From April 18-22 2017, research by Mason anthropology faculty and students was represented in 17 separate presentations at the 2017 annual meetings of the Paleopathology Association (PPA) and the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA) held concurrently in New Orleans, Louisiana.
-The PPA meetings kicked off the conference. Dr. Klaus co-organzied a symposium entitled Paleopathology of Andean South America: 20 Years of Advances and Future Prospects with J. Marla Toyne (U. Central Florida) and Melissa S. Murphy (U. Wyoming). They brought together dozens of American, Peruvian, and Canadian scholars (including several Mason students) honoring the contributions of Professor John Verano, the founder of modern Andean paleopathology. Among the poster presentations in this symposium were:
“Summer Has Lead Us Here: A Bibliographic Analysis of Recent Research Trends in South American Paleopathology” (J. Marla Toyne, Haagen D. Klaus, and Melissa S. Murphy)
"From Looted Cemeteries to Modern Paleopathology: Reflections on the History of Studies of Disease in the South American Past” (Melissa S. Murphy, J. Marla Toyne, Haagen D. Klaus)
"Future Landscapes in Andean Paleopathology: Theory, Methods, and Questions for the Next 20 Years” (Haagen D. Klaus, Melissa S. Murphy, J. Marla Toyne)
“Paleopathology of the Ventarrón Complex: Biological Stress, Diet, and Subsistence Economy at the Origins of Social Complexity in the Lambayeque Valley, Peru.” (Hillarie K. Huley, Haagen D. Klaus, Ignacio Alva Meneses)
“Living and Dying with a Cleft Palate in Ancient Peru: Differential Diagnosis, Associated Pathological Conditions, and Burial Treatment of an Individual with Congenital Craniofacial Abnormalities” (Johanna K. Young, Hillarie K. Huley, Haagen D. Klaus, Ignacio Alva Meneses)
At the AAPA meetings, Drs. Temple and Klaus were both invited to presented papers in a special symposium entitled The Bioarchaeology of Transition: Health and Changing Environments, which examined some of the complex relationships between culture, ecologies in flux, and human biology using cutting-edge bioarchaeological methods:
"4,000 Years of Cultural and Adaptive Transitions in Lambayeque: Skeletal Biology, Ecology, and Sociopolitical Interplays in Ancient Peru” (Haagen D. Klaus)
"Adaptation and Resiliency in Hunter-Gatherers: Approaches to Environmental Variation in Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers of the Jomon Period, Japan” (Daniel H. Temple)
Dr. Bethany Usher co-organized the symposium Anthropological Demography, Well-being, and the Osteological Paradox: A Symposium in Honor of James W. Wood and co-authored a presentation with BA student Chrysanthi Violaris entitled:
"Short Children, Short Lives: Selective Mortality in Preindustrial and Prehistoric Communities" (Chrysanthi Violaris and Bethany M. Usher)
Dr. Usher also presented a poster in the symposium Integrating Research into Teaching: Examples from Biological Anthropology with:
"Students as Scholars in the Field, Lab, Archive, and Table: Models of Undergraduate Research in Biological Anthropology” (Bethany M. Usher)
Additional AAPA meeting presentations included:
Jaqueline Thomas (MA student) was invited to present her thesis research in a poster symposium entitled Child Health and Identity in Bioarchaeology in a presentation entitled:
“Childhood Survival and Perinatal Stress: A Case Study from Northern Peru” (Jaqueline A. Thomas, Daniel H. Temple, and Haagen D. Klaus)
Lauryn Justice (MA student) presented her thesis research in the poster symposium: Human Skeletal Biology: Population History and Beyond with:
"Biological and Cultural Evidence for Social Maturation at Point Hope, Alaska: Integrating Data from Archaeological Mortuary Practices and Human Skeletal Biology” (Lauryn Justice and Daniel H. Temple).
Steven J. Ball (MA Student) presented his thesis research in the same symposium with:
"Osteometric Reconstruction of Body Mass in the Lambayeque Valley Complex, Peru: Pre-Hispanic Variability and the Impact of Spanish Conquest” (Steven J. Ball and Haagen D. Klaus).
Allison C. Ham (MA student) presented her collaborative work on the skeletal remains from the royal tombs of Sipán (the richest ancient tombs ever found in the Western Hemisphere) with:
"Social Status, Skeletal Biology, and the Lords of Sipán: Bioarchaeological Perspectives on the Moche Elite, North Coast Peru” (Allison C. Ham, Haagen D. Klaus, Jaqueline A. Thomas, Seven J. Ball, Hilaire K. Huley, Gabriel Brown, Johanna E. Young, Edgar Bracamonte, and Walter Alva).
Johanna K. Young (program alumna) presented some of her undergraduate research in a poster entitled:
"Kinship Structures and Victim Origins in a Mass Human Sacrifice: Biodistance Analysis of Intracemetery Dental Phenetic Variation, Temple of the Sacred Stone, Túcume, Peru” (Johanna E. Young, Haage D. Klaus, J. Marla Toyne, and Bernarda Delgado)
Grace Morgan (BA student) presented her research on health and burial patterns in a Medieval Danish cemetery in the AAPA Undergraduate Research Symposium with:
“ A Search for Significance: Spatial Analysis of Demographic and Health Markers in Tirup Cemetery” (Grace Morgan)
Other presentations included:
"Stressed Before Sacrifice? Reconstructing Psychosocial Stress from Archaeological Hair at Chotuna-Chornancap, Peru." (Benjamin J. Schaefer, Bethany L. Turner, Haagen D. Klaus)
“Regional Variation and Sexual Dimorphism in the Ontogeny of Humeral Asymmetry among Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers” (B. OSIPOV, L. HARRINGTON, L. COWGILL, D. TEMPLE,
V.I. BAZALIISKII, A.W. WEBER)
April 27, 2017
