A Story of Us

"Where are you from?" In this special bonus episode, students from the Columbus Metro Early College Middle School (6-8th grade) answer this question as a part of their January-term project. With the idea that "Where are you from" means so much more than what is your family background, students take the time to tell us about what shaped them as who they are today, including: stories of their parent...

How can you use anthropology without realizing it? In this episode, we talk with Donna Firm, an OSU alumna (class of '73), who took her anthropology degree and applied it to a lifetime with the Ohio State Department. Donna, who celebrated OSU's centennial, reflects on how anthropology has changed over the last fifty years, and tells us how she still keeps anthropology in her life today.

What can we learn from paleofeces (a.k.a. dried ancient feces)? In this episode, we talk with archaeologist and paleoethnobotanist Dr. Kris Gremillion, and discuss her research with Native American plant remains in the caves and rock shelters of eastern Kentucky. She covers topics including: understanding the origins and development of agricultural systems, the challenges of working with plant rem...

Do you know the origins of the term "slash and burn agriculture"? In this episode we talk with Dr. Sean Downey, an ecological anthropologist who works in Belize. Dr. Downey describes the colonial view that led to the term "slash and burn" for the practice that many anthropologists and ecologists prefer to call, "Swidden" agriculture. Dr. Downey's research asks the questions, "how do community soci...

Do raccoons have a preference on what they scavenge? How does our environment and what we consume in our lifetime affect how we decompose? In this bonus episode, we talk with forensic anthropologist Dr. Dawnie Wolfe- Steadman, and hear about her research at the Forensic Anthropology Center at University of Tennessee, Knoxville (a.k.a The Body Farm) where she works with donated bodies to inform sci...

Have you ever stuck your hand in cold water and watched it prune? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Bruce Floyd of the University of Auckland. After describing his circuitous path to anthropology, Dr. Floyd describes his research studying "cold induced vasodilation response (CIVD)" as a hypotheses for understanding the Peopling of the Pacific. How does this relate to prune-y hands? Listen to f...

In this bonus episode, we interview Dr. Amara Solari of Penn State University and discovery the intersection between art and anthropology in the Pre-Colombian Yucatan. Dr. Solari discusses the transition of Mayan culture to Christianity, including the adoption and idolization of the Virgin Mary. To read her book: https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-08332-8.html

How do islands preserve the past? How do humans transform their environments? In this episode, we talk with archaeologist Dr. Julie Field, and hear about her research in the Pacific Islands with population growth and the trajectory of environmental change. By speaking on diversity of biology, culture, and thought, we can study where we have been and answer the question of "where are we going?" (Bo...

What can human waste tell you about culture? How do different cultures manage waste and compost? In this episode, we talk with cultural anthropologist Dr. Nick Kawa, and hear about his research in environmental anthropology around the world. Ps. did you know that you can paint with compost?

How does stress affect your health? And what, exactly, can affect your stress? In this episode, we talk with biological anthropologist Dr. Crews, and hear about his research in exploring allostatic load in populations across the world. Listen to find out how they are the same, and how they are different.

This episode kicks off a brand new series: Diversity! Host Emma Lagan and guest Dr. Mark Hubbe introduce the formatting of the new series(2019) and the podcast's newest collaborator, the Anthropology Public Outreach Program, or "APOP." Why is outreach important? Listen to find out more....

Biological anthropologist Dr. Sam Stout discusses his research in bone biology and how his work relates to the fields of bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology.

In this short episode, Emma and Alex discuss frailty, health, and death and how we can attempt to understand them.

What happens when someone dies? How do people mourn and how does it differ based on who the deceased was? This episode discusses mourning, burial practices, grave goods, and the importance of the identity of the dead.

This episode kicks off Series 3: DEATH! Emma Lagan and Alex Tuggle introduce the series theme, give an overview of how anthropologists are trained to deal with human remains respecfully, and describe the new podcast structure.

In February, Dr. Larissa Swedell came and gave a talk to the department entitled "Social Behavior and Sexual Conflict in Baboons." She took the time to chat with our podcast host about some of her research and what she does as a primatologist. Photo Credit: Larissa Swedell

Recorded February 2017. In this episode, Dr. Lucas Delezene talks about his work broadly and, specifically, about the teeth of a new hominin species: Homo naledi. At the time of recording, the age of the specimens was unknown. In May, it was announced that these hominin fossils date from 236 to 335 thousand years ago (Dirks et al., 2017 https://elifesciences.org/articles/24231)

Dr. Carolyn Dean, Professor of History of Art and Visual Culture at the University of California, Santa Cruz, gave the 14th Annual Paul and Erika Bourguignon Lecture in Art and Anthropology at Ohio State University on March 23, 2017.

Dr. Barbara Piperata and Dr. Lexine Trask discuss their field work with mothers from Latin America and the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area. This is a powerful episode about the decisions mothers face and how they manage.

For our final content episode of the Childhood series, we shift the focus to mothers. Who are they? What do they do? Why are they so important?

In this episode, two graduate students (Katy Marklein and Melissa Clark) discuss the various ways children can be identified in the archaeological record. Katy is interested in Classical and Roman East Mediterranean and Black Sea bioarchaeology while Melissa focuses on the effects of British colonization on pre-Famine Ireland and dental anthropology.

How children appear in the archaeological record is a fascinating topic! In this episode, our hosts describe some of the most common ways the presence of children can be detected.

Dr. Giuseppe Vercellotti and graduate student Jesse Goliath discuss some of the ways they study later childhood using skeletal materials. They discuss the Osteological Paradox, a hugely important topic in bioarchaeology. For more information about the Osteological Paradox, check out our Supplemental Materials and Transcripts page on our website!

Continuing our discussion of the biological aspects of childhood, this episode describes some of the processes that occur after weaning.

This is the first conversation episode of Series 2: Childhood! Dr. Guatelli-Steinberg and Genevieve Ritchie-Ewing discuss their work. Dr. Guatelli-Steinberg also describes her new book: What Teeth Reveal About Human Evolution.