Anthropology

Chair and Ralph E. Morrow Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Scien: Richard J. Smith

Home Page: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/%7Eanthro/ Location: 112 Old McMillan Hall Telephone: (314) 935-4843

Anthropology studies human existence in the present and the past and explores how and why humans vary in their behaviors, cultures and biology. The faculty in the Department of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences is well balanced among three subdisciplines: archaeology, physical anthropology and sociocultural anthropology. Faculty research interests in archaeology include the origins of food production, the cultures of prehistoric North and South America, and African prehistory. The physical anthropology faculty focuses on the evolution of humans and on the ecology, behavior and evolution of nonhuman primates. The sociocultural anthropology faculty conducts research in Africa, India, Indonesia, the Middle East and the United States on culture and political economy. Scroll down this page for more information on the department and its research.

News Stories & Tip Sheets:

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Domestication of the donkey New data on timing March 11, 2008 -- Ancient donkey skeletons at Abydos, Egypt. Download An international group of researchers, led by Fiona Marshall, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, has found evidence for the earliest transport use of the donkey and the early phases of donkey domestication, suggesting the process of domestication may have been slower and less linear than previously thought.

Where's the beef? Ancient cave bears as omnivorous as modern bears, research suggests Jan. 8, 2008 -- Rather than being gentle giants, new research reveals that Pleistocene cave bears ate both plants and animals and competed for food with the other contemporary large carnivores of the time. Rather than being gentle giants, new research conducted in part by Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, reveals that Pleistocene cave bears ate both plants and animals and competed for food with the other contemporary large carnivores of the time: hyaenas, lions, wolves and our own human ancestors.

'She represented the hope of a fresh break' Anthropologist who lived in Pakistan comments on Benazir Bhutto's death Dec. 27, 2007 -- The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is not only a great loss to Pakistan, but also a great loss to the world says a sociocultural anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis who lived in Pakistan for six months and whose research focuses on Islamic movements in that country and in Afghanistan.

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Faculty Experts:

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D. Tab Rasmussen Professor of Anthropology in Arts and Sciences Rasmussen studies primate evolution by drawing on two major lines of evidence: the fossil record and the comparative study of living primates. One goal of this research is to trace the actual course of primate evolution. More importantly, detailed studies of primate evolution can provide insight into ... Expertise: primate evolution, fossil record, evolutionary transitions, primate origins, anthropoid origins, prosimian primates, paleontology, … Media assistance: (314) 935-5235 / nschoenherr@wustl.edu

Bradley P. Stoner Associate Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology in Arts and Sciences Dr. Stoner, who joined the Infectious Disease division in 1995, holds a joint appointment as Associate Professor of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences. He studied anthropology at Harvard University and McGill University, and received the M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University. He completed residency ... Expertise: anthropology, public health, medicine, sexually transmitted diseases, biomedicine, medical anthropology, anthropology of public health, … Direct contact: (314) 935-5673 / bstoner@wustl.edu

Lois Beck Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology in Arts and Sciences Expertise: Qashqa'i nomadic pastoralists, Iran, Islam, political anthropology, history, tribe-state relations, gender, … Direct contact: (314) 935-5290

Margaret Brown Assistant Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology in Arts and Sciences Expertise: equality and hierarchy, kinship and social organization, economic and political development, Madagascar, Indian Ocean Direct contact: (314) 935-8279 / mbrown@wustl.edu

Pedro Cavalcanti Professor of Social Anthropology in Arts and Sciences Expertise: social theories, social thought, world views and iedologies, historical, political, and cultural changes, Latin America, … Direct contact: (314) 935-5870 / pcucaval@wustl.edu

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Related News Clips:

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Show More Clips

Dental work claim challenges antiquity of hobbit skeleton Scientific American online April 23, 2008 -- Most paleoanthropologists believe that the 18,000 year old Flores, Indonesia hobbit belongs to a new species of human, But now comes word that the specimen used to define the species appears to have had some dental work. If so, it would mean that the hobbit was just a modern human with a growth disorder, which is what critics have argued all along. Paleoanthropologist and WUSTL radiology professor Charles Hildebolt examined the CT scans and said that it is unlikely that any type of filling material is in the tooth.

Computer 'Recreates' Neanderthal Speech FoxNews.com April 17, 2008 -- No one is really sure what Neanderthals sounded like, or even if they could speak. But one Florida researcher thinks he can guess, by using ancient skeletons to reconstruct an approximation of the Neanderthal vocal tract -- and then having a computer recreate the sounds it would make. Neanderthals' inability to produce these vowels would have severely limited their ability to form and understand a complex language, McCarthy argues, though WUSTL anthropologist Erik Trinkaus, one of the world's leading experts on Neanderthals, disagrees. "Ultimately what is important is not the anatomy of the mouth, but the neuronal control of it," Trinkaus.

Neanderthals speak out after 30,000 years New Scientist (UK) and FoxNews.com April 16, 2008 -- An anthropologist has used new reconstructions of Neanderthal vocal tracts to simulate the voice. He says the ancient human's speech lacked the "quantal vowel" sounds that underlie modern speech. WUSTL anthropologist Erik Trinkaus comments.

Study: Neanderthals Not Doomed by Skull Shape FoxNews.com and 1 others March 25, 2008 -- WUSTL's Erik Trinkaus comments on a study that tries to refute the idea that natural selection caused skull differences between Neanderthals and modern humans.

Wild ass tamed, buried with Egyptian king MSNBC.com and 14 others March 11, 2008 -- One of the earliest Egyptian kings carried his "beasts of burden" into the afterlife. Paleoscientists discovered the skeletons of 10 donkeys nestled in three mud graves dating back 5,000 years ago when Egypt was just forming a state. WUSTL anthropologist Fiona Marshall comments. The new findings are reported online in the March 10 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Program strengths in archaeology include the origins of agriculture and pastoralism; ethnoarchaeology; paleoethnobotany; zooarchaeology; and the prehistory of North America, Africa and South America.

The physical anthropologists have a program emphasis in human and primate evolution, the ecology and behavior of modern primates, and quantitative studies of morphology and genetics, with ongoing paleontological, behavioral, and ecological field research in Africa, Madagascar, Europe, and South America.

The overall focus of the sociocultural subfield is culture and political economy, which encompasses the study of nation-building and local identities, political ecology, political economy of development, postcolonialism, and the political economy of health.

Interdisciplinary research is enhanced by the involvement of anthropology faculty in several on-campus institutes and programs, including Social Thought & Analysis, Applied Statistics & Computation, the Center in Political Economy, the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, African & Afro-American Studies, Environmental Studies, Women & Gender Studies, Archaeology, and the Division of Infectious Diseases. The department also has close research ties to the School of Medicine, the Missouri Botanical Garden (one of the world's great herbaria), and the Saint Louis Zoo.

The Department of Anthropology is actively expanding its program for training and research in medical anthropology. Strong links with academic and clinical programs at the University's School of Medicine permit the development of integrated medical anthropology research projects.