Recent Faculty Activities (2007-2008)


  • John Relethford has published a review of the book “Mapping Our Ancestors: Phylogenetic Approaches in Anthropology and Prehistory,” edited by CP Lipo, MJ O’Brien, M Collard, and SJ Sheenan, in the latest issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (136:243-244, 2008).
     

  • John Relethford is the author of an article in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology entitled “Geostatistics and spatial analysis in biological anthropology” (136:1-10, 2008). The paper applies and extends methods developed in geology for spatial analysis to biological data, showing ways of interpreting spatial variation in terms of microevolutionary processes. The methods are illustrated using a large data set of body and craniofacial measures from thousands of adult human males from 197 locations in Ireland. The results show that the major patterns of spatial variation correspond to historical settlement and immigration events and to the influence of Viking invasion.
     

  • John Relethford is the author of an entry entitled "Modern human origins: The 'Out of Africa' debate" in the online Encyclopedia of Life Sciences (John Wiley and Sons).
     

  • Don Hill has published an entry entitled "Ethnomusicology" in the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Vol. 3 (ed. by W.A. Darity, Jr.), second edition, 2008. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 19-20.
     

  • Don Hill's research was highlighted in an article in The Tri-State Defender. The article outlines Hill's research on locating the heirs of blues singers recorded by Hill and others in the 1950s and 1960s. The article can be read here.
     

  • John Relethford presented an invited paper entitled “The State of the Art in the Origin of Humans” as part of a symposium on “Major Transformations in Evolution: The State of the Art and Public Understanding” at the 174th annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Boston, February 18. The purpose of this symposium was to present current developments in evolution biology with particular focus on what the public and the media need to know about major evolutionary transitions. The topics included presentation on major evolutionary changes, including the origin of life, the origin of body plans, and the origin of tetrapods. Relethford spoke on human origins, and described a “top-10” list of what the public and media should know about human origins and evolution.
     

  • John Relethford is the author of an article entitled "Genetic variation among populations" in Encyclopedia of Race and Racism, edited by J.H. Moore (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, Volume 2, pp. 29-34.
     

  • Renee Walker was a coauthor of two papers presented at this years annual meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, October 31 to November 3, 2007, in Knoxville, TN. The first paper was presented by Dr. Walker (coauthored with Lara Homsey of Murray State University and Kandi D. Hollenbach of the University of Tennessee) was entitled "Investigating archaeological correlates for food processing at Dust Cave, Alabama." Dr. Walker was the third author on the second paper (coauthored with Katherine E. McMillan and Kandace D. Hallenbach, both of the University of Tennesee) which was entitled "Socioeconomic perspectives on the Late Paleoindian at Dust Cave, Alabama."

     
  • Don Hill is the author of a new book entitled Caribbean Folklore: A Handbook, published by Greenwood Press. This volume is designed as a reference work in Caribbean folklore. It touches on many aspects of folklore, including myths, folktales, festivals, music, dance, folk art and architecture, and theater.
     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Sallie Han presented a paper entitled "With a little help from my friends: The significance of friendships during pregnancy" at the 11th Annual Conference of the Association for Research on Mothering, October 18-20, 2007 in Toronto. This paper was part of a session entitled "Community and Maternal Well-Being," which was chaired by Dr. Han.
     
  • Cynthia Klink presented a paper entitled "Eschewing negative evidence: What Early Preceramic toolstone usage suggests about the colonization of the Lake Titicaca basin" at the 26th Annual Northeast Conference of Andean Archaeology and Ethnohistory in Ithaca, NY, October 12-14.
     
  • Renee Walker presented a lecture to the Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society entitled "Birds and Archaeology: The Role of Birds in the Study of Past Human Behavior" on September 21, 2007. This presentation explored what bird remains from archaeological sites can tell us about human behavior.
     
  • Renee Walker is the coeditor of a book entitled Bones as Tools: Current Methods and Interpretations in Worked Bone Studies, published through British Archaeological Reports. This volume, coedited with Christian Gates St. Pierre, includes work on bone tools from archaeological sites across the world. Dr. Walker also has a chapter in the book, entitled "A diachronic study of pre- and post-contact bone, antler, and shell artifacts from New York State.


















     

 

 

  • John Relethford has published the seventh edition of his introductory textbook The Human Species: An Introduction to Biological Anthropology (McGraw-Hill, New York, 2008). The previous edition was used at 140 colleges and universities in 39 states. The text covers the major areas within biological anthropology, and consists of 17 chapters in four sections: 1. Evolutionary Background, 2. Our Place in Nature, 3. Our Origins, and 4. Our Diversity.
     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • John Relethford is the author of a chapter entitled "Population genetics and paleoanthropology" that appeared in Handbook of Paleoanthropology, Vol. 1: Principles, Methods and Approaches, edited by W. Henke and I. Tattersall (Springer, 2007, pp. 621-641).
     
  • John Relethford wrote a presentation on "Race and global patterns of phenotypic variation" as part of a symposium on "Race Reconciled? How Biological Anthropologists View Human Variation," Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, May 24, 2007. His presentation was read by Keith Hunley, one of the symposium co-organizers.
     
  • Don Hill is the coauthor of a book and co-compiler of a ten CD set entitled West Indian Rhythm, published by Bear Family Records in Hamburg, Germany. The book contains essays on calypso, carnival, songs of World War II, West Indian song styles, and other topics. The authors of this collection recently won the 2007 ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections) award for "best discography." The authors were also finalists in the category of "best history." The award was announced at the ARSC meeting on May 5, 2007 in Milwaukee.
     

 

 

 

 

 


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