AnthroBiology Podcast

Dr. Raquel Fleskes of Dartmouth joins the show to talk about her work using ancient DNA to uncover the past in the Tidewater and South Carolina. Most people think about ancient DNA being used for, well, ancient skeletons, but ancient DNA can also be used in more recent contexts to illuminate the near past. We also chatted about ways to make ancient DNA work more accessible to descendent communitie...

Dr. Andrew Best of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts joined the show to talk about sweat -- what it is, when we do it, how we vary, and why it makes humans different from most other animals. Recommendations Dr. Best's faculty profile at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Dr. Best Google scholar profile My Sport Science from Asker Jeukendrup (website) Asker Jeukendrup (instagram) Gatorad...

Ron Romano of Spirits Alive (a non-profit dedicated to preserving Eastern Cemetery and its history) joins the show to talk about gravestone symbolism, mortuary practices, cemetery organization and social status, and the evolution of gravestone creation in Eastern Cemetery of Portland, ME. Cemeteries reveal a lot about the people who made them -- how they think about death, life, and religion; soci...

Dr. Wakefield (Northeast College) and Dr. Neidich (University of Missouri) joined the show to discuss their research on death in early New York mental health institutions and how it differed from the populations around them. Along the way, we talk about the history of mental health institutions in the United States and how differences in the amount and causes of death can illuminate what we care a...

Dr. Brian Villmoare of the University of Nevada - Las Vegas shares how his team found teeth in Ethiopia and what those teeth might mean in terms of who was around when in the evolutionary record. Recommendations Dr. Villmoare's University of Nevada - Las Vegas staff profile Dr. Villmoare's Human Paleontology Lab Villmoare, B., Delezene, L.K., Rector, A.L.  et al.   New discoveries of  Australopith...

Keri Porter, a PhD candidate at Notre Dame University, joins the show to discuss their research on patterns of violence in a Bronze Age urban center in the Southern Levant. They focus on cranial trauma and what it can reveal about humans attempting to live together along with what it might reveal about who suffers violence. They also share some excellent recommendations for how to think about grad...

Dr. Maria Nieves-Cólon and Jamie Zolik join the show to discuss their ancient DNA research in San Luis de Cañete and what it can reveal about the historical population of the town specifically and the African diaspora in South America generally. They share some of the exciting ways they've forged a partnership with the community in order to carry out the work as ethically as possible. Recommendati...

Dr. Eric Shattuck of Florida State University joins the show to discuss his research on sickness behavior. He wants to know how humans tend to act when they get sick and  why they act that way. Recommendations Dr. Shattuck's faculty page at FSU Dr. Shattuck's personal web page Social Health and Immunology Research (SHIRE) Lab page Dr. Shattuck's Google Scholar profile Shattuck, E.C. and Muehlenbei...

Summary Dr. Erin Blankenship-Sefczek of Creighton University joins the show to discuss her research examining the connection between developmental stress and accessory cusps in teeth. Her work focuses on the placement and appearance of extra cusps that occur with greater frequency among individuals who have suffered stress during key developmental periods in their lives. Recommendations Dr. Blanke...

Dr. Samantha Yaussy of James Madison University joins the show to discuss her research on the how sex, socioeconomic status, and developmental stress and the intersectionality therein might interact to affect health outcomes in the past via the lens of frailty in skeletal remains primarily from medieval London. In this episode, we talked about the skeletal markers of frailty in human remains, unde...

Dr. Habiba Chirchir of the Ohio State University joins the show to discuss her research into the skeletal gracilization of modern humans. She's trying to understand when and why our skeletons became less robust, and whether self-domestication may have played a role. ------------------ Note: Apparently I got Dmitry Belyayev confused with Nikolai Vavilov . Both geneticists worked in the Soviet Union...

Dr. David Orton of the University of York joins the show to discuss how he uses zooarchaeology (the study of animal remains in archaeological contexts) to understand the how rat and human populations interacted and affected each other over time in Europe. He gets into the spread of rats, the plague, using ancient DNA and isotopic analysis to analyze rats, and what rats can tell us about historic e...

