AnthroBiology Podcast

When people talk about human brains, the story is normally about how our brains have become bigger over time. And that's true, but it makes the process sound a lot more linear than it probably was. Dr. Mark Hubbe of the University of Tennessee - Knoxville joins the show to discuss his recent paper that explores how and when our faces got smaller and our brains got bigger.

Recommendations

• Dr. Hubbe's Google Scholar profile
• Dr. Hubbe's faculty profile at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville
• Hubbe, M., Harvati, K. Evolutionary drivers of encephalization and facial reduction in the genus Homo. Nat Commun 17, 5625 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74739-w
• Dr. Katerina Harvati's Google Scholar Profile
• The Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoecology
• Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
• Center for the Study of Human Origins
• Shubin, N. (2009). Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. Vintage.
• Gould, S. J. (1992). The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Dawkings, R. (1997). Climbing Mount Improbable. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Källén, A. (2025) The Trouble with Ancient DNA. University of Chicago Press.
• Sapolsky, R.M. (2002). A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons. Scribner.
• Weiner, J. (1995). The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time. Vintage.
• Murray, C. (2020). Human Diversity: The Biology of Gender, Race, and Class. Twelve.
• Nguyen, T.C. (2026). The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game. Penguin Press.
• Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's The Long Earth series
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld series
• The Good Place (TV show)
• Greer, A.S. (2017). Less. Little, Brown Paperbacks.

Dr. Stacey Tecot of the University of Arizona joins the show to talk about her research on lemurs, their endocrinology and what their hormones can tell us about allomaternal care -- the care provided to young by any individuals who are not the mother. We also talk about methods and living in the field.

Recommendations

• Dr. Stacey Tecot's staff profile at University of Arizona
• Dr. Tecot's personal website
• LEEP lab website
• Nelson, R.J. (2022). An Introduction to Behavioral Endocrinology (6th edition). Oxford University Press.
• Hofer, H., & East, M. L. (1998). Biological conservation and stress. In A. P. Møller, M. Milinski, & P. J. B. Slater (Eds.), Advances in the study of behavior, Vol. 27, pp. 405–525). Academic Press.
• Wright P. C. (1999). Lemur traits and Madagascar ecology: coping with an island environment. American journal of physical anthropology, Suppl 29, 31–72. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(1999)110:29+<31::aid-ajpa3>3.0.co;2-0
• Sapolsky, R.M. (2002). A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons. Scribner Book Company.
• Hrdy, S.B. (2011). Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding. Belknap Press.
• Hrdy, S.B. (2024). Father Time: A Natural History of Men and Babies. Princeton University Press.
• Ellison, P.T. (2003). On Fertile Ground: A Natural History of Human Reproduction. Harvard University Press.
• Eds. Ellison, P.T. & Gray, P.B. (2012). Endocrinology of Social Relatioships. Harvard University Press.
• Dr. Christine Drea's personal website
• Dr. Drea's Google Scholar
• Dr. Drea's AnthroBiology episode (Opens on the janky podcast host site. Also available on Apple and Spotify)
• Cooke, L. (2022). Bitch: On the Female of the Species. Basic Books.
• Canelos, A. (2022). The Neotenic Queen: Tales of Sex and Survival in the Sonoran Desert. Neotenic Press.
• Taskmaster (TV show)

Dr. Briana Pobiner of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Human Origins Program joins the show to talk about cut marks. She discusses how we can tell what's a cut mark vs. other bone damage and how cut marks can illuminate human evolution along with illustrating migration and behavioral patterns in the distant past.

Recommendations

• Dr. Pobiner's NMNH staff profile
• Dr. Pobiner's Google Scholar profile
• W.A. Barr, B. Pobiner, J. Rowan, A. Du, & J.T. Faith. (2022). No sustained increase in zooarchaeological evidence for carnivory after the appearance of Homo erectus, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 119 (5) e2115540119, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2115540119.
• Keevil TL, Pelissero AJ, Negash T, Orlikoff ER, Osborne I, Tolley AM, Pobiner B and Pante MC. (2026). A comparative bone surface modification database for revealing the origins and evolution of human carnivory. Front. Ecol. Evol. 14:1681814. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2026.1681814
• Pobiner, B., Pante, M. & Keevil, T. (2023). Early Pleistocene cut marked hominin fossil from Koobi Fora, Kenya. Sci Rep 13, 9896. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-35702-7
• Egeland, C., Pobiner, B., Merritt, S., & Kunitz, S. (2024). Actualistic butchery studies in zooarchaeology: Where we've been, where we are now, and where we want to go. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 73. 10.1016/j.jaa.2023.101565.
• Curran, S.C., Drăgușin, V., Pobiner, B. et al. Hominin presence in Eurasia by at least 1.95 million years ago. Nat Commun 16, 836 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56154-9
• Pobiner, B., Curran, S., and Drãgușin, V. (2025). Tiny cut marks on animal bone fossils reveal that human ancestors were in Romania 1.95 million years ago. The Conversation. https://doi.org/10.64628/AAI.vxf9wp6jy
• Pobiner, B. (2016). Meat-Eating Among the Earliest Humans. American Scientist. 104 (2).
• The Bear (TV show)
• Miller, L. (2021). Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life. Simon & Schuster.

