José Joordens
Guest special professor
- Name
- Dr. J.C.A. Joordens
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 2727
- j.c.a.joordens@arch.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-5757-1168
Trained as a marine biologist, I completed my PhD in Earth and Life Sciences (VU University Amsterdam) in 2011, and worked as postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Archaeology from April 2010 till January 2017. From January 2017 onwards, I continue my work at the Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, while remaining affiliated to the Faculty of Archaeology in Leiden. My VU address is: De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
I can be reached at j.c.a.joordens@vu.nl and j.c.a.joordens@arch.leidenuniv.nl.
Presently my research consists of three ongoing projects:
TURKANA: This project focuses on reconstructing climate and environment in the Turkana Basin (Kenya) of ~2 million year ago, when two early Homo species together with Paranthropus boisei roamed the landscape. It is done in the framework of the ICDP Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP), and the Turkana Cyclostratigraphy Project (see NWO and Feibel's Lab). In 2013, a core was drilled in West Turkana paleolake deposits, and we did a complementary outcrop fieldwork near the drill site. The first articles are now in review and will be published in the course of 2017.
COASTAL ORIGINS? In 2013 I was awarded a NWO Veni Grant and started this project (see Leiden news) that aims to develop a biogeographical framework for early hominin evolution in Africa, between ~5 and 2.5 million years ago. I hypothesize that recurrent climatically stable episodes, paced by eccentricity, caused recurrent riverine connections between coastal refuge areas and inland marginal areas, including the Chad Basin in West-Central Africa. To assess occurrence and timing of such East-West dispersal corridors, we use genetic distance between extant fish populations in Lakes Turkana and Chad as proxy for past hydrographic connectivity between these basins.
TRINIL: My other research project centers on the rich fossil fauna from the Homo erectus type locality Trinil on Java (Indonesia). This unique collection, excavated by my scientific hero Eugène Dubois (1858-1940) and housed at Naturalis in Leiden, is a treasure trove that may hold many important clues to the behaviour and cognition of Javanese Homo erectus. Following our 2015 publication in Nature (on shell material from the Dubois Collection) we were invited by the National Research Center for Archaeology (ARKENAS, Jakarta) to collaborate in a new field study of this classical site. In August 2016, together we successfully conducted a pilot fieldwork in Trinil that provides a key fundament for future studies. In May 2017, I have been awarded a prestigious NWO Vidi grant to continue our research in Trinil for 5 years.
The Vidi project will start in January 2018 and is titled: Studying Homo erectus Lifestyle and Location (SHeLL): an integrated geo-archaeological research of the hominin site Trinil on Java.
Guest special professor
- Faculteit Archeologie
- World Archaeology
- Human Origins
- Pop E.A.L., Hilgen S., Adhityatama S., Berghuis H.W.K., Veldkamp T., Vonhof H., Sutisna I., Alink G.M.A., Noerwidi S., Roebroeks W. & Joordens J.C.A. (2023), Reconstructing the provenance of the hominin fossils from Trinil (Java, Indonesia) through an integrated analysis of the historical and recent excavations, Journal of Human Evolution 176: 103312.
- Berghuis. H.W.K., Veldkamp A., Adhityatama S., Hilgen S.L., Sutisna I., Barianto D.H., Pop E.A.L., Reimann T., Yurnaldi D., Ekowati D.R., Vonhof H.B., Kolfschoten M. van, Simanjuntak T., Schoorl J.M. & Joordens J.C.A. (2021), Hominin homelands of East Java: revised stratigraphy and landscape reconstructions for Plio-Pleistocene Trinil, Quaternary Science Reviews 260: 106912.
- Van der Lubbe H.J.L., Krause-Nehring J., Junginger A., Garcin Y, Joordens J.C.A, Davies G.R., Beck C., Feibel C.S., Johnson T.C. & Vonhof H.B. (2017), Gradual or abrupt? Changes in water source of Lake Turkana (Kenya) during the African Humid Period inferred from Sr isotope ratios, Quaternary Science Reviews 174: 1-12.
- Sier M.J., Langereis G.C., Dupont-Nivet G., Feibel C.S., Joordens J.C.A., Van der Lubbe H.J.L., Beck C.C., Olago D., Cohen A. & WTK Science team members (2017), The top of the Olduvai Subchron in a high-resolution magnetostratigraphy from the West Turkana core WTK13, hominin sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP), Quaternary Geochronology 42: 117-129.