Dr. Henry Erlich, Researcher Emeritus at Benioff UCSF Children's Hospital, joins the show to discuss his book, Genetic Reconstruction of the Past: DNA Analysis in Forensics and Human Evolution . We chatted about what it was like to pioneer PCR tests along with how PCR testing works, its applications (including medicine, understanding human evolution, and forensics), and some of the ethical dilemma...

Dr. Christopher Schmitt of Boston University joins the show to talk about how he uses life history theory and epigenetics as a lens for his work with vervets and woolly monkeys. We also chatted about the highs of fieldwork, along with understanding how identity can affect an individual's experience of the field. Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles: Dr....

Dr. Kate Clancy of Illinois State University Urbana-Champaign joins the show to talk about her book, Period: The Real Story of Menstruation . We touch on what periods are, why humans might menstruate, factors that affect menstruation, the study of women's health in general, and a few things to keep in when doing research. Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and art...

Dr. Rebecca Gilmour of Mount Royal University talks about bones, their mechanics, and how we can use both to understand humans' lives in the past -- especially around her main focus of disability and care in ancient Rome. Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles: Ed. CS Hirst, RJ Gilmour, FA Cardoso, KA Plomp. (2023). Behaviour in our Bones: How Human Behav...

Dr. Jesse Goliath of Mississippi State University joins the show to talk about forensic anthropology, including how he ended up in forensic anthropology and how he developed the Mississippi Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons. We also talk about the complicated relationship between race and forensic anthropology, along with the importance of bringing diverse perspectives to the field....

Dr. Christine Drea of Duke University joined the show to talk about mechanisms of female dominance, which is when females of a species are more dominant in groups than males. Dr. Drea looks at how genetics, hormones, and social dynamics interact with each other to result in female dominance in hyenas, meerkats, and lemurs. Content warning: We talk about animal genitalia and hyenas' traumatic birth...

Dr. Lauren Butaric of University of Florida joined the show to talk about sinuses - what they are, why we have them, how they can be used in forensic contexts, and what they can tell us about people. I personally love these anatomy-based discussions. It's just so exciting to do a deep dive into these dark cavities. Here are some of the articles I found helpful while prepping for this episode: Camp...

Dr. Gwen Robbins Schug from the University of North Carolina - Greebsboro discusses some of the projects her lab is working on, including skeletal and dental pathology in past populations and istopic analysis of human remains. She also touches on the importance of integrating biological anthropology into climate change and global health policies. These two articles are great examples of how bio an...

Dr. Sholts of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History joins the show to discuss her new book, The Human Disease: How We Create Pandemics, from Our Bodies to Our Beliefs . Dr. Sholts uses an anthropological lens to understand epidemics. She touches on One Health, historical and current epidemics, the role misinformation plays in the spread of disease, and science communication.   Books,...

Dr. Griffin of San Francisco State University joins the show to discuss dental caries and toothwear in pre-contact Native American groups.  Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode: Griffin, MC. (2014). Biocultural implication of oral pathology in an ancient central California population . Am J Phys Anthropol, 154(2), 171-188. Griffin, MC. (2018). The End of Prehistory in the Land of C...

Dr. Wescott of Texas State University joins the show to discuss the Texas State body farm (Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State - FACTS) and the forensic research carried out there. Books, articles, and selected people mentioned in this episode: Dr. Wescott's ResearchGate profile Haglund & Sorg,  Advances in Forensic Taphonomy: Method, Theory, and Archeological Perspectives DO Carter, D Yel...

Dr. Goodson (Cambridge University) and Dr. Trombley (Augustana University) join forces on the show to discuss their bioarchaeological-historical collaboration to understand the Medieval mouth.  Books, articles, and selected people mentioned in this episode: Medieval Mouths in Context: Biocultural and MultiScalar Considerations of the Mouth and the Case of Late-Medieval Villamagna, Italy Dr. Robert...

Dr. Trent Trombley of Augustana University joins the show to talk about his research at Villamagna, a medieval settlement outside of Rome. He uses macroscopic analysis of teeth along with a few other methods to understand life in the past. Links mentioned in the show: Dr. Trombley's ResearchGate profile Making Sense of Medieval Mouths: Investigating Sex Differences of Dental Pathological Lesions i...