.
- Fellows Yates J.A, Velsko I.M., Aron F., Posth C., Hofman C.A., Austin R.M., Parker C.E., Mann A.E., Nägele K., Arthur K.W., Arthur J.W., Bauer C.C., Crevecoeur I., Cupillard C., Curtis M.C., Dalén L., Díaz-Zorita Bonilla M., Díez Fernández-Lomana J.C., Drucker D.G., Escribano Escrivá E., Francken M., Gibbon V.E., González Morales M.R., Grande Mateu A., Harvati K., Henry A.G., Humphrey L., Menéndez M., Mihailović D., Peresani M., Rodríguez Moroder S., Roksandic M., Rougier H., Sázelová S., Stock J.T., Straus L.G., Svoboda J., Teßmann B., Walker M.J., Power R.C., Lewis C.M., Sankaranarayanan K., Guschanski K., Wrangham R.W., Dewhirst F.E., Salazar-García D.C., Krause J.C., Herbig A. & Warinner C. (2021), The evolution and changing ecology of the African hominid oral microbiome, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118(20): e2021655118.
- Salazar-García D.C., Power R.C., Rudaya N., Kolobova K., Markin S., Krivoshapkin A., Henry A.G., Richards M.P. & Viola B. (2021), Dietary evidence from Central Asian Neanderthals: a combined isotope and plant microremains approach at Chagyrskaya Cave (Altai, Russia), Journal of Human Evolution 156: 102985.
- Chen T., Hou L., Jiang H., Wu Y. & Henry A.G. (2021), Starch grains from human teeth reveal the plant consumption of proto-Shang people (c. 2000–1600 BC) from Nancheng site, Hebei, China, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 13: 153.
- Gallois S. & Henry A.G. (2021), The cost of gathering among the Baka Forager-Horticulturalists from southeastern Cameroon, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9: 768003.
- Chen T., Hou L.L., Jiang O.G., Wu Y. & Henry A.G. (2021), Starch grains from human teeth reveal the plant consumption of proto-Shang people (c. 2000-1600 BC) from Nancheng site, Hebei, China, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 13: 153.
- Salazar-García D.C., Power R.C., Rudaya N., Kolobova K., Markin S., Krivoshapkin A., Henry A.G., Richards M.P. & Viola B. (2021), Dietary evidence from Central Asian Neanderthals: a combined isotope and plant microremains approach at Chagyrskaya Cave (Altai, Russia), Journal of Human Evolution 156: 102985.
- Gallois S.L., Heger T., Andel T.R. van, Sonké B. & Henry A.G. (2020), From Bush Mangoes to Bouillon Cubes: Wild Plants and Diet among the Baka, Forager-Horticulturalists from Southeast Cameroon, Economic Botany 74: 46-58.
- Bartholdy B.P., Reidsma F.H. & Henry A.G. (2020), Build-A-Calculus: Experimental dietary research on in vitro dental calculus. Leiden: WILEY (Leiden University). [other].
- Gallois S., Andel T. van, Heger T., Sonké B. & Henry A.G. (2020), Comparing Apples and Pears: the Hidden Diversity of Central African Bush Mangoes (Irvingiaceae), Economic Botany 74: 178-194.
- Devereux E.J., Paine O.C.C., Ryder C., Wigley-Coetsee C., Codron J., Codron D., Sponheimer M. & Henry A.G. (2020), Hominin dietary implications of plant nutritional properties from the southern African Lowveld. WILEY. [other].
- Van Casteren A., Plasqui G., Codd J.R., Sellers W.I., Kupczik K. & Henry A.G. (2020), Masticating in Maastricht: Quantifying the energetic cost of chewing in humans and its evolutionary significance. WILEY. [other].
- Gallois S. & Henry A.G. (2020), The cost of gathering: Food choices and energy expenditure among the Baka, a forager-horticultural society from south-eastern Cameroon. WILEY. [other].
- Henry A.G. (2020), Handbook for the Analysis of Micro-Particles in Archaeological Samples. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Switzerland: Springer Nature.
- Henry A.G. (2020), Starch grains as markers of diet and behavior. In: Henry A.G. (Ed.), Handbook for the Analysis of Micro-Particles in Archaeological Samples. Switzerland: Springer Nature. 97-116.