Dr. Christiane Baigent of Colorado Mesa University runs the Forensic Investigation Resource Station (FIRS), which is the highest body farm in the world. We talk about how bodies decompose at high altitude and how it can differ from decomp at lower altitude. Dr. Baigent also shares some of the behind-the-scenes of running a body farm.

Recommendations

• Dr. Baigent's faculty profile at Colorado Mesa University
• Forensic Investigation Resource Station (FIRS) website
• American Academy of Forensic Sciences website
• Baigent, C. (2024). The effect of altitude on decomposition: Toward an understanding of the postmortem interval in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado [Doctoral dissertation, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale]. OpenSIUC. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/dissertations/2198/
• Hansen, E.S., Baigent, C., Reck, S.I. and Connor, M. (2018). Bioelectrical Impedance as a Technique for Estimating Postmortem Interval. J Forensic Sci, 63: 1186-1190. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.13695
• Bailey, C. A., Lennartz, A. N., Klemm, M. M., Matheson, C. A., Unger, C. A., & George, R. L. (2025). Assessing Patterns of Moisture Content in Decomposing, Desiccated, and Mummified Tissue in Western North Carolina. Forensic Sciences, 5(4), 73. https://doi.org/10.3390/forensicsci5040073
• Connor, M., Baigent, C. and Hansen, E.S. (2019), Measuring Desiccation Using Qualitative Changes: A Step Toward Determining Regional Decomposition Sequences. J Forensic Sci, 64: 1004-1011. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.14003
• Baigent C, Agan C, Connor M, Hansen ES. Autopsy as a form of evisceration: Implications for decomposition rate, pattern, and estimation of postmortem interval. Forensic Sci Int. 2020 Jan;306:110068. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2019.110068. Epub 2019 Nov 19. PMID: 31816485.
• Garcia, S., Smith, A., Baigent, C. and Connor, M. (2020). The Scavenging Patterns of Feral Cats on Human Remains in an Outdoor Setting. J Forensic Sci, 65: 948-952. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.14238
• Eds. Haglund, W. and Sorg, M. (1996). Forensic taphonomy: The postmortem fate of human remains. CRC Press.
• Eds. Haglund, W. and Sorg, M. (2001). Advances in forensic taphonomy: Method, theory, and archaeological perspectives. CRC Press.
• Eds. Ellingham, S., Adserias-Garcia, J., and Zapico, S. (2023). Burnt human remains: Recovery, analysis, and interpretation. Wiley.
• Alexander, M. (2020). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press.
• Stevenson, B. (2015). Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. One World.
• Derby, S. (2021). Sisters in Hate: American Women and White Extremism. Little, Brown.

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 communities.

Recommendations

• Dr. Fleske's lab page
• Dr. Fleske's staff profile at Dartmouth
• Dr. Fleske's Google Scholar page
• Jamestown Rediscovery website
• Fleskes, R. E., H. M. Palacios, H. Budner, et al. (2025). "Archaeogenomic Analysis of Nineteenth-Century Burials at Saint Mary's Basilica: An Intersectional Analysis of Religion, Race, and Migration." Am J Biol Anthropol, 187, no. 4: e70110. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.70110.
• Masur, L., Fleskes, R., Schurr, T., Brown, D., Harpole, T., Pollard, P., Alukonis, L., Horsley, T., et al. (2025). "Let Perpetual Light Shine upon Them": Forgetting and Remembering Segregated Catholic Cemeteries." American Antiquity. 91. 1-24. 10.1017/aaq.2025.10103.
• Fleskes, R.E., Gilmore, J.K., Oubré, L.S., Ofunniyin, A.A., Cabana, G.S. and Schurr, T.G. (2025). "Immersive Videography of Ancient DNA Extraction for Community Engagement and Educational Initiatives by the Anson Street African Burial Ground Project." Am J Biol Anthropol, 186: e25055. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.25055
• Fleskes, R.E., Johnson, S.J., Honap, T.P. et al. (2024). "Oral microbial diversity in 18th century African individuals from South Carolina." Commun Biol 7, 1213. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06893-0
• R.E. Fleskes, G.S. Cabana, J.K. Gilmore, C. Juarez, E. Karcher, L. Oubré, G. Mishoe, A.A. Ofunniyin, & T.G. Schurr. (2023). "Community-engaged ancient DNA project reveals diverse origins of 18th-century African descendants in Charleston, South Carolina." Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 120 (3) e2201620120, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201620120.
• Fleskes, R.E., Johnson, S.J., Honap, T.P. et al. (2024). "Oral microbial diversity in 18th century African individuals from South Carolina." Commun Biol 7, 1213. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-06893-0.
• Raquel E. Fleskes, Alyssa C. Bader, Krystal S. Tsosie, Jennifer K. Wagner, Katrina G. Claw, Nanibaa' A. Garrison. (2022). "Ethical Guidance in Human Paleogenomics: New and Ongoing Perspectives." Annual Review Genomics and Human Genetics. 23:627-652. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-genom-120621-090239
• Fleskes RE, Ofunniyin AA, Gilmore JK, et al. (2021). "Ancestry, health, and lived experiences of enslaved Africans in 18th century Charleston: An osteobiographical analysis." Am J Phys Anthropol.175:3–24. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24149
• Källén, A. (2025). The Trouble with Ancient DNA: Telling Stories of the Past with Genomic Science. University of Chicago Press.
• The X-Files
• Scooby-Doo

