Staff profile

• Old World monkey biogeography
• Ecology, palaeobiology and palaeoecology
• Primate locomotion
• Plio-Pleistocene hominin evolution
• Functional morphology
• Evolutionary medicine

• Evolutionary Anthropology

Authored book

• Ulijaszek, S., Mann, N. & Elton, S. (2012). Evolving Human Nutrition: Implications for Public Health. Cambridge University Press.

Chapter in book

• Lillie, Malcolm C. & Elton, Sarah (2022). Palaeoecology: considering proximate and ultimate influences in human diets and environmental responses in the early Holocene Dnieper River region of Ukraine. In Palaeopathology and Evolutionary Medicine: An Integrated Approach. Plomp, Kimberly A., Roberts, Charlotte A., Elton, Sarah & Bentley, Gillian R. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Plomp, Kimberly A., Roberts, Charlotte A., Elton, Sarah & Bentley, Gillian R. (2022). What's it all about? A legacy for the next generation of scholars in evolutionary medicine and palaeopathology. In Palaeopathology and Evolutionary Medicine: An Integrated Approach. Plomp, Kimberly A., Roberts, Charlotte A., Elton, Sarah & Bentley, Gillian R. Oxford University Press.
• Bentley, Gillian R., Roberts, Charlotte A., Elton, Sarah & Plomp, Kimberly A. (2022). Now you have read the book, what next? In Palaeopathology and Evolutionary Medicine: An Integrated Approach. Plomp, Kimberly A., Roberts, Charlotte A., Elton, Sarah & Bentley, Gillian R. Oxford University Press.
• Elton, S. (2017). Pliocene primates. In The International Encyclopedia of Primatology. Fuentes, A. Chichester, UK Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
• Elton, S. (2017). Adaptive Radiation. In The International Encyclopedia of Primatology. Fuentes, A. Chichester, UK Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
• Elton, S. (2017). Palaeoenvironmental and sea-level change. In The International Encyclopedia of Primatology. Fuentes, A. Chichester, UK Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
• Elton, S. (2017). Paleobiology and behavior. In The International Encyclopedia of Primatology. Fuentes, A. Chichester, UK Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Elton, Sarah & Dunn, Jason (2015). Species, populations and groups in human evolution. In Population in the Human Sciences: Concepts, Models, Evidence. Kreager, P., Winney, B., Ulijaszek, S. & Capelli, C. Oxford University Press. 401-430.
• Elton, S. (2012). Impacts of environmental change and community ecology on the composition and diversity of the southern African monkey fauna from the Plio-Pleistocene to the present. In African Genesis. Perspectives on Hominin Evolution. Reynolds, Sally C. & Gallagher, Andrew Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 471-486.
• Cardini, A., Diniz Filho, J.A.F., Polly, P.D. & Elton, S. (2010). Chapter 8: Biogeographic analysis using geometric morphometrics: clines in skull size and shape in a widespread African arboreal monkey. In Morphometrics for Nonmorphometricians. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. 124: 191-217.
• Shaw, L. & Elton, S. (2008). Seasonality, climatic unpredictability, food deprivation and polycystic ovary syndrome. In Medicine and Evolution: Current Applications, Future Prospects. Elton, S. & O’Higgins, P. Boca Raton: CRC Press. 48: 77-97.
• O'Higgins, P. & Elton, S. (2008). Is there a place for evolution in UK medical education? In Medicine and Evolution. Elton, S. & O'Higgins, P. 20082529: 257-272.
• Elton, S. & O’Higgins, P. (2008). Introduction to Medicine and Evolution: Current Applications, Future Prospects. In Medicine and Evolution: Current Applications, Future Prospects. O’Higgins, P. & Elton, S. Boca Raton: CRC Press. 48: 1-8.
• Elton, E. (2008). Environments, adaptation and evolutionary medicine: should we be eating a ‘Stone Age’ diet? In Medicine and Evolution: Current Applications, Future Prospects. O’Higgins, P. & Elton, S. Boca Raton: CRC Press. 48: 9-34.
• Foley, R. & Elton, S. (1998). Time and energy: the ecological context for the evolution of bipedalism. In Primate Locomotion: Recent Advances. Strasser, E., Fleagle, J., Rosenberger, A. & McHenry, H. New York: Plenum Press. 419-433.

