Northern Illinois University
Department of Anthropology
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dr. Jim Ahern is a biological anthropologist specializing in human evolution and anatomy and Paleolithic archaeology. His research has covered many aspects of human biological and biocultural evolution, ranging from work on the origin of the hominin lineage to the peopling of the Americas. Much of his current research focuses on the complex biocultural dynamics that coincided with the Neandertal modern human transition in South-Central Europe. Dr. Ahern earned his M.A. in Anthropology from NIU in 1993.

Selected Publications

• Janković I, Vidas L, Novak M, Vukosavljević N, Radović S, Raguž K, and Ahern JCM. 2024. Redating the Veternica prehistoric humans. Vjesnik Arheološkog muzeja u Zagrebu 3-LVII: 23-28.
• Becker RB, Janković I, Karavanić I, Ahern JCM, Komšo D, Vidas L., and Banda M. 2024. Electrical resistance tomography for sediment depth modeling in Croatia’s Paleolithic rock shelter & cave sites." Vjesnik Arheološkog muzeja u Zagrebu 3/LVII: 9-22.
• Janković I, Balen J, Potrebica H, Ahern JCM, and Novak M. 2021. Mass violence in Copper Age Europe: the massacre burial site from Potočani, Croatia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 2021:1-12. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24396
• Novak M, Olalde I, Ringbauer H, Rohland N, Ahern JCM, Balen H, Janković I, Potrebica H, Pinhasi R, and Reich D. 2021. Genome-wide analysis of nearly all the victims of a 6200 year old massacre. PlosOne 16(3):e0247332.
• Eppenberger P, Čavka M, Janković I, Paar D, Buzjak N, Ahern J, Biedermann P, Novak M. 2020. Application of radiographic analysis and virtual cleaning of bioarcheological remains enclosed in mineral deposits from limestone caves. European Radiology Experimental 4:41-48.
• Janković I, Ahern JCM, Becker R, Percan T, and Komšo D. 2019. Ljubićeva pećina: laser scanning and geophysical work in the 2019 season (Ljubićeva pećina: lasersko skeniranje i geofizikalna mjerenja u sezoni 2019). Histria Archaeologica. 49/2018:5-11.
• Becker RJ, Janković I, Ahern JCM, and Komšo D. 2019. Earth resistance tomography for sediment depth modeling at the Romuald’s Cave site in the Lim Channel, Croatia. Archaeological Prospection. 2019:1-7. DOI: 10.1002/arp.1749
• Ahern JCM. 2018. Sahelanthropus. In: Trevathan W (ed.). The International Encyclopedia of Biological Anthropology. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN: 9781118584422.
• Janković I, Vukosavljević N, Ahern JCM, Karavanić I, Mihelić S and Smith FH. 2018. Bukovac cave revisited. Recent excavations of an early Upper Paleolithic site in the Gorski kotar region of Croatia. Arch Korrespondezblatt. 48:297-306.
• Janković I, Komšo D, Mihelić S, and Ahern JCM (eds.). 2017. ARCHAEOLIM: Archaeological Investigations into the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene of the Lim Channel. Archaeological Museum of Zagreb.
• Janković I, Komšo D, Ahern JCM, Becker R, Gerometta K, Weinstock J, Barbir A, Vukosavljević N, Cvitkušić B, Zubčić K, Mihelić S, Karavanić I, and Smith FH. 2017. New research on the Late Pleistocene in the Lim Channel, Istria. Antiquity Project Gallery. 91(359).
• Karavanić I, Šošić-Klindžić R, Ahern JCM, Čondić N, Janković I, Zubčić K, and Smith FH. 2017. Recent research on the Middle/Upper Paleolithic interface in Croatia, in the context of Central and SE Europe. In Harvati K and Roksandic M (eds.): Human Evolution in the Southern Balkans. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology book series (Delson E & Sargis E, Series Eds.). Springer-Verlag.