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)
• Gatorade Sports Science Institute
• Everts, S. (2021). The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of Perspiration. W.W. Norton & Company.
• Galloway, S. (2025). Notes on Being a Man. Simon & Schuster.

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; social and economic hierarchies; changing technologies; what's important to them; what causes anxiety. Cemeteries are human-made spaces filled with our bodies and artifacts that we've created. They can't help but be reflections of who we are and what we care about in any particular moment. Historians like Ron help us unpack these layered contexts by using the cemetery as a lens for interpretation of the past.

Recommendations

• Spirits Alive
• Spirits Alive - Monographs about Portland's Eastern Cemetery by Ron Romano
• Association for Gravestone Studies
• Romano, R. (2017). Portland's Historic Eastern Cemetery: A Field of Ancient Graves. Historic Press.
• Romano, R. (2016). Early Gravestones in Southern Maine: The Genius of Bartlett Adams. Historic Press.
• Giguere, JM. (2024). Pleasure Grounds of Death: The Rural Cemetery in Nineteenth-Century America. University of Michigan Press.
• Burnett, A. (2015). Gone to the Grave: Burial Customs of the Arkansas Ozarks, 1850-1950. University Press of Mississippi.
• Blachowicz, J. (2015). From Slate to Marble: Gravestone Carving Traditions in Eastern Massachusetts, 1770-1870 (Vols. 1-2). Graver Press.
• Bondeson, J. (2002). Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear. W.W. Norton & Company.
• Hartnell, J. (2019). Medieval Bodies: Life and Death in the Middle Ages. W.W. Norton & Company.
• Hartnell, J. (2019). Medieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages. Wellcome Collection.
• Faust, DG. (2009). This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War. Knopf Publishing Group.
• Houlbrooke, R. (1998). Death, Religion, and the Family in England, 1480-1750. Oxford University Press.
• Houlbrooke, R. (Ed). (2021). Death, Ritual, and Bereavement. Routledge.
• Doughty, C. (2015). Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory. W.W. Norton & Company.
• Deetz, J. (1996). In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life. Anchor Books.
• Shultz, SR. (2005). Body Snatching: The Robbing of Graves for the Education of Physicians in Early Nineteenth Century America. McFarland & Company.

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 about as a society.

Dr. Walker also worked on this project, but unfortunately was unable to join. Her collaborators wanted to make sure that her contributions were noted :)

Recommendations

• Dr. Wakefield's faculty profile
• Dr. Niedich's faculty profile
• Dr. Walker's faculty profile
• Stuhler, L.S. (2011). The Inmates of Willard 1870 to 1900: A Genealogy Resource. Createspace Independent Publishing.
• Penney, D. (2009). The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic. Bellevue Literary Press.
• Willard Suitcases photo gallery
• Moreno-Garcia, S. (2020). Mexican Gothic. Del Rey Books.
• Wynn-Williams, S. (2025). Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism. Flatiron Books.
• Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club series
• Brindlewood Bay role-playing game

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 Australopithecus and Homo from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09390-4
• Kalb, J. (2013). Adventures in the Bone Trade: The Race to Discover Human Ancestors in Ethiopia's Afar Depression. Copernicus.
• Wood, B. (2019). Human Evolution: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. [<- This is what I was talking about when I mentioned an intro to human evolution from Cambridge.]
• Ian Tattersall's books + Ian Tattersall's website
• Jablonka, E. & Lamb, M.J. (2014). Evolution in Four Dimensions, Revised Edition: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life. Bradford Book.
• Sapolsky, R.M. (2023). Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will. Penguin Publishing Group.
• Rachel Kushner's books
• Reiss, T. (2006). The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life. Random House.
• Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club series

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 school, whether or not to go, and tips for applying.