Conference Paper

• O’Regan, H.J., Bishop, L.C., Elton, S., Lamb, A. & Turner, A. (2004), Afro-Eurasian mamalian dispersions of the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene, in Maul, L.C. & Kalkhe, R.D. eds, Terra Nostra: 18th International Senckenberg Conference and 6th International Colloquium in Weimar Late Neogene and Quaternary Biodiversity and Evolution: regional development and interregional correlations. Senckenberg: Frankfurt.

Edited book

• Plomp, Kimberly A., Roberts, Charlotte A., Elton, Sarah & Bentley, Gillian R. (2022). Palaeopathology and Evolutionary Medicine: An Integrated Approach. Oxford University Press.
• Elton, S. & O'Higgins, P. (2008). Medicine and Evolution: Current Applications, Future Prospects. Taylor and Francis.

Edited Journal

• Elton, Sarah (2015). Primate Biogeography: mini special issue. Folia Primatologica, 85 (5): Karger.
• O'Regan, Hannah J., Elton, Sarah & Schreve, Danielle (2014). Predators, Prey and Hominins - Celebrating the Scientific Career of Alan Turner (1947-2012). Quaternary Science Reviews, 96
• Elton, S Mascie-Taylor, C.G.N., Ulijaszek, S.J. & Cameron, N. (2009). 50th Anniversary Symposium of the Society for the Study of Human Biology. Annals of Human Biology, 26 (5).
• Wood, B. & Elton, S. (2008). Human Evolution: Ancestors and Relatives. Journal of Anatomy, 212 (4).

