10/14/2026
If you’ve ever visited a natural history museum, you’ve probably been transfixed by the hulking skeleton of a woolly mammoth or a mastodon.
“Ancient giant mammals known as megafauna—including woolly mammoths, sabre-toothed cats, and giant beavers—helped western science understand the Earth’s history and its evolution,” says Associate Professor of Anthropology, Dr. Jessica Metcalfe.
Her research focuses on studying fossils to discover how megafauna lived, what they ate, and their migration patterns. Her work also provides insights into how megafauna and humans co-existed and what the Earth’s climate was like during the last ice age.
But Dr. Metcalfe, and a growing number of anthropologists and archaeologists, are no longer doing their work in isolation. They’ve begun collaborating with Indigenous communities on their research.
“Indigenous people have vital knowledge, awareness, and opinions about ancient fossils on their traditional territories, but until recently their voices have been overlooked and excluded,” she says.
Click here to discover more about fascinating megafauna and Dr. Metcalfe’s research:
https://www.lakeheadu.ca/about/news-and-events/news/archive/2026/node/351894
