I don’t think that you will ever walk into the office of an anthropologist or an anthropology museum or anywhere where anthropology is being practiced and not find a skull. I don’t think it matters if it’s biological anthropology or linguistics, I think you’ll find a skull- model, diagram, books, possibly real, shrunken, jeweled, hominid, […]
Book Review: Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads
As part of the Head Hunters series, I asked some brilliant anthro friends to write reviews for a couple of books that deal with the issue of anthropologists and our history and relationships with skulls. Read More
Fun Facts About Skeletons 2019
It’s back to school time and I thought it would be great to kick off the year with some fun facts about human bones. Let’s jump right in! Human adult skeletons are Read More
Part Three of the Black History Month Series: From NYC
This is part three (final) of the 2019 Black History Month series on two important sites- the African Burial Grounds in NYC and a tiny island called St. Helena. Sorry, it was delayed, but Black History Read More
Black History Series: The Liberated African Graveyard of St. Helena,
This is part two of the 2019 Black History Month series on two important sites- the African Burial Grounds in NYC and a tiny island called St. Helena. In this second part, I’ll discuss the Read More
Announcement: Black History Series: From NYC to St. Helena- The
Because World Anthropology Day and Black History Month occur in the same month, and I wanted to spend some time talking about a topic I love (re: that February holiday day about love). I decided Read More
Tales From The Grave: Sacralization of the Lumbar
This is a small series that will focus on some of the types of trauma, pathology and degeneration I examined will at the Odyssey Field School in Cyprus. Please note that the images included are Read More
Tales from the Grave: Concha Bullosa
This is a small series that will focus on some of the types of trauma, pathology, interesting variations and degeneration I examined while in Cyprus at the Odyssey Field School. Please note that the images Read More
Part Two of the “Deviant Beauty Series” A few days after I met Krista, I sat down with Krystal- a hair stylist and artist. Although petite in size, her presence fills a room. Read More
Deviant Beauty: “The Latina Bibliophilic Feminist Bioarchaeologist”
Photography by Damari McBride Photography The sun was barely up when Krista arrived at the studio on a cold Monday morning. A bioarchaeologist and college student working towards her Ph.D., she greeted me with Read More
Plummer-Vinson Syndrome with Mutilans Rheumatoid Arthritis
I recently came across some strange x-rays of a hand. At first, I thought the deformation of the bone and hand tissue was perhaps due to an accident of some sort, but the longer I Read More
The (Possible) Bones of ‘The Unsullied’
Earlier today, I was reading a report published on Nature.com about the pathology of an 18th century singer named Gaspare Pacchierotti. What made this article particularly compelling was that the singer was castrated, Read More
But is it human, though?
I get news alerts every day all day about a variety of headlines pertaining to anthropology, science, culture and, specifically, skeletal remains. The other day, my friend was watching one of those ‘CSI’, ‘Bones’ types Read More
What’s Scurvy?! And What Does It Do To Bone?
Most of us enjoy hearing stories about the squash-buckling pirates of the high seas in days long past! Often romanticized, their tales told of adventurers and rebels who lived and died by their own code. Read More