• Janković I, Ahern JCM, Karavanić I, and Smith FH. 2017. The importance of Croatian Pleistocene hominin finds in the study of human evolution. In Harvati K and Roksandic M (eds.): Human Evolution in the Southern Balkans. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology book series (Delson E & Sargis E, Series Eds.). Springer-Verlag.
• Karavanić I, Vukosavljević N, Janković I, Ahern JCM, and Smith FH. 2017. Paleolithic hominins and settlement in Croatia from MIS 6 to MIS 3: research history and current interpretations. Quaternary International.
• Becker R, Janković I, Komšo D, Ahern JCM, Gerometta K, and Weinstock J. 2017. Earth Resistance Tomography for Detecting Previous Excavation Trenches in Cave and Rock Shelter Sites in the Lim Channel, Croatia. Collegium Antropologicum. 41:173-179.
• Smith FH, Ahern JCM, Janković I and Karavanić I. 2017. Ancient genomics and the Assimilation Model for modern human origins. Quaternary International. 450:126-136.
• Janković I, Balen J, Ahern JCM, Premužić Z, Čavka M, Potrebica H, and Novak M. 2017. Prehistoric massacre revealed. Four cases of perimortem cranial trauma from Potočani, Croatia. Anthropologischer Anzeiger. 74(2):131-141.
• Surovell TA, Toohey JL, Myers AD, LaBelle JM, Ahern JCM, Reisig B. 2017. The end of archaeological discovery. American Antiquity. 33(2): 288-300.
• Karavanić I, Vukosavljević N, Čondić N, Miko S, Razum I, Ilijanić N, Zubčić K, Šošić Klindžić R, Ahern JCM, and Barbir A. 2016. Projekt “Kasni musterijen na istočnom Jadranu – temelj za razumijevanje identiteta kasnih neandertalaca i nihovog nestanka”: sažetak 2. I 3. godine istraživanja/Project Late Mousterian in the eastern Adriatic – towards understanding of the late Neanderthals’ identity and their demise: summary of the 2^nd and 3^rd years of research. Prilozi Instituta za arheologiju u Zagrebu. 33:135-150.
• Šošić-Klindžić R, Radović S, Težak-Gregl T, Šlaus M, Perhoč Z, Hulina M, Gerometta K, Boschian G, Vukosavljević N, Karavanić I, Richards M, Ahern JCM, Janković I. 2015. Late Upper Paleolithic, Early Mesolithic and Early Neolithic from the cave site Zemunica, Bisko (Croatia). Eurasian Prehistory. 12:3-46.
• Janković I, Ahern JCM, Mihelić S, and Premužić Z. 2015. Bronze Age finds from Romualdova Cave, Istria: 2014 excavation season. Collegium Antropologicum. 39(4):943-946.
• Šošić-Klindžić R, Karavanić I, Vukosavljević N, Ahern JCM. Smještaj, stratigrafija, kronologia i tijek iskopavanja špilje Zale (Occupation, stratigraphy, chronology and the course of excavations at Zala Cave). 2015. In Karavanić I and Vukosavljević N (eds). Arheologija Špilje Zale: Od Paleolitičkih Lovaca Skupljača do Rimskih Osvajača. Katedra Čakavskog sabora Modruše.
• Karavanić I, Vukosavljević N, Šošić-Klindžić R, Ahern JCM, and Smith FH. Špila Zala u dijakronijskoj perspektivi: sažetak rezultata. 2015. In Karavanić I and Vukosavljević N (eds). Arheologija Špilje Zale: Od Paleolitičkih Lovaca Skupljača do Rimskih Osvajača. Katedra Čakavskog sabora Modruše.
• Ahern JCM. 2015. Archaic Homo. In M. Muehlenbein (ed.): Basics in Human Evolution. Elsevier.
• Janković I, Ahern JCM, and Smith FH. 2015. On some aspects of Neandertal zygomatic morphology with consideration of other archaic and early modern humans. HOMO: The Journal of Comparative Human Biology.
• Smith FH and Ahern JCM (editors). 2013. The Origins of Modern Humans: Biology Reconsidered. ISBN 9780470894095. Wiley-Blackwell.