Journal Article

• Elton, Sarah, Adams, Justin W., Arenson, Julia L., Beaudet, Amélie, Belmaker, Miriam, Harrison, Terry, Jolly, Clifford J. & Hlusko, Leslea (2022). Comment (Case 3847) – Support for proposed conservation of Simopithecus oswaldi Andrews, 1916 (currently Theropithecus oswaldi; Mammalia, Primates, Cercopithecidae) by reversal of precedence with Cynocephalus atlanticus Thomas, 1884 (see BZN 78: 99–106 [Case]; BZN 79: 53–54 [Comment]; BZN 79: 55–57 [authors' response to Comment]). The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 79(1): 58-60.
• Elton, Sarah (2022). JHE 50th anniversary: Generosity. Journal of Human Evolution 170: 103236.
• Schroeder, Lauren, Elton, Sarah & Ackermann, Rebecca Rogers (2022). Skull variation in Afro-Eurasian monkeys results from both adaptive and non-adaptive evolutionary processes. Scientific Reports 12(1): 12516.
• Crompton, Robin Huw McClymont, Juliet Elton, Sarah Thorpe, Susannah Sellers, William Heaton, Jason Pickering, Travis Rayne Pataky, Todd Carlson, Kristian J. Jashashvili, Tea Beaudet, Amélie Bruxelles, Laurent Goh, Ethan Kuman, Kathleen & Clarke, Ronald (2022). A possible locomotor bauplan for Australopithecus informed by an ecomorphology perspective applied to StW 573 Au. prometheus, Sterkfontein Member 2, ~3.67 Ma. Folia Primatologica
• Crompton, Robin Huw, McClymont, Juliet, Elton, Sarah, Thorpe, Susannah, Sellers, William, Heaton, Jason, Pickering, Travis Rayne, Pataky, Todd, Carlson, Kristian J., Jashashvili, Tea, Beaudet, Amélie, Bruxelles, Laurent, Goh, Ethan, Kuman, Kathleen & Clarke, Ronald (2022). StW 573 Australopithecus prometheus: Its Significance for an Australopith Bauplan. Folia Primatologica 92(5-6): 243-275.
• Cardini, A., Elton, S., Kovarovic, K., Strand Vidarsdottir, U. & Polly, D.P. (2021). On the misidentification of species: sampling error in primates and other mammals using geometric morphometrics in more than 4,000 individuals. Evolutionary Biology 48(2): 190-220.
• Elton, Sarah & Dunn, Jason (2020). Baboon biogeography, divergence and evolution: morphological and palaeoecological perspectives. Journal of Human Evolution 145: 102799.
• Elton, Sarah (2020). My New Year's resolution for 2020 is to try harder at sharing data. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 172(3): 337-338.
• Nadell, J., Elton, S. & Kovarovic, K. (2020). Ontogenetic and morphological variation in primate long bones reflect signals of size and behavior. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 174(2): 327-351.
• Fischer, Julia, Higham, James P, Alberts, Susan C, Barrett, Louise, Beehner, Jacinta C, Bergman, Thore J, Carter, Alecia J, Collins, Anthony, Elton, Sarah, Fagot, Joël, Ferreira da Silva, Maria Joana, Hammerschmidt, Kurt, Henzi, Peter, Jolly, Clifford J, Knauf, Sascha, Kopp, Gisela H, Rogers, Jeffrey, Roos, Christian, Ross, Caroline, Seyfarth, Robert M, Silk, Joan, Snyder-Mackler, Noah, Staedele, Veronika, Swedell, Larissa, Wilson, Michael L & Zinner, Dietmar (2019). Insights into the evolution of social systems and species from baboon studies. eLife 8: e50989.
• Cardini, A. & Elton, S. (2017). Is there a "Wainer's rule"? Testing which sex varies most as an example analysis using GueSDat, the free Guenon Skull Database. Hystrix, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy 28(2): 147-156.
• Bjarnason, A., Soligo, C. & Elton, S. (2017). Phylogeny, phylogenetic inference, and cranial evolution in pitheciids and Aotus. American Journal of Primatology 79(3): e22621.
• Elton, S. (2016). Mismatch or mass marketing? Stone Age diets, industrialisation and ultra-processed foods (in Turkish). Toplum ve Hekim (Community and Physician) 31(5): 323-333.
• Bishop, L.C., Barham, L., Ditchfield, P.W., Elton, S., Harcourt-Smith, W.E.H. & Dawkins, P. (2016). Quaternary fossil fauna from the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. Journal of Quaternary Science 31(3): 178-190.
• Elton, Sarah, Jansson, Anna-Ulla, Meloro, Carlo, Louys, Julien, Plummer, Thomas & Bishop, Laura C. (2016). Exploring morphological generality in the Old World monkey postcranium using an ecomorphological framework. Journal of Anatomy 228(4): 534-560.
• Bjarnason, Alex, Soligo, Christophe & Elton, Sarah (2015). Phylogeny, ecology, and morphological evolution in the atelid cranium. International Journal of Primatology 36(3): 513-529.
