AnthroBiology Podcast

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 anthro could inform policymaking:

• G. Robbins Schug, S. E. Halcrow, Building a bioarchaeology of pandemic, epidemic, and syndemic diseases: Lessons for understanding COVID-19. Bioarchaeol. Int. 6, 179–200 (2022).
• G. Robbins Schug et al., Climate change, human health, and resilience in the Holocene. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 120 (2023).

Honestly, we probably could have done an entire show on just one article. And I might do that in the future. For now, I encourage you to read the articles. They illustrate how answering questions about our past can help us build a better future.

Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode:

• Dr. Robbins Schug's faculty page at UNCG
• Robbins Schug Human Diversity Lab Website
• G. Robbins Schug, S. E. Halcrow, Building a bioarchaeology of pandemic, epidemic, and syndemic diseases: Lessons for understanding COVID-19. Bioarchaeol. Int. 6, 179–200 (2022).
• G. Robbins Schug et al., Climate change, human health, and resilience in the Holocene. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 120 (2023).
• Grauer, A. (Ed.) (2015). A Companion to Paleopathology. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Buiktra, J. (Ed.) (2019). Ortner's Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains (3rd edition). Academic Press.
• Resnick, D. (2001). Diagnosis of Bone and Joint Disorders: 5-Volume Set. Saunders.
• Planetary Health Alliance
• Sholts, S. (2024). The Human Disease: How We Create Pandemics, from our Bodies to Our Beliefs. MIT Press.

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, articles, and media mentioned in this episode:

• Sholts, S. (2024). The Human Disease: How We Create Pandemics, from our Bodies to Our Beliefs. MIT Press.
• Dr. Sholt's Google Scholar profile
• Dr. Sholt's NMNH profile
• Lieberman. D. (2014). The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease. Vintage Books.
• Garrett, L. (2020). The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance. Picador USA.
• Villarosa, L. (2023). Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives. Anchor Books.
• Hatzfeld, J. (2006). Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak. Picador USA.
• Hatzfeld, J. (2007). Life Laid Bare: The Survivors in Rwanda Speak. Other Press.
• Hatzfeld, J. (2008). Into the Quick of Life: The Rwandan Genocide - The Survivors Speak. Serpent’s Tail.
• Hatzfeld, J. (2010). The Antelope’s Strategy: Living in Rwanda After the Genocide. St. Martin’s Press-3PL.
• Lachenal, G. & Thomas, G. (2023). Atlas historique des épidémies. Autrement.
• St John-Mandel, E. (2015). Station Eleven. Vintage 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 Coosa: Oral Health in a Late Mississippian Village. In S Chappell Hodge & KA Shuler Bioarchaeology of the American Southeast: Approaches to Bridging Health and Identity in the Past (1st ed., pp 69-91). University of Alabama Press.
• Ed Yong. (2016). I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life. Ecco.
• Kathleen McAuliffe. (2016). This Is Your Brain on Parasites: How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society. Mariner Books.
• Clinical literature on auditory exostoses
• Cardinal (detective drama, currently on Hulu as of June 2024)
• MC Beaton, Agatha Raisin series (Books + TV series -- I've only read the books, but I hear the show is great)
• cozy-mystery.com [My bad, y’all. I said the wrong URL on the show. There are like 5 sites that also do this, but this is the one I was thinking of. The clip art is perfect.]
• Sister Boniface Mysteries (Nun solves crimes in British countryside, currently on BritBox as of June 2024)
• Father Brown (Priest solves crimes in British countryside, currently on BritBox as of June 2024)
• Cadfael (Medieval monk solves crimes. Books + TV series)
• Grantchester (Anglican vicar solves crimes. Short stories + TV series)

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 Yellowlees, M Tibbett  “Cadaver decomposition in terrestrial ecology”, Science of Nature 94(1), 2007
• Lee Lyman, Vertebrate Taphonomy
• PS Barton, D Lindenmeyer, AD Manning, SA Cunningham, “The role of carrion in maintaining biodiversity and ecological processes in terrestrial ecosystems”, Oecologia 171(4), 2012
• John Currey, Bones: Structure and Mechanics
• David Burr, Basic and Applied Bone Biology
• C Ruff, B Holt, E Trinkaus, “Who’s afraid of the big bad Wolff?: Wolff’s Law and bone functional adaptation”, Am J Phys Anthropol, 129(4), 2006
• P Capodaglio, et al. “Effect of obesity on knee and ankle biomechanics while walking,” Sensors (Basel), 21(21), 2021
• BA Sanford, et al. “Hip, knee, and ankle joint forces in healthy weight, overweight, and obese individuals during walking” 2014
• Neil Shubin, Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5 Billion-Year History of the Human Body
• Ed Yong, An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us

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. Roberta Gilchrist, Medieval Life: Archaeology and the Life Course
• Dr. Virginia Burruss, Earthquakes and Gardens: Saint Hilarion’s Cyprus
• Dr. Karl Jacoby, The Strange Career of William Ellis: The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire
• Dr. Roberta Gilchrist, University of Reading
• Dr. Shannon Novak, Syracuse University
• Dr. Lauren Hosek, University of Colorado - Boulder
• Dr. Stephen Brookfield, Discussion as a Way of Teaching
• Adrian Miller, Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue
• Jim Auchmutey, Smoke Lore: A Short History of Barbecue in America

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 in a Late Medieval Italian Community
• Growing up at Villamagna: Sex, Gender, and Stress During Growth and Development in a Medieval Italian Community

Dr. Clark Spencer Larsen of Ohio State joins the show to discuss his history in the field, bioarchaeology, and how we can use biological anthropology to understand human health in the past. 

Links mentioned in the show:

• Dr. Larsen's faculty page
• The past 12,000 years of behavior, adaptation, population and evolution shaped who we are today (2023 PNAS article - opens as a website)
• Paleosyndemics: A bioarchaeological and biosocial approach to study infectious diseases in the past (2022 Centaurus article - PDF)
• Bioarchaeology: Interpreting Behavior from the Human Skeleton (2015 Cambridge University Press book - link to Alibris)

Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Email the host at [email protected].

Dr. Daniel Benyshek of UNLV joins the show to discuss plancentophagy. Check out his lab page for more info on placentophagy.

Note: There is a special addition at the end of this episode.

Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Email the host at [email protected].

Dr. Jeremy DeSilva of Dartmouth joins the show to discuss bipedalism -- why anthropologists are obsessed with it and how it might have come to be. 

Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Email the host at [email protected].

Rhianna Drummond-Clarke, PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute (Dept. of Human Origins), joins the show to discuss her most recent article examining how environments affect chimp locomotion. She also chat about her time in the field.

See her article here: https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/sciadv.add9752 

Find links to articles, books, and pics at AnthroBiology.com. Find the show on Instagram and Twitter @AnthroBiology. Email the host at [email protected].