Recommendations

• Keri Porter's Notre Dame profile page
• Martin, D.L., Harrod, R.P., & Pérez, V.R. (Eds.) (2013). The Bioarchaeology of Violence. University Press of Florida.
• Regev J, De Miroschedji P, Greenberg R, Braun E, Greenhut Z, Boaretto E. Chronology of the Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant: New Analysis for a High Chronology. Radiocarbon. 2012;54(3-4):525-566.
• Greenberg, R. (2019). The Archaeology of the Bronze Age Levant: From Urban Origins to the Demise of City-States, 3700-1000 BCE. Cambridge University Press.
• Krakowka K. (2017). Patterns and prevalence of violence-related skull trauma in medieval London. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 164(3), 488–504. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23288
• Krakowka, K. (2015). Understanding violence in medieval London: an examination of the skeletal evidence. [PhD thesis]. University of Oxford.
• Gorn, E. J. (1985). "Gouge and Bite, Pull Hair and Scratch": The Social Significance of Fighting in the Southern Backcountry. The American Historical Review, 90(1), 18–43.
• Collins, S. (2025). Sunrise on the Reaping. Scholastic Press.
• Fox, J. (2025). Down the Drain. Simon & Schuster.
• Green, J. (2025). Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection. Crash Course Books.
• Reinhard, A. (2018). Archaeogaming: An Introduction to Archaeology in and of Video Games, Berghan Books.
• Porter, K. (2022, November 4). Digging Up the Digital Past: Archaeogaming and Archaeological Practice in the Sims™ Franchise. UMMAA Brown Bag Lecture Series, Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, IN, USA.

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.

Recommendations

• Dr. Maries Nieves-Colón's faculty page at the University of Minnesota
• Nieves-Colón lab
• Jaime Zolik's bio
• Museo Afroperuano de San Luis de Cañete
• Nieves-Colón MA, Ulrich EC, Chen L, Torres Colón GA, Rivera Clemente M, Corporación Piñones se Integra (COPI), Benn Torres J. Genomic variation in Puerto Rican Afro-descendants illustrates diverse histories of African diasporic populations. American Journal of Biological Anthropology.185(3), e25059.
• Arbour, L., & Cook, D. (2006). DNA on loan: issues to consider when carrying out genetic research with aboriginal families and communities. Community genetics, 9(3), 153–160. https://doi.org/10.1159/000092651
• Flewellen, A.O., Odewale, A., Dunnavant, J. et al. Creating Community and Engaging Community: The Foundations of the Estate Little Princess Archaeology Project in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands. Int J Histor Archaeol 26, 147–176 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-021-00600-z
• Ávila-Arcos, M. C., de la Fuente Castro, C., Nieves-Colón, M. A., & Raghavan, M. (2022). Recommendations for Sustainable Ancient DNA Research in the Global South: Voices From a New Generation of Paleogenomicists. Frontiers in genetics, 13, 880170. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2022.880170
• Marciniak, S. Hunting for Pathogens: Ancient DNA and the Historical Record. (2016). In Mant, M., & Holland, A. (Eds.). Beyond the bones : engaging with disparate datasets. Elsevier Academic Press.
• Harper, K. (2023). Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History. Princeton University Press.
• Nieves-Colón, M.A. and Stone, A.C. (2018). Ancient DNA Analysis in Archaeological Remains. In Katzenberg, M.A. & Grauer, A.L. (Eds.). Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Kowal E, Weyrich LS, Argüelles JM, Bader AC, Colwell C, Cortez AD, Davis JL, Figueiro G, Fox K, Malhi RS, Matisoo-Smith E, Nayak A, Nelson EA, Nicholas G, Nieves-Colón MA, Russell L, Ulm S, Vergara-Silva F, Villanea FA, Wagner JK, Yracheta JM, Tsosie KM. Community partnerships are fundamental to ethical ancient DNA research. Human Genetics and Genomics Advances. 42(2): 100161.
• Buffalo, V. (2015). Bioinformatics Data Skills: Reproducible and Robust Research with Open Source Tools. O'Reilly Media.
• Ted Lasso (TV series)
• Arcane (TV series)
• Dungeons & Dragons (game)
• Marques, G. G. (1967). One Hundred Years of Solitude. Harper & Row.
• Wynn-Williams, S. (2025). Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism. Flatiron Books.
• Osman, R. (2021). The Thursday Murder Club. Penguin Books.
• Sterling, E. (2021). The Ex Hex. Avon Books.
• Henry, C. (2022). Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga. Black Spot Books.