- Henry A.G. (2020), Other microparticles: volcanic glass, minerals, insect remains, feathers and other plant parts. In: Henry A.G. (Ed.), Handbook for the Analysis of Micro-Particles in Archaeological Samples. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Switzerland: Springer Nature. 289-295.
- Rodriguez-Rojas F., Borrero-Lopez O., Constantino P.J., Henry A.G. & Lawn B.R. (2020), Phytoliths can cause tooth wear, Journal of The Royal Society Interface 17(172): 20200613.
- Henry A.G. (2020), Handbook for the analysis of micro-particles in archaeological samples. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
- Henry A.G., Hutschenreuther A., Paine O.C.C., Leichleiter J., Codron D., Codron J., Loudon J., Adolph S. & Sponheimer M. (2019), Influences on plant nutritional variation and their potential effects on hominin diet selection, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 261: 18-30.
- Juhola T., Henry A.G., Kirkinen T., Laakkonen J. & Väliranta M. (2019), Phytoliths, parasites, fibers, and feathers from dental calculus and sediment from Iron Age Luistari cemetery, Finland, Quaternary Science Reviews 222: 105888.
- Paine O.C.C., Koppa A., Henry A.G., Leichliter J.N., Codron D., Codron J., Lambert J.E. & Sponheimer M. (2019), Seasonal and habitat effects on the nutritional properties of savanna vegetation: Potential implications for early hominin dietary ecology, Journal of Human Evolution 133: 99-107.
- Mercader J., Akeju T., Brown M., Bundala M., Collins M.J., Copeland L., Crowther A., Dunfield P., Henry A., Inwood J., Itambu M., Kim J.-J., Larter S., Longo L., Oldenburg T., Patalano R., Sammynaiken R., Soto M., Tyler R. & Xhauflair H. (2018), Exaggerated expectations in ancient starch research and the need for new taphonomic and authenticity criteria, FACETS 3(1): 777-798.
- Power R.C., Salazar-García D.C., Rubini M., Darlas A., Havarti K., Walker M., Hublin J.-J. & Henry A.G. (2018), Dental calculus indicates widespread plant use within the stable Neanderthal dietary niche, Journal of Human Evolution 119: 27-41.
- Henry A.G., Büdel T. & Bazin P.-L. (2018), Towards an Understanding of the Costs of Fire, Quaternary International 493: 96-105.
- Henry A.G., Devereux E.J. & Bartholdy B.P. (2018), European Society for the Study of Human Evolution 2017: old sites, new methods, Evolutionary Anthropology 27(1): 5-6.
- Paine O.C.C., Koppa A., Henry A.G., Leichliter J.N., Codron D., Codron J., Lambert J.E. & Sponheimer M. (2018), Grass leaves as potential hominin dietary resources, Journal of Human Evolution 117: 44-52.
- Pomstra D.R. & Henry A., Archaeologist Diederik Pomstra's ild Food Experiment Series of 31 vlogs on Youtube from 17th of October-17th of December. Archaeologist Diederik Pomstra's ild Food Experiment. Youtube: M.J.Pot (University of Leiden). [blog entry].
- Henry A.G. (2017), Neanderthal cooking and the costs of fire, Current Anthropology 58(S16): S329-S336.
- Hutschenreuther A., Watzke J., Schmidt S., Büdel T. & Henry A.G. (2017), Archaeological implications of the digestion of starches by soil bacteria: interaction among starches leads to differential preservation, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 15: 95-108.
- Henry A.G., Hudson H.F. & Piperno D.P. (2017), Cooked Starch Database: Figshare. [dataset].
- Lucas P.W., Omar R., Al-Fadhalah K., Almusallam A.S., Henry A.G., Michael S., Arockia Thai L., Watzke J., Strait D.S., Casteren A. van & Atkins A.G. (2017), Tooth wear: A response to "Scratching the surface: A critique of Lucas et al. (2013)'s conclusion that phytoliths do not abrade enamel" [J. Hum. Evol. 74 (2014) 130-133], Journal of Human Evolution 102: 75-77.