Patrick Roberts received a BA in Archaeology and Anthropology, an MSc in Archaeological Science, and DPhil in Archaeological Science at the University of Oxford. Between 2016 and 2022 he was Group Leader and then W2 Scientist of the Department of Archaeology at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. Since 2022 he was the W2 Independent Research Group Leader of the isoTROPIC Research Group at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and Lead Scientist of the Department of Archaeology. He also holds an Honorary Professorship at the Australian National University and Visiting Professorship at the University of the Philippines.
As Director of the Department of Coevolution of Land Use and Urbanisation (since January 2025), Patrick is committed to pioneering and applying multidisciplinary approaches to studying long-term relationships of our species and the Earth system. In particular, he focuses on developing new methodologies and datasets which can be used to study how urban dynamics, trajectories, and networks (and their alternatives) have interacted with land use changes and, in turn, different parts of the Earth system across space and time. This includes combining state-of-the-art approaches in field- and lab-based archaeological science, remote sensing, palaeoecology, history, computational archaeology, and land use modelling.
Patrick is committed to ensuring that his research makes contributions to local stakeholders in the regions where he works and engages closely with Indigenous communities, being awarded the Humanitarian Award of the Veddah Indigenous Community of Sri Lanka in 2023. He also seeks to engage with policy makers and is a member of the iHOPE network and has served onUNESCO panels relating to natural and cultural heritage designations. As part of his aims to make his work accessible to the public, Patrick also wrote the popular book ‘Jungle: How Tropical Forests Shaped the World and Us’ published by Penguin/Viking Random House in 2021.
Carleton, W. C.; Lawrence, D.; Brotherson, D.; Ebert, C. E.; Lobo, J.; Ortman, S. G.; Smith, M. E.; Tho, T.; Romanowska, I.; Klassen, S.et al.; Roberts, P.: Making comparative archaeological and historical urbanism rigorous and open access through the URBank data platform. Antiquity, 10287 (2026)
Rosencrance, R. L.; Smith, G. M.; McDonough, K. N.; Jazwa, C. S.; Antonosyan, M.; Kallenbach, E. A.; Connolly, T. J.; Culleton, B. J.; Puseman, K.; McGuinness, M.et al.; Jenkins, D. L.; Stueber, D. O.; Endzweig, P. E.; Roberts, P.: Complex perishable technologies from the North American Great Basin reveal specialized Late Pleistocene adaptations. Science Advances 12 (6), eaec2916 (2026)
Bleasdale , M.; Derbyshire, S.; Lucas, M.; Lowasa, L.; Lehn, C.; Nami, J. E.; Ilgner, J.; Boivin, N. L.; Roberts, P.: Exploring contemporary pastoral variability through stable isotope analysis in the Turkana Basin, Kenya. Current Anthropology, 739930 (2026)
Reinhardt, A. L.; Riris, P.; Harris, B.; Jha, D. K.; de Primam, L.; Leite, G.; Bauermann, S. G.; Gayantha, K.; Rudd, R.; Roberts, P.et al.; Behling, H.: Late Holocene vegetation dynamics, fire regimes, and human impact in Southern Brazil: a multi-proxy palaeoecological record from the Matematico Lake. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 686, 113556 (2026)
Antonosyan, M.; Paladugu, R.; Ziegler, M.; Carneiro, G. P.; Chim, E.; Strauss, A. M.; Mendes, D.; Lemos, R.; Carrillo-Briceño, J. D.; Furquim, L. P.et al.; Schirmer, S.; Ilgner, J.; Volke, D.; Roberts, P.: Peptide mass fingerprinting of South American Xenarthrans: a new resource for Zooarcheology and Palaeontology. Journal of Proteome Research 24 (12), 5c00636, pp. 6101 - 6114 (2025)
Ciesielska, J. A.; Drzewiecki, M.; Le Roux, P.; Roberts, P.: Early settlers of Soba: strontium isotope evidence for population dynamics in medieval Nubia. World archaeology, 2588257 (2025)
Ciesielska, J.; Scott, E.; Roberts, P.: Bridging worlds: unraveling Alwan cultural identity at the Nexus of the Savannah and Nile valley through subsistence practices. Archaeometry, 70055 (2025)
Roberts, P.: Die Wurzeln des Menschen: wie der Dschungel die Erde formte, das menschliche Leben hervorbrachte und unsere Zukunft bestimmt. dtv Verlagsgesellschaft, München (2021), 495 pp.
Huber, B.; Hausleiter, A.; Dinies, M.; Al-Najem, M. H.; Alonazi, M. T.F.; Säumel, I.; Giddings Vassão, D.; Fernandes, R.; Boivin, N. L.; Roberts, P.et al.; Pham, T. L. H.: Exploring the aromatic diversity of incense materials at the ancient oasis of Taymāʾ using metabolic profiling. In: Scents of Arabia: interdisciplinary approaches to ancient olfactory worlds ; papers from a special session of the Fifty-fifth Meeting of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, held in Berlin on 6th August 2022, pp. 61 - 86 (Eds. Hausleiter, A.; Huber, B.). Archaeopress, Oxfordshire (2025)
Tolla, M.; Roberts, P.; Lucas, M.; Bonatz, D.; Posth, C.: Late Holocene human diets in the lowlands of West New Guinea: the isotopic evidence. In: West New Guinea: social, biological, and material histories, Ch. 10, pp. 217 - 238 (Eds. Gaffney, D.; Tolla, M.). ANU Press, Cranberra (2025)
van Dalen, B.; Roberts, P.: Prehistoric human development and sustainability. In: The Palgrave handbook of global sustainability, 1st edition Ed., pp. 2195 - 2234 (Ed. Brinkmann, R.). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham (2023)
Patalano, R.; Roberts, P.: Climate Proxies. In: The encyclopedia of ancient history: Asia and Africa, eahaa00609 (Eds. Potts, D. T.; Harkness, E.; Neelis, J.; McIntosh, R.) (2021)
Roberts, P.: Foreword [to Bioarchaeology and Dietary Reconstruction across Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages in Tuscany, Central Italy / Giulia Riccomi]. In: Bioarchaeology and Dietary Reconstruction across Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages in Tuscany, Central Italy, pp. x - xi. Archaeopress, Summerville (2021)
Roberts, P.; Krigbaum, J.; Lee-Thorp, J.: Hunting and gathering in prehistoric rainforests: insights from stable isotope analysis. In: Foraging in the past: archaeological studies of Hunter-Gatherer Diversity, pp. 119 - 158 (Ed. Lemke, A. K.). University Press of Colarado, Louisville (2019)