• Stevenson, T. J., Visser, M. E., Arnold, W., Barrett, P., Biello, S., Dawson, A., Denlinger, D. L., Dominoni, D., Ebling, F. J., Elton, S., Evans, N., Ferguson, H. M., Foster, R. G., Hau, M., Haydon, D. T., Hazlerigg, D. G., Heideman, P., Hopcraft, J. G. C., Jonsson, N. N., Kronfeld-Schor, N., Kumar, V., Lincoln, G. A., MacLeod, R., Martin, S. A. M., Martinez-Bakker, M., Nelson, R. J., Reed, T., Robinson, J. E., Rock, D., Schwartz, W. J., Steffan-Dewenter, I., Tauber, E., Thackeray, S. J., Umstatter, C., Yoshimura, T. & Helm, B. (2015). Disrupted seasonal biology impacts health, food security and ecosystems. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282(1817): 20151453.
• Louys, Julien, Meloro, Carlo, Elton, Sarah, Ditchfield, Peter & Bishop, Laura C. (2015). Analytical framework for reconstructing heterogeneous environmental variables from mammal community structure. Journal of Human Evolution 78: 1-11.
• Louys, Julien, Meloro, Carlo, Elton, Sarah, Ditchfield, Peter & Bishop, Laura C. (2015). The potential and pitfalls of using simple dental metrics to infer the diets of African antelopes (Mammalia: Bovidae). Palaeontologia Africana 49: 8-24.
• Elton, Sarah & O'Regan, Hannah J. (2014). Macaques at the margins: the biogeography and extinction of Macaca sylvanus in Europe. Quaternary Science Reviews 96: 117-130.
• O'Regan, Hannah J., Elton, Sarah & Schreve, Danielle (2014). Introduction: Editors' overview for the Alan Turner Memorial volume. Quaternary Science Reviews 96: 1-2.
• Elton, S. (2014). Adaptive diversity: from the trees to the ground. Antiquity 88(341): 923-924.
• Kuykendall, Kevin & Elton, Sarah (2014). The Human Biology of the Past. Annals of Human Biology 41(4): 283-286.
• Meloro, Carlo & Elton, Sarah (2013). The Evolutionary History and Palaeo-Ecology of Primate Predation: Macaca sylvanus from Plio-Pleistocene Europe as a Case Study. Folia Primatologica 83(3-6): 216-235.
• Dunn, Jason, Cardini, Andrea & Elton, Sarah (2013). Biogeographic variation in the baboon: dissecting the cline. Journal of Anatomy 223(4): 337-352.
• Meloro, C., Elton, S., Louys, J., Bishop, L.C. & Ditchfield, P. (2013). Cats in the forest: predicting habitat adaptations from humerus morphometry in extant and fossil Felidae (Carnivora). Paleobiology 39(3): 323-344.
• Cardini A., Dunn, J., O'Higgins, P. & Elton, S. (2012). Clines in Africa: does size vary in the same way among widespread sub-Saharan monkeys? Journal of Biogeography 40(2): 370-381.
• Louys, J., Ditchfield, P., Meloro, C., Elton, S. & Bishop, L.C. (2012). Stable isotopes provide independent support for the use of mesowear variables for inferring diets in African antelopes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 279(1746): 4441-4446.
• Walmsley, A., Elton, S., Louys, J., Bishop, L.C. & Meloro, C. (2012). Humeral shape in felids: phylogenetic, locomotor and allometric influences. Journal of Morphology 273(12): 1424-1438.
• Cardini, A. & Elton, S. (2011). 'Geometric morphometric approach to the study of biological diversity': an example study from the red colobus species complex. International Journal of Primatology 32(2): 377-389.
• Louys, J., Meloro, C., Elton, S., Ditchfield, P. & Bishop, L.C. (2011). Mammal community structure correlates with arboreal heterogeneity in faunally and geographically diverse habitats. Global Ecology and Biogeography 20(5): 717-729.
• Chenery, C., Lamb, A., O’Regan, H. & Elton, S. (2011). Multi-tissue analysis of oxygen isotopes in wild rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 25(6): 779-788.
• O’Regan, H.J., Turner, A., Bishop, L.C., Elton, S. & Lamb, A. (2011). Hominins without fellow travellers? First appearances and inferred dispersals of Afro-Eurasian large-mammals in the Plio-Pleistocene. Quaternary Science Reviews 30(11-12): 1343-1352.
• Louys, J., Meloro, C., Elton, S., Ditchfield, P. & Bishop, L.C. (2011). Mesowear as a means of determining diets in African antelopes. Journal of Archaeological Science 38(7): 1485-1495.
• Murdoch-Eaton, D. Drewery, S., Elton, S., Emmerson, C. Marshall, M. Smith, J., Stark, P. & Whittle, S. (2010). What Do Medical Students Understand By Research And Research Skills? Identifying Research Opportunities Within Undergraduate Projects. Medical Teacher 32(3): e152.
• Elton, S., Dunn, J. & Cardini, A. (2010). Size variation facilitates population divergence but does not explain it all: an example study from a widespread African monkey. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 101(4): 823-843.
• Cardini, A. & Elton, S. (2009). The radiation of red colobus monkeys (Primates, Colobinae): morphological evolution in a clade of endangered African primates. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 157(1): 197.
