UNH Anthropology

Congratulations to the F.A.I.R. Lab, the NH State Police, and the NH Office of the Medical Examiner in their successful identification of Mr. Warren Kuchinsky. Warren Kuchinsky was identified after 40 years. The FAIR Lab partnered with NH Office of the Medical Examiner and NH State Police to advance this case to genetic genealogy with the DNA Doe Project after anthropological analysis. Rest in peace, Mr. Kuchinsky.

Out now in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology! Director of the F.A.I.R. Lab, Amy Michael worked with colleagues and community members to develop COSAGE - this form allows forensic practitioners to “think through” case investigations involving potentially gender diverse decedents. They created this form as a way to think more expansively about forensic cases and to ensure that gender diverse people are appropriately identified. A wonderful example of impactful scholarship from one of our faculty!

Introducing Contextual Observations in Support of All Gender Expressions (COSAGE): A Crowdsourced Guide for Documenting Assigned S*x at Birth and Gender Expression in Human Identification Efforts Objectives Forensic practitioners will encounter unidentified decedents who are transgender and gender diverse (TGD) in their casework. While gender identity cannot be estimated from the skeleton, n...

Pr. Casey Golomski was honored (and surprised!) to win this year’s Elliott P. Skinner Award from the Association of Africanist Anthropology, part of the American Anthropological Association, for his book God’s Waiting Room (Rutgers University Press)!

The prize is awarded to the book that best furthers the global community of Africanist scholars and interests in the African continent as exemplified in the work of Elliott P. Skinner, an American-Barbadian anthropologist, Franz Boas Professor at Columbia University, and US Ambassador to Burkina Faso.

Last Friday, UNH Anthropology faculty, Dr. Meghan Howey and Dr. Ashley Schubert, and three students from UNH Anthropology Club led a hands-on archaeology workshop for the whole third grade at Mast Way Elementary School (a class of ~80 students). They have been learning about the earth's age and natural history, and how different scientists’ study deep time - which presented the exciting opportunity to work with our faculty to gain a more intimate understanding of how we explore those time periods.
After a short presentation on how archaeologists conduct our systematic research on past human activity, Howey, Schubert, and the Anthropology club students led the students through a mock dig, showing them critical aspects of scientific archaeology.
The third graders’ excitement and curiosity made the day unforgettable, and we’re thrilled to help spark the next generation’s interest in understanding our shared human past.🪏🌎

Meghan Howey, one of our esteemed faculty members, and a recent recipient of a UNH Sustainability award, was recently featured in a UNH Today article about her archeology work at the Meserve Garrison.

"In partnership with a landowner in nearby Madbury, Howey and her colleagues were able to identify the site of a 1701 garrison known as the Meserve Garrison, completing a dig at the site that contained not only the foundation but some additional artifacts from the colonial period."

Read more of the article here:

Archaeology Dig Showcases Power of Community Connections In partnership with a landowner in nearby Madbury, UNH Professor Meghan Howey and her colleagues were able to identify the site of a 1701 garrison known as the Meserve Garrison, completing a dig at the site that contained not only the foundation but some additional artifacts from the colonial period...

New publication day! Bringing together up-to-date research by African scholars, Professor Casey Golomski's new co-edited book Customary Nationalism in Crisis highlights how ordinary women, men, and young people redefine language, identities, and the meaning of citizenship to persist, adapt, and survive in the face of authoritarian government. Check it out at the link below!

https://www.routledge.com/Customary-Nationalism-in-Crisis-Protest-Identity-and-Politics-in-eSwatini/Laterza-Golomski/p/book/9781041154778

Earlier this week, we were saddened to learn of the passing of Mary Dupré, a long-time staff member at
and a proud alumna of our department. Mary contributed greatly to New Hampshire’s archaeological community through her work with the NH State Conservation and Rescue Archaeology Program (SCRAP) and the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion.

Those who worked alongside her remember Mary as a captivating presenter and a dedicated scholar. Her expertise as a researcher, ceramicist, and historical archaeologist continues to shape the work of Strawbery Banke Museum today.

You can learn more about her contributions in her 1995 article, “The History of Archaeology at Strawbery Banke Museum,” published in The New Hampshire Archaeologist (available at strawberybanke.org).

We invite all to visit
to share memories of Mary and to reflect on her lasting impact. She embodied a lifelong dedication to our field, our community, and our discipline. She will be deeply missed.

📸: Posted by , picture shows Mary Dupré working in the Jones House Lab at Strawberry Banke in 1998

Congratulations to our very own Dr. Meghan Howey for earning a UNH Sustainability Award! Dr. Howey, a Professor in our department, as well as the director of the UNH Center for the Humanities, will be honored on October 30th at the UNH Sustainability Awards.

The Sustainability Awards program at UNH seeks to celebrate research and scholarship, curriculum development and teaching, campus initiatives and culture, and external engagement activities and achievements that best embody the principles and practices of sustainability. UNH is a national leader in sustainability and is recognizing, celebrating, and raising the visibility of individuals and teams who are champions of, and addressing sustainability issues across and beyond the university. Thanks to these bastions of sustainable practice, UNH has the opportunity to meaningfully contribute to a sustainable future.

Click this link to RSVP to the upcoming awards ceremony, where UNH will honor Meghan alongside other recipients of Sustainability Awards!

https://www.unh.edu/sustainability/operations/unh-sustainability-awards

Congratulations Dr. Howey! 🎉🎉🎉

🎉Big congratulations to Kristina
Douglass and leva Jusionyte on being named MacArthur Fellows in 2025!
Kristina's work explores how past human societies and environments co-evolved, especially in places like Madagascar - blending archaeology, climatology, and conservation biology to inform better conservation policies.
leva investigates the moral, political, and lived realities of border regions - showing how legal definitions, violence, and state systems shape everyday life in places where boundaries are porous or contested.
These recognitions highlight how anthropology and related fields can lead to groundbreaking work - and how a curiosity about human life can lead to real-world impact. These scholars and researchers will continue on to do incredible work with this fellowship. Learn more about this award and their work at the link below!
https://www.macfound.org/

Wise words from our President!

Six Things Traditionally, magazine profiles of new university presidents talk a lot about “listening tours,” taking time to take meetings, spending months or even a full year gathering information about a new place...

Yesterday, the world suffered a terrible loss with the passing of Dr. Jane Goodall at age 91. A remarkable ethologist, anthropologist, and primatologist, her impact on the field of Anthropology, among others, will be felt for all time. An excerpt of her obituary, posted by the Jane Goodall Institute, is as follows:
"Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, UN Messenger of Peace and world-renowned ethologist, conservationist, and humanitarian, has died at the age of 91 of natural causes.

Dr. Jane was known around the world for her 65-year study of wild chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania. However, in the latter part of her life she expanded her focus and became a global advocate for human rights, animal welfare, species and environmental protection, and many other crucial issues.

Jane was passionate about empowering young people to become involved in conservation and humanitarian projects and she led many educational initiatives focused on both wild and captive chimpanzees. She was always guided by her fascination with the mysteries of evolution, and her staunch belief in the fundamental need to respect all forms of life on Earth...."

To read the rest of her obituary, learn about her work, or leave a message in her honor, we encourage you to visit https://janegoodall.org/, an incredible archive of her work and legacy. She will be missed, but her work and legacy will persist.

📷: The Jane Goodall Institute