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 Muehlenbein, M.P. (2015), Human sickness behavior: Ultimate and proximate explanations. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 157: 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22698
• Shattuck, EC. (2021). Networks, cultures, and institutions: Toward a social immunology. Brain Behav Immun Health. 18:100367. doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2021.100367. PMID: 34761241; PMCID: PMC8566934.
• Stockmaier S, Stroeymeyt N, Shattuck EC, Hawley DM, Meyers LA, Bolnick DI. Infectious diseases and social distancing in nature. Science. 2021 Mar 5;371(6533):eabc8881. doi: 10.1126/science.abc8881. PMID: 33674468.
• Shattuck, Eric & Muehlenbein, Michael. (2020). Religiosity/Spirituality and Physiological Markers of Health. Journal of Religion and Health. 59. 10.1007/s10943-018-0663-6.
• Human Relations Area Files (HRAF)
• Scavenger's Reign
• Common Side Effects
• Primal
• Weir, A. (2021). Project Hail Mary. Ballantine Books, New York.

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. Blankenship-Sefczek's staff profile page at Creighton University
• Blankenship-Sefczek EC, Goodman AH, Hubbe M, Hunter JP, Guatelli-Steinberg D (2024) Nutritional supplementation, tooth crown size, and trait expression in individuals from Tezonteopan, Mexico. PLOS ONE 19(6): e0305123. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0305123
• Bailey SE, Hublin J-J. "What does it mean to be dentally "modern"?" [links to pdf of chapter] In: Scott GR, Irish JD, eds. Anthropological Perspectives on Tooth Morphology: Genetics, Evolution, Variation [links to site]. Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology. Cambridge University Press; 2013:222-249.
• Riga, A., Belcastro, M. G., & Moggi‐Cecchi, J. (2014). Environmental stress increases variability in the expression of dental cusps. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 153(3), 397-407.
• Riga, A., Belcastro, M. G., & Moggi-Cecchi, J. (2013). Environmental influence on dental morphology. arXiv preprint arXiv:1301.7334.
• Jernvall J, Thesleff I. Reiterative signaling and patterning during mammalian tooth morphogenesis. Mech Dev. 2000 Mar 15;92(1):19-29. doi: 10.1016/s0925-4773(99)00322-6. PMID: 10704885.
• Jernvall, J. Linking development with generation of novelty in mammalian teeth. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 97 (6) 2641-2645, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.050586297 (2000).
• Smith, T. (2023). The Tales Teeth Tell. MIT Press.
• Heyer, G. (1949). Arabella. William Heinneman.
• Wynn-Williams, S. (2025). Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism. Flatiron books.

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, understanding bias in research and samples, and intersectionality. As part of this, Dr. Yaussy highlighted the morbidity-mortality paradox -- women in modern contexts typically have worse health but longer lifespans than men. However, this doesn't seem to hold true in the populations she studies, which means the past may hold clues for improving health today.

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Note: I feel pretty bad about dunking on The Pumpkin Spice Cafe. It was fine for what it was. I normally love "junk food" books, but this one just didn't do it for me, and that's ok. If you liked it, more power to you!

Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles:

