We take a biocultural approach to studying humans in the past because we recognize that biology and culture influence each other. Students working in the lab will gain experience with identifying human remains, using skeletal data collection methods, coding archaeology field notes, running quantitative statistical analyses using RStudio or SPSS, and writing literature reviews, archaeological reports, and manuscripts.
The lab houses a collection of human remains from the Ancient Maya civilization at Buenavista del Cayo, Belize (circa 250-900 CE), which is available for non-destructive study.
The lab houses a collection of human remains from the Ancient Maya civilization at Buenavista del Cayo, Belize (circa 250-900 CE), which is available for non-destructive study.
Our ongoing projects involve:
- Answering questions around survival analysis and resiliency between high, middle, and low status groups social groups
- Exploring therapeutic dental treatment practices at the site
- Understanding health differences between social groups
- Exploring weaning age and frequency of physiological stress markers on teeth
- Analyzing the impact of physiological stress on molar tooth phenotype
- Exploring biological affiliation between social status groups