• Cardini, A. & Elton, S. (2009). Geographic and taxonomic influences on cranial variation in red colobus monkeys (Primates, Colobinae): introducing a new approach to ‘morph’ monkeys. Global Ecology and Biogeography 18(2): 248-263.
• Cardini, A. & Elton, S. (2008). Variation in guenon skulls II: sexual dimorphism. Journal of Human Evolution 54(5): 638-647.
• Shaw, L. & Elton, S. (2008). Author response to: Polycystic ovary syndrome: a transgenerational evolutionary adaptation. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology 115(7): 144-148.
• O’Regan, H.J. Chenery, C., Lamb, A.L., Stevens, R. Rook, L. & Elton, S. (2008). Modern macaque dietary heterogeneity assessed using stable isotope analysis of hair and bone. Journal of Human Evolution 55(4): 617-626.
• Elton, S. & Cardini, A. (2008). Anthropology from the desk? The challenges of the emerging era of data sharing. Journal of Anthropological Sciences 86: 209-212.
• Cardini, A. & Elton, S. (2008). Variation in guenon skulls I: species divergence, ecological and genetic differences. Journal of Human Evolution 54(5): 615-637.
• Cardini, A. & Elton, S. (2008). Does the skull carry a phylogenetic signal? Evolution and modularity in the guenons. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 93(4): 813-834.
• Elton, S. (2008). The environmental context of human evolutionary history in Eurasia and Africa. Journal of Anatomy 212(4): 377-393.
• Cardini, A. & Elton, S. (2008). GeMBiD, a ‘Geometric morphometric approach to the study of biological diversity’. Endangered Species Update 25: 83-85.
• Nowak, K., Cardini, A. & Elton, S. (2008). Evolutionary acceleration in an endangered African primate: speciation and divergence in the Zanzibar red colobus monkey. International Journal of Primatology 29(5): 1313–1339.
• Wood, Bernard & Elton, Sarah (2008). Symposium on ‘Human evolution: ancestors and relatives’. Journal of Anatomy 212(4): 335-336.
• Hughes, J.K., Elton, S. & O’Regan, H.J. (2008). Theropithecus and ‘Out of Africa’ dispersals in the Plio-Pleistocene. Journal of Human Evolution 54(1): 43-77.
• Elton, S. (2007). Fossils, Hunters, and Controversies: Exploring Primate Evolution. Reviews in Anthropology 36(4): 283-309.
• Cardini, A., Jansson, A.U. & Elton, S. (2007). Ecomorphology of vervet monkeys: a geometric morphometric approach to the study of clinal variation. Journal of Biogeography 34: 1663–1678.
• Elton, S. (2007). Environmental correlates of the cercopithecoid radiations. Folia Primatologica 78(5-6): 344-364.
• O'Higgins, P. & Elton, S. (2007). Walking on trees. Science 316(5829): 1292-1294.
• Cardini, A. & Elton, S. (2007). Sample size and sampling error in geometric morphometric studies of size and shape. Zoomorphology 126(2): 121.
• O’Regan, H., Bishop, L.C., Elton, S., Lamb, A., & Turner, A. (2006). Afro-Eurasian dispersions of the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene, and their bearing on earliest hominin movements. Courier Forschung Inst Senckenberg 256: 305-314.
• Elton, S. (2006). Forty years on and still going strong: the use of hominin-cercopithecid comparisons in palaeoanthropology. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 12(1): 19-38.
• Elton, S. & Morgan, B.J. (2006). Muzzle size, paranasal swelling size and body mass in Mandrillus leucophaeus. Primates 47(2): 151-157.
• O'Regan, H.J., Bishop, L.C., Lamb, A., Elton, S. & Turner, A. (2005). Large mammal turnover in Africa and the Near East 1.0 - 0.5Ma. Geological Society, London, Special Publications 247(1): 231-249.
• Elton, S., Barham, L., Andrews, P. & Sambrook Smith, G. (2003). Pliocene femur of Theropithecus from the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. Journal of Human Evolution 44(1): 133-140.
• Elton, S. (2002). A reappraisal of the locomotion and habitat preference of Theropithecus oswaldi. Folia Primatologica 73(5): 252-280.
• Elton, S., Bishop, L.C. & Wood, B. (2001). Comparative context of Plio-Pleistocene hominin brain evolution. Journal of Human Evolution 41(1): 1-27.
• Elton, S. (2001). Locomotor and habitat classification of cercopithecoid postcranial material from Sterkfontein Member 4, Bolt’s Farm and Swartkrans Members 1 and 2, South Africa. Palaeontologia africana 37: 115-126.
• Elton, S., Foley, R. & Ulijaszek, S.J. (1998). Habitual energy expenditure of human climbing and clambering. Annals of Human Biology 25: 523-531.