• Dr. Yaussy's personal website
• Dr. Yaussy's staff page at James Madison University
• Yaussy SL, DeWitte SN. Patterns of frailty in non-adults from medieval London. Int J Paleopathol. 2018 Sep;22:1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.03.008. Epub 2018 Apr 4. PMID: 29626661.
• Yaussy SL, Marklein KE, DeWitte SN, Crews DE. Frailty or resilience? Hazard-based and cumulative phenotype approaches to discerning signals of health inequality in medieval London. Sci Adv. 2024 Nov 15;10(46):eadq5703. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adq5703. Epub 2024 Nov 13. PMID: 39536101; PMCID: PMC11559611.
• Kulminski AM, Culminskaya IV, Ukraintseva SV, Arbeev KG, Land KC, Yashin AI. Sex-specific health deterioration and mortality: the morbidity-mortality paradox over age and time. Exp Gerontol. 2008 Dec;43(12):1052-7. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2008.09.007. Epub 2008 Sep 20. PMID: 18835429; PMCID: PMC2703431.
• Yaussy SL. The intersections of industrialization: Variation in skeletal indicators of frailty by age, sex, and socioeconomic status in 18th- and 19th-century England. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2019; 170: 116-130. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23881
• Yaussy SL. The intersectional effects of sex and socioeconomic status on risk of mortality in industrializing England. Am J Biol Anthropol. 2024 Nov;185(3):e25022. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.25022. Epub 2024 Sep 8. PMID: 39245867.
• DeWitte SN, Yaussy SL. Sex differences in adult famine mortality in medieval London. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2020 Jan;171(1):164-169. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.23930. Epub 2019 Oct 6. PMID: 31587269.
• Biehler-Gomez L, Yaussy S, Moro C, Morandini P, Mondellini M, Petrosino D, Mattia M, Del Bo B, Cattaneo C. Unveiling the female experience through adult mortality and survivorship in Milan over the last 2000 years. Sci Rep. 2024 Sep 12;14(1):21328. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-71607-9. Erratum in: Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 11;14(1):27553. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-78532-x. PMID: 39266601; PMCID: PMC11393343.
• Yaussy, Samantha. (2022). Intersectionality and the Interpretation of Past Pandemics. Bioarchaeology International. 10.5744/bi.2020.0028.
• Wood, J. W., Milner, G. R., Harpending, H. C., Weiss, K. M., Cohen, M. N., Eisenberg, L. E., ... & Wilkinson, R. G. (1992). The osteological paradox: problems of inferring prehistoric health from skeletal samples [and comments and reply]. Current anthropology, 33(4), 343-370.
• Martin, D.L., Harrod, R.P, & Perez, V.R. (Eds.) (2013). Bioarchaeology: An Integrated Approach to Working with Human Remains. Springer.
• Agarwal, S.C. & Glencross, B.A. (Eds.) (2011). Social Bioarchaeology. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Buikstra, J.E. (Ed.) (2019). Ortner's Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains. Academic Press.
• Grauer, A.L. (Ed.) (2015). A Companion to Paleopathology. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Gowland RL. Entangled lives: Implications of the developmental origins of health and disease hypothesis for bioarchaeology and the life course. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2015 Dec;158(4):530-40. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.22820. Epub 2015 Aug 26. PMID: 26767348.
• Temple DH. Bioarchaeological evidence for adaptive plasticity and constraint: Exploring life-history trade-offs in the human past. Evol Anthropol. 2019; 28: 34–46. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21754
• DeWitte SN, and Yaussy SL. 2020. Bioarchaeological applications of intersectionality. In Cheverko C, Prince-Buitenhuys J, and Hubbe M (Eds) Theoretical Approaches in Bioarchaeology. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. p. 45-58.
• Ritchie, S. (2021). Science Fictions: How Frauds, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth. St Martins Press-3PL.
• Godde K, Pasillas V, Sanchez A. Survival analysis of the Black Death: Social inequality of women and the perils of life and death in Medieval London. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2020 Sep;173(1):168-178. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.24081. Epub 2020 May 29. PMID: 32472637.
• McCool WC, Anderson AS, Kennett DJ. Using a multimethod life history approach to navigate the osteological paradox: A case study from Prehispanic Nasca, Peru. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2021; 175: 816–833. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24279
• Shannon, S. (2019). The Priory of the Orange Tree. Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Adeyemi, T. (2018). Children of Blood and Bone. Henry Holt & Company.
• Gilmore, L. (2023). The Pumpkin Spice Cafe. HarperCollins.
• Clancy, K. (2023). Period: The Real Story of Menstruation. Princeton University Press.

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.

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Note: Apparently I got Dmitry Belyayev confused with Nikolai Vavilov. Both geneticists worked in the Soviet Union, but Dr. Belyayev wasn't persecuted to the same extent as Vavilov.

Vavilov, who based his work on Mendelian genetics, ultimately died in prison for daring to go against Stalin's favored genetic model created by Trofim Lysenko and based on Lamarckism.

Also worth noting: The contributions of Lyudmila Trut who worked with Dr. Belyayev and continued running the study after his death.

Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles:

