The Ohio State University Department of Anthropology

08/31/2026

Huge congratulations to Ohio State Anthropology PhD Candidate Samantha Kirgesner on earning the prestigious Big Ten Academic Alliance Smithsonian Predoctoral Fellowship!

Through this fellowship at the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute, Samantha will advance her dissertation research focused on ancient protein analysis. Her work aims to develop less destructive, cost-effective methods for analyzing bone fragments to differentiate human from non-human remains, providing a crucial tool to support NAGPRA compliance and assist in the repatriation process.

By pairing innovative mass spectrometry techniques with respectful bioarchaeological practices, Samantha's research is helping build a more ethical future for heritage stewardship and scientific analysis.

Way to go, Samantha! We can't wait to see the impact of your time at the Smithsonian.

Check out the full feature on Ohio State Graduate School news here:

https://gradsch.osu.edu/news/2026/08/27/ohio-state-doctoral-candidate-samantha-kirgesner-earns-prestigious-big-ten-academic

08/28/2026

New research suggests that no matter what we eventually determine the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees to be, we’ll learn it was a primate that climbed trees. Humans and chimpanzees began their separate evolutionary paths between 6 and 7 million years ago when they split from the las...

08/28/2026

A Purdue-led archaeological project in Uzbekistan is bringing together researchers from the College of Liberal Arts, College of Engineering, and College of Science to investigate how iron was produced in one of the medieval world’s most important metallurgical regions.

During this season’s excavations, the team uncovered a 1,000+-year-old iron-smelting furnace containing 600 kilograms of slag (the waste byproduct of smelting). Located in the historic region of Khorezm along major Silk Road trade networks, the site offers vital clues into how medieval steel, famous for its strength and flexibility, was produced and traded during the Islamic Golden Age.

The project draws on expertise from Purdue’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. Professor Ali Bramson and Graduate Student Sam Harris assisted the team in using Ground Penetrating Radar to identify buried features and guide future excavation. This allows researchers to locate areas of archaeological interest while minimizing disturbance to the site.

In addition, Ohio State University arcaeobotanist Sydney Hunter will examine charcoal recovered from the furnace to identify the fuel sources used in iron production and explore their environmental impacts.

Read the full feature on Purdue Liberal Arts News:

A Purdue-led archaeological project in Uzbekistan is bringing together researchers from the College of Liberal Arts, College of Engineering, and College of Science.

08/19/2026

New research from The Ohio State University Department of Anthropology sheds new light on one of the biggest questions in human evolution: How did our earliest ancestors move through the trees?

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences based on observations of wild sooty mangabeys in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, researchers discovered that these monkeys use an exceptionally flexible midfoot while climbing vertical tree trunks. Despite having feet that differ anatomically from chimpanzees, mangabeys achieve nearly the same climbing performance through a different biomechanical solution.

The findings suggest that early human ancestors with more monkey-like feet may also have been effective vertical climbers, offering new insight into the evolution of locomotion before habitual bipedalism.

The study was authored by Luke Fannin, incoming Assistant Professor in the OSU Department of Anthropology, Carmen Pape, a recent OSU Anthropology graduate, and Scott McGraw, Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology. Their work highlights the value of long-term field research in Taï National Park and the important contributions of undergraduate researchers to cutting-edge scientific discovery.

Congratulations to Luke, Carmen, and Scott on this exciting contribution to evolutionary anthropology!

08/13/2026

A new study published in PLOS ONE featuring the work of OSU anthropology faculty members and colleagues explores how environmental disruptions leave their mark on human tooth morphology!

By looking at individuals with documented health histories from Tezonteopan, Mexico, researchers investigated the connection between Linear Enamel Hypoplasia (LEH) (grooves or lines in enamel caused by periods of physiological stress or malnutrition during childhood) and the physical shape of permanent maxillary first molars.

What did they discover?
🦷 Stress leaves a footprint: The presence of enamel defects formed during molar development was linked to slightly larger crown sizes, decreased principal cusp spacing, and a reduction in accessory cusps (like cusp 5).

🦷 Timing is everything: Unlike past studies that looked at stress across all front teeth, focusing specifically on stress during the exact window of molar formation revealed a clearer picture of how developmental disruptions alter tooth shape.

🦷 Support for evolutionary models: The observed reduction in cusp spacing and accessory traits aligns with the Patterning Cascade Model, reinforcing that early-life environmental stress can unpredictably alter how tooth cusps form and space out.

This research adds to a growing body of work showing that tooth morphology isn't just genetic, it can reflect a complex story of human growth, environment, and early-life health!

Read the full open-access article on PLOS ONE here:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0354698

08/10/2026

Swidden agriculture — often called “slash-and-burn” — has been practiced on every inhabited continent throughout human history, and for decades it has been blamed for the destruction of the world’s rainforests. However, a new study of more than 18,000 forest patches around the world found ...

08/07/2026

The Diabetes Justice Lab in the Department of Anthropology at Ohio State University includes graduate and undergraduate students interested in understanding the global diabetes epidemic from ethnographic perspectives.

In recent work they study parents of children with type 1 diabetes who have posted thousands of videos on social media platforms such as TikTok with hashtags , , and . Filmed in different styles and set to different music, these videos all feature parents caring for their children by acting upon their bodies as they insert, inject, remove, and reconfigure the biotechnologies of diabetes management.

Pictured are the lab members taking a break from studies to play some games @ tabletop game cafe! Keep up the good work.

07/31/2026

What actually happens after you flush?

In his ethnographic study, After the Flush, the anthropology department’s very own associate professor Dr. Nick Kawa follows the journey of human waste across the American Midwest, examining how a byproduct we normally ignore is being transformed into biosolids to fertilize farm fields, urban gardens, city parks, and restoration sites.

While recycling waste into a resource offers radical possibilities for our ecology and soil health, it also fuels important debates about potential risks to human and environmental well-being.

Click the link to read more about Dr. Nick Kawa’s work and pre-order his new book:

https://www.ucpress.edu/books/after-the-flush/paper -author

07/23/2026

Elizabeth A. Holdsworth, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology. She applied for a Spark Award to support her project “Daily Milk Composition and Infant Growth.”

“The overall goal of my project is to understand how day-to-day changes in breast milk composition might correspond to infant mini growth spurts,” says Holdsworth. “This research will provide pilot data to demonstrate recruitment and retention feasibility for a larger study and inform nutritional interventions for infants with growth challenges.”

This pilot study will recruit five exclusively breastfeeding mothers and their infants and collect longitudinal data every day for 30 days. Researchers will analyze intraindividual changes in milk composition, including macronutrients and selected hormones, and compare these changes to infant growth patterns.

Congratulations to Elizabeth on receiving a Spark Award and using it to advance research on infant nutrition and growth.

07/16/2026

A new find has emerged from the local soil: the remains of a young individual, who researchers suspect may have held a religious or clerical role, marking an incredibly rare and significant first for the region's historical record. By analyzing the skeletal remains, forensic anthropologist Dr. Passalacqua’s expertise is helping to reconstruct this young individual’s story through determining their physical health, age, lifestyle, and clues about their role in the community.

Check out the link to read the full feature in La Nueva España and dive deep into the excavation details and Dr. Passalacqua's analysis:

Los especialistas han extraído ya cerca de 300 muestras del yacimiento, entre ellos un premolar y abundantes restos cerámicos