- Janssen R., Joordens J.C.A., Koutamanis D., Puspaningrum M., De Vos J., Van der Lubbe J., Reijmer J.J.G., Hampe O. & Vonhof H.B. (2016), Tooth enamel stable isotopes of Holocene and Pleistocene fossil fauna reveal glacial and interglacial paleoenvironments of hominins in Indonesia, Quaternary Science Reviews (144): 145-154.
- Joordens J.C.A., D’Errico F, Wesselingh FP, Munro S, Vos J. de, Wallinga J, Ankjærgaard C, Reimann T, Wijbrans JR, Kuiper KF, Mücher HJ, Coqueugniot H, Prié V, Joosten I, Os B. van, Schulp AS, Panuel M, Haas V van der, Lustenhouwer W, Reijmer JJG & Roebroeks J.W.M. (2015), Homo erectus at Trinil on Java used shells for tool production and engraving, Nature : 228–231.
- Joordens J.C.A., Kuipers R.S., Wanink J.H. & Muskiet F.A.J. (2014), A fish is not a fish: patterns in fatty acid composition of aquatic food may have had implications for hominin evolution, Journal of Human Evolution : .
- Joordens J.C.A., Feibel C., Lubbe J. van der, Sier M.J., Dupont-Nivet G., Langereis C., Beck C., Cohen A. & Vonhof H. (2014), The ICDP HSPDP-Turkana project: towards integrated core and outcrop paleoclimate records. Aardwetenschappelijk Congres (NAC), Veldhoven. 8 April 2014 - 9 April 2014. [conference poster].
- Joordens J.C.A. (2014), De toepassing van magnetostratigrafie in het onderzoek naar de evolutie van de mens. (Utrecht). [lecture].
- Joordens J.C.A. (2014), Hoeveel mens was de oermens? Op zoek naar onze voorouders in Afrika en Azië. (Museum Jeugduniversiteit Venlo). [lecture].
- Joordens J.A.C. (1 February 2014), “Boren naar onze bron: hoe kun je de stamboom van de mens tekenen als onze verre voorouders onvindbaar zijn of onbereikbaar diep begraven liggen?”. De Telegraaf, Wetenschap.
- Joordens J.C.A., Dupont-Nivet Guillaume, Feibel Craig S., Spoor Fred Sier Mark J., Lubbe Jeroen H.J.L. van der, Kellberg Nielsen Trine, Knul Monika V., Davies Gareth R. & Vonhof Hubert B. (2013), Improved age control on early Homo fossils from the upper Burgi Member at Koobi Fora, Kenya, Journal of Human Evolution 65(6): 731-745.
- Vonhof H.B., Joordens J.C.A., Noback M.L., Van der Lubbe H.J.L., Feibel C.S. & Kroon D. (2013), Environmental and climatic control on seasonal stable isotope variation of freshwater molluscan bivalves in the Turkana Basin (Kenya), Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 383-384: 16-26.
- Kuipers R.S., Joordens J.C.A. & Muskiet F.A.J. (2012), A multidisciplinary reconstruction of Palaeolithic nutrition that holds promise for the prevention and treatment of diseases of civilisation, Nutrition Research Reviews 25: 96-129.
- Joordens J.C.A., Feibel C.S., Spoor F., Vonhof H.B., Lourens L.J., Schulp A.S. & Kroon D. (2012), A biogeographical model for hominin evolution in Africa between 5 and 2.5 Ma. ESHE Meeting, Bordeaux. 21 September 2012 - 22 December 2012. [conference poster].
- Cohen K.M., MacDonald K., Joordens J.C.A., Roebroeks W. & Gibbard P.L. (2012), The earliest occupation of north-west Europe: a coastal perspective, Quaternary International 271: 70-83.
- Joordens J.C.A., Vonhof H.B., Feibel C.S., Lourens L.J., Dupont-Nivet G., Van der Lubbe H.J.L., Sier M., Davies G.R.D. & Kroon D. (2011), An astronomically-tuned climate framework for hominins in the Turkana Basin, Geophysical research abstracts 13: .
- Joordens J.C.A., Vonhof H.B., Feibel C.S., Lourens L.J., Dupont-Nivet G., Van der Lubbe H.J.L., Sier M., Davies G.R. & Kroon D. (2011), An astronomically-tuned climate framework for hominins in the Turkana Basin, Earth and Planetary Science Letters : .
- Wanink J.H. & Joordens J.C.A. (2007), Dietary shifts in Brycinus sadleri (Pisces: Characidae) from southern Lake Victoria, Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management 10: 392-397.