• Dr. Chirchir's staff page at OSU
• Dr. Chirchir's personal and lab website
• Assif, L., & Chirchir, H. (2024). Trabecular bone morphology in big cats reflects the complex diversity of limb use but not home range size or daily travel distance. The Anatomical Record, 307(1), 208–222. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25302
• H. Chirchir, T.L. Kivell, C.B. Ruff, J. Hublin, K.J. Carlson, B. Zipfel, & B.G. Richmond, Recent origin of low trabecular bone density in modern humans, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112 (2) 366-371, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1411696112 (2015).
• Chirchir H, Ruff CB, Junno J-A, and Potts R. Low trabecular bone density in recent sedentary modern humans. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2017; 162:e23138. doi:10.1002/ajpa.23138.
• Chirchir, H. (2019), Trabecular Bone Fraction Variation in Modern Humans, Fossil Hominins and Other Primates. Anat. Rec., 302: 288-305. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.23967
• H. Chirchir, T.L. Kivell, C.B. Ruff, J. Hublin, K.J. Carlson, B. Zipfel, & B.G. Richmond, Recent origin of low trabecular bone density in modern humans, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112 (2) 366-371, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1411696112 (2015).
• Chirchir Habiba, Ruff Christopher, Helgen Kristofer M. and Potts Richard. 2022. Effects of reduced mobility on trabecular bone density in captive big catsR. Soc. Open Sci.9211345 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211345.
• Chirchir H. Trabecular bone in domestic dogs and wolves: Implications for understanding human self-domestication. Anat Rec. 2021; 304: 31–41. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.24510
• Richmond, Brian & Green, David & Lague, Michael & Chirchir, Habiba & Behrensmeyer, Anna & Bobe, René & Bamford, Marion & Griffin, N & Gunz, Philipp & Mbua, Emma & Merritt, S & Pobiner, Briana & Kiura, Purity & Kibunjia, Mzalendo & Harris, J & Braun, David. (2020). The upper limb of Paranthropus boisei from Ileret, Kenya. Journal of Human Evolution. 141. 102727. 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102727.
• Perry, T.A. and Chirchir, H. (2019), Cortical and trabecular bone density distribution in primate and felid limb epiphyses. The FASEB Journal, 33: lb150-lb150.https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1096/fasebj.2019.33.1_supplement.lb150https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2019.33.1_supplement.lb150
• Cartwright C, Ragni A, Hublin JJ, Chirchir H. Trabecular bone volume fraction in Holocene and Late Pleistocene humans. J Hum Evol. 2024 May;190:103499. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103499. Epub 2024 Apr 3. PMID: 38569444.
• Barak MM, Lieberman DE, Hublin JJ. A Wolff in sheep's clothing: trabecular bone adaptation in response to changes in joint loading orientation. Bone. 2011 Dec;49(6):1141-51. doi: 10.1016/j.bone.2011.08.020. Epub 2011 Aug 26. PMID: 21893221.
• Barak, Meir & Lieberman, Daniel & Hublin, Jean-Jacques. (2012). Sheep in shoes: a new experimental test of Wolff's Law of trabecular orientation. 10.13140/RG.2.1.3689.5123.
• Barak, Meir & Hublin, Jean-Jacques & Lieberman, Daniel. (2011). Altering joint loading direction in the sheep generates trabecular orientation adjustment.
• Assif, L. and ChirChir, H. (2022), Trabecular bone morphology in felids reflects diversity in locomotor strategy but not home range size. The FASEB Journal, 36:. https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2022.36.S1.R3371
• Trut, Lyudmila. Early Canid Domestication: The Farm-Fox Experiment. American Scientist. 1999 Mar; 8(2): 160.
• Dr. Christopher Ruff's staff profile page at Johns Hopkins
• Dr. Ruff's Google Scholar profile
• Dr. Brian Hare's staff profile at Duke
• Dr. Hare's personal website
• Dr. Hare's Google Scholar profile
• Elzinga DC, Kulwicki R, Iselin S, Spence L, Capaldi A. Rapid evolution of prehistoric dogs from wolves by natural and sexual selection emerges from an agent-based model. Proc Biol Sci. 2025 Feb;292(2040):20242646. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.2646. Epub 2025 Feb 12. PMID: 39933588; PMCID: PMC11813586.
• Grantchester on PBS

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 events.

Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles:

• Dr. Orton's University of York faculty profile
• RATTUS project website
• Eric Guiry et al., The ratting of North America: A 350-year retrospective on Rattus species compositions and competition. Scientific Advancements. 10, eadm6755(2024). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adm6755
• Yu, H., Jamieson, A., Hulme-Beaman, A. et al. Palaeogenomic analysis of black rat (Rattus rattus) reveals multiple European introductions associated with human economic history. Nature Communications. 13, 2399 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30009-z
• Jason Munshi-South et al., The evolutionary history of wild and domestic brown rats (Rattus norvegicus). Science. 385, 1292-1297. (2024). DOI:10.1126/science.adp1166
• E. E. Puckett, D. Orton, J. Munshi-South, Commensal Rats and Humans: Integrating Rodent Phylogeography and Zooarchaeology to Highlight Connections between Human Societies. BioEssays 2020, 42, 1900160. https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201900160
• Guiry, E.J., Gaulton, B.C. Inferring Human Behaviors from Isotopic Analyses of Rat Diet: a Critical Review and Historical Application. J Archaeol Method Theory 23, 399–426 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-015-9248-9
• Susat, Julian et al. A 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer already plagued by Yersinia pestis. Cell Reports, Volume 35, Issue 13, 109278.
• Hall, A. R., Kenward, H. K., and Williams, D. Environmental Evidence from Roman Deposits in Skeldergate. The Archaeology of York. Volume 14, Issue 3. (1980).
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Owl Pellet Teaching Tips.
• Beisaw, April. (2013). Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones: A Manual. Texas A&M University Press.
• O'Connor, Terry. (2008). The Archaeology of Animal Bones. Texas A&M University Press.
• O'Connor, Terry. (2014). Animals as Neighbors: The Past and Present of Commensal Animals. Michigan State University Press.
• MacArthur, R.H. and E.O. Wilson. (1967). The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton University Press.
• Kalmring, Sven. (2024). Towns and Commerce in Viking-Age Scandinavia. Cambridge University Press.
• Vinge, Vernor. (2010). A Fire Upon the Deep. Tor Books.
• Larian Studios. (2023). Baldur's Gate 3.
• Chambers, Becky. (2021). The Galaxy, and the Ground Within. Harper Voyager Books.

