News

Attention students! The deadline to submit applications for the Student Presentation Awards Competition is March 1st. At its annual meeting, the American Association of Physical Anthropologists awards five prizes to outstanding presentations at the annual meeting whose first author is a student. Four named prizes honor Juan Comas, Aleš Hrdlička, Mildred Trotter, and Sherwood Washburn. These awards are for excellent presentation of either a podium talk or poster. A fifth prize, named for Earnest A. Hooton, is given for the best poster presentation. The Mildred Trotter prize is given for a superior presentation on bones and teeth; the other prizes ...

This year's AAAG Education workshop is entitled "Outreach and Public Engagement in Anthropological Genetics" and will take place on Wednesday March 25 from 1-4 pm in Grand Suite 3 of the Hilton. Our speakers include Deborah Bolnick, John Hawks, Ripan Malhi, Joe Orkin, PJ Perry, and Jennifer Raff, who will cover a range of topics relating to science communication and outreach. We will discuss different methods of communication with the public, characteristics of effective science communication, and various ways to incorporate outreach efforts into your research program. The workshop will be run as a panel discussion with plenty of ...

The AAPA Auction is nearly here! And once again we are looking for your donated items including your best field photos to auction. If you have items to donate please email Susan Antón ([email protected]) about them. Please send photos to Anne Stone ([email protected]) who with the aid of a group of physical anthropologists, will select ~5 for framing and auctioning. The deadline for submission is March 13, 2015. The AAPA auction will be on Thursday evening at the meetings and all proceeds directly benefit AAPA Student Travel Awards.

Dear colleagues,

As part of the FAceS project (www.faces.wi.tum.de/), the Chair for Strategy and Organization (Prof. Isabell M. Welpe) at the Technische Universität München, Germany, is currently conducting a survey about publication practices and performance measurement in science. To attain representative knowledge about publication practices and performance measurement across different countries and disciplines (e.g., biology, physics, chemistry, medicine), we are particularly interested in your assessment and specifications on this topic. Participation in this survey will take approximately 20 minutes. Participants will be offered the chance to participate in the raffle for an iPad mini. Upon ...

Saturday March 28, 2015

Dr. Nina Jablonski "Skin Pigmentation is Relevant to Everything that Physical Anthropologists Aspire to Do" Nina G. Jablonski is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research program is focused in two major areas. Her paleoanthropological research concerns the evolutionary history of Old World monkeys, and currently includes an active field project in China. Her research on the evolution of human adaptations to the environment centers on the evolution of human skin and skin pigmentation, and includes an active field project examining the relationship between skin pigmentation and vitamin D production.

Lindbergh noon-2 ...

Four American Association of Anthropological Genetics' (AAAG) Outstanding Trainee Presentation Awards will be given out this year. The Outstanding Trainee Presentations in Anthropological Genetics (OTPAG) prizes are given for the best poster and podium presentations at the HBA or AAPA annual meetings. Each awardee (one each for best student poster, student podium presentation, post-doc poster, and post-doc podium presentation) will receive a $200 cash prize and a one-year subscription to the journal Human Biology. An eligible student must the lead author on the presentation and the one presenting in either a podium or poster format and must be an AAAG ...

Are you looking for a primate field school this summer?

I am instructing two sessions of a 4-week Primate Behavior and Ecology field school through Maderas Rainforest Conservancy in the rainforest at La Suerte, Costa Rica. Both of these sessions still have space available for students:

Session 2: June 21 (fly in) to July 19 (fly out) Session 3: July 19 (fly in) to August 14 (fly out)

La Suerte is home to mantled howler monkeys, white-faced capuchin monkeys, and spider monkeys. Students will spend mornings observing and collecting data on monkeys, and afternoons attending daily lectures, participating in group ...

Authors

Doug M. Boyer (1), Seth Kaufman (2), Gregg F. Gunnell (3), Edward Gomes (4), James O. Thostenson (5)

Affiliations

(1) Duke University, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Durham, NC, USA; (2) Whirligig Inc., Greenport, NY, USA; (3) Duke University, Duke Lemur Center, Division of Fossil Primates, Durham, NC, USA; (4) Duke University, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Durham, NC, USA; (5) Duke University, Pratt School of Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, Durham, NC, U.S.A.

Overview

This article announces the existence of MorphoSource, the first project-based data archive for storing, collaborative sharing ...

This course introduces students to the role of the biological anthropologist, archaeologist and forensic scientist in excavations of human remains.

The course will be divided into three units. The first unit will introduce students to field and laboratory techniques, including familiarity with the human skeletal system, recognizing what constitutes bioarchaeological or forensic data, and violence theory. The second unit will consist of excavations of a pseudo-crime scene and pseudo-archaeological burial. The third unit will focus on laboratory techniques used to analyze the data generated from these two excavation sites. Throughout the course we will explore key concepts in ethics, repatriation ...

Albania’s magnificent archaeological site at Butrint National Park is one of two primary locations for Utica College’s 12th annual Forensic Anthropology Field School course, which includes nine days in Bucharest, Romania. A truly unique international experience, ours is the only anthropology field school where participants live in three different countries and explore four UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including Dracula’s Castle and his birthplace in Transylvania. Undergraduates and graduate students may enroll for six credits at either level. The field school is also open to non-credit participants; no previous experience with human skeletal remains is required.

Taught both ...

The Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee is excited to offer lab-based anthropology methods courses in June and July. The Human Osteology course, offered twice, is an intensive and detailed introduction to human skeletal remains. Introduction to Human Identification course presents basic biological profile methods through lectures and practical activities . The Trauma course focuses on fracture bone biomechanics and skeletal trauma. More information on all FAC courses can be found on the website http://fac.utk.edu/courses.html or contact Dr. Giovanna Vidoli at [email protected] or (865) 974-1303.

The imposing Magura Uroiului rock formation near Simeria (Southern Transylvania) stands as a natural fortress, overlooking all natural and man-made elements of the surrounding landscape. By its position, aspect, and its proximity to sources of salt, copper, iron, tin, gold as well as easy access to coal, it provided both the practical and mystical components to ensure an intensive and quite often specialized use throughout Prehistory, as shown by the Early Iron Age (Hallstatt) “funerary monument” which is the focus of the present study. This workshop is unique in its holistic focus. From excavation to cleaning to recording and data ...

MEDIEVAL CRISIS POPULATIONS - VICTIMS OF CHANGE

As the 15th century ends, the battle for Europe continues! The heroes (and their legend) that held back the Ottoman East have died: Vlad Dracula the Impaler in 1476; Holy Stephan the Great in 1504; Skanderberg in 1468, opening the way for the Turkish expansion into Europe. Turkish pressure combined with the struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism has generated an extraordinary environment that impacted the local populations in a variety of ways, both physiologically and socio-culturally. The aim of this project is to continue to evaluate how major global political events impact physically the ...

The Field School in Medieval Archaeology and Bioarchaeology at Badia Pozzeveri is an accredited academic program offered by The Ohio State University and the University of Pisa, Italy. The field school aims at training students in archaeological and bioarchaeological field and laboratory methods and represents an outstanding opportunity for students to work side-by-side with leading researchers in the field. Excavations take place at the church of “San Pietro a Pozzeveri” in the municipality of Altopascio in the Italian region of Tuscany. During the 2015 field season, the field school will continue to explore the post-medieval and medieval levels of the ...

The 17th Field School in Mortuary Archaeology which will be held in Drawsko, Poland in summer 2015.

The early modern skeletal cemetery at Drawsko, Poland (16th -17th centuries AD) provides a unique opportunity for students to practice bioarchaeology by learning archaeological excavation techniques and working with human osteological material. To date, more than 200 burials have been excavated, and the skeletal collection includes evidence of traumatic injury, infectious, degenerative and genetic disease, nutritional deficiency, as well as unidentified atypical lesions. Every archaeological season in Drawsko brings discoveries of unusual burials containing the dead with iron sickles running across their necks ...

AAPA members have a 20 % discount on the Fee.

INSTRUCTORS: Dr. Lone Aagesen (IBODA, CONICET, Argentina) and Dr. Claudia A. Szumik (Miguel Lillo Foundation, CONICET, Argentina).

PLACE: Facilities of the Centre of Restauració i Interpretació Paleontologica, Els Hostalets de Pierola, Barcelona (Spain).

This course provides basic knowledge on selected theoretical and methodological problems of historical biogeography. We aim to provide the practical skills to enable the students to carry out empirical biographical analyses. A considerable part of the course is therefore allocated to practical problems as well as to the use of computer programs specifically developed for biogeography analyses.

Organized ...

The Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State in San Marcos, TX is offering five workshops in the summer of 2015. These hands on courses are held at both inside at the FACTS Freeman Ranch Facility and outside at the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility. The courses start on June 1, 2015 and run through August. We will be offering Outdoor Human Remains Recovery, Forensic Taphonomy of Texas, Forensic Anthropology Methods, Advanced Forensic Anthropology Methods: Ancestry, and Human Osteology. Undergraduates, Graduates, and Professionals in the field are all welcome to apply. For more information and to register please contact Sophia Mavroudas (512 ...

We are now accepting applications for the second field season of our bioarcharchaeological and archaeological field school on St. Croix, which will take place at the Aklis site, a prehistoric shell midden, habitation, and cemetery site. The Aklis site, which is located on the beach in Frederiksted, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, is endangered by rising sea levels. Excavations during this field season will focus on documentation and removal of several intact human burials. Students will gain hands on experience in excavation methods, mapping, artifact identification and classification, skeletal excavation, and osteological data recording. Students will learn about the ecology ...

This one day workshop, taught by Drs. Richard Jantz and Steve Ousley, will present the statistical methods used by Fordisc 3.1 and how to properly interpret its results. Topics covered will be methods and assumptions of Fordisc’s statistical methods, estimating sex and ancestry, posterior and typicality probabilities, stature estimation, analyzing admixed groups and individuals and measurement definitions and techniques. There will also be practical exercises providing students the opportunity to measure cases and run the measurements in Fordisc.

The workshop will be held in Orlando, FL during the AAFS meetings at the Clarion Inn and Suites, within walking ...

The Committee on Diversity will sponsor the 5th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium to be held on the evening of Wednesday March 25th. Any abstract with an undergraduate as the first author is welcome. Please encourage your undergraduates to apply for this event!

Deadline: C.O.D. Undergraduate Research Symposium abstracts are due February 1, 2015.

Abstract Preparation and Submission: Abstracts should follow AAPA guidelines (see section B of this document); failure to do so will mean that your abstract is returned to you, unreviewed. Abstracts should be submitted electronically as a .doc/docx file to Dr. Cara Wall-Scheffler (cwallsch@spu ...