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 dilemmas around DNA testing more generally.

Books, articles, and media mentioned in this episode + helpful sites and articles:

• Dr. Erlich's personal website
• Dr. Erlich's Medium profile
• Erlich, H. (2023). Genetic Reconstruction of the Past: DNA Analysis in Forensics and Human Evolution. Oxford University Press.
• Ed. H Erlich, E Stover, TJ White. (2020). Silent Witness: Forensic DNA Evidence in Criminal Investigations and Humanitarian Disasters. Oxford University Press.
• Wulf, A. (2016). The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt's New World. Knopf - Vintage.

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. Schmitt's personal website
• Dr. Schmitt's faculty profile at Boston University
• Schmitt, C., Service, S., Jasinska, A. et al. Obesity and obesogenic growth are both highly heritable and modified by diet in a nonhuman primate model, the African green monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus). Int J Obes 42, 765–774 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2017.301
• Carrey, N. (2011). The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology Is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease, and Inheritance.
• Stearns, S.C. (1992). The Evolution of Life Histories. Oxford University Press.
• Turner, T. R., Schmitt, C. A., & Cramer, J. D. (2019). Savanna Monkeys: The Genus Chlorocebus. Cambridge University Press.

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 articles:

• Clancy, K. (2023). Period: The Real Story of Menstruation. Princeton University Press. (Audiobook version)
• Dr. Clancy's website
• Dr. Clancy's faculty profile at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Dr. Clancy's Bluesky profile
• Dr. Clancy's Buttondown profile
• Ellison, P.T. (2003). On Fertile Ground: A Natural History of Human Reproduction. Harvard University Press.
• Van Der Sijpt, E. (2018). Wasted Wombs: Navigating Reproductive Interruptions in Cameroon. Vanderbilt University Press.
• Nguyen, M. (2024). The Promise of Beauty. Duke University Press.
• Gladstone, M. (2012). Three Parts Dead. Tor Books.

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 Behaviour Influences Skeletal Morphology. Elsevier.
• Gilmour, Rebecca & Plomp, Kimberly. (2022). The Changing Shape of Palaeopathology: The Contribution of Skeletal Shape Analyses to Investigations of Pathological Conditions. (OPEN ACCESS). Yearbook of Physical Anthropology. 10.1002/ajpa.24475..
• Battles, Heather & Gilmour, Rebecca. (2022). Beyond Mortality: Survivors of Epidemic Infections and the Bioarchaeology of Impairment and Disability. (OPEN ACCESS). 6. 23–40. 10.5744/bi.2021.0003.
• Gilmour, Rebecca & Brickley, Megan & Jurriaans, Erik & Prowse, Tracy. (2018). Maintaining mobility after fracture: A biomechanical analysis of fracture consequences at the Roman Sites of Ancaster (UK) and Vagnari (Italy). International Journal of Paleopathology. 24. 10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.09.002..
• Gilmour, Rebecca & Prowse, Tracy & Jurriaans, Erik & Brickley, Megan. (2017). Well-Trodden Roads: Skeletal Evidence for Sex-Related Mobility at the Roman Site of Vagnari, Italy. Conference presentation: American Association of Physical Anthropologists.
• Gilmour, Rebecca. (2017). Resilient Romans: Cross-Sectional Evidence for Long-Term Functional Consequences of Extremity Trauma. PhD thesis completed at McMaster University.
• Cunningham, C., Scheuer, L., Black, S. (2016). Developmental Juvenile Osteology. Academic Press.
• White, T. & Folken, P. (2005). The Human Bone Manual. Academic Press.
• Eds. Hirst, C.S., Gilmour, R.J., Cardoso, F.A. (2023). Behaviour in Our Bones: How Human Behaviour Influences Skeletal Morphology. Elsevier Science Publishing.
• Canci, Alessandro & Marchi, Damiano & Caramella, Davide & Sparacello, Vitale. (2024). A severe case of bilateral humerus varus deformity from the Middle Bronze age necropolis of Olmo di Nogara, Northeast Italy: The contribution of biomechanical analysis to paleopathological study. International journal of paleopathology. 47. 12-20. 10.1016/j.ijpp.2024.07.005.
• Ed. Laes, C. (2024). A Cultural History of Disability in Antiquity. Bloomsbury Acadamic.
• Van Pelt, S. (2022). Remarkably Bright Creatures. Ecco Press.
• Holmes, R. (2024). Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide. Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster.
• Blum, D. (2011). The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. Penguin Books.