Author Archives: JB

Osteology Everywhere: Sidewalk Edition

Posted on March 6, 2014 by JB

Artificial cranial deformation, à la Late Horizon Peru? Admittedly, I’d had a few pints before the walk home, but I can’t be the only one that sees this: The orbits are a little irregular, but I’m still struck by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Osteology, Osteology Everywhere | Tagged , | 1 Comment

OsteoMenagerie 7: The Vertebrae

Posted on February 26, 2014 by JB

Word on the street is that the third polar vortex will hit Michigan later this week. After trudging through this year’s record amounts of snowfall, shivering angrily at the bus stop while the temperature experiments with establishing its true seasonal … Continue reading →

Posted in Osteology, OsteoMenagerie, Vertebrae | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Can you teach a wolf brain new tricks? Some thoughts on artificial selection and brain evolution in canids

Posted on February 18, 2014 by JB

A few weeks ago, I attended another Evolution and Human Adaptation lecture. The ultimate reason I went to another talk was  to expand my mind and learn about the evolution of the human brain, though as always the proximate reason I … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Sussing out site taphonomy: Understanding formation processes in the Sonoran Desert

Posted on February 13, 2014 by JB

Last year I got wind of an exciting project that was being undertaken at the University of Michigan. Jason De León, an anthropologist and professor in my department, was looking for a faunal analyst to examine some bones for him. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Forensic Anthropology | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Humans: Low energy, high payoff

Posted on February 4, 2014 by JB

One of the recurring motifs in any intro-level Human Evolution class is the importance of bipedalism.  I’ve tried to teach this topic in a variety of ways, even going so far as to encourage undergrads to walk like chimpanzees – … Continue reading →

Posted in Biological Anthropology, Evolution | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Blogging Archaeology: January

Posted on January 27, 2014 by JB

The January 2014 #blogarch question asks bloggers to describe their best and worst posts. This can be either a quantitative or qualitative judgement. Because I’m a pessimist (read: a graduate student with a realistic understanding of  job market prospects for … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Blogging | Tagged , | 5 Comments

The Grand Challenge of Archaeology: Getting young people to respond to a survey, apparently

Posted on January 26, 2014 by JB

While trawling the internet recently, I was directed to a post on SEAC underground, a southeastern archaeology blog jointly authored by a number of graduate students and junior faculty. One of its authors was perplexed by the results of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Blogging, Grad School | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

National Museum of Health and Medicine Forensic Anthropology Short Course

Posted on January 23, 2014 by JB

In Summer 2011 I was fortunate enough to attend the 25th Annual National Museum of Health and Medicine Forensic Anthropology Course. One of my lab mates had taken a previous instantiation of the course when it was still under the … Continue reading →

Posted in Forensic Anthropology, Museums | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Blogging Archaeology: December

Posted on December 29, 2013 by JB

This month’s blogarch theme is the good, the bad and the ugly of blogging. I have a spectacularly short attention span since I’m saturated with holiday sugar, so I’m going to break the topic down as simply as possible. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Blogging | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Palpable Anatomy: The Anatomical Snuffbox

Posted on December 24, 2013 by JB

A few weeks ago I defended my dissertation proposal. I’ve attended a number of these public defenses in the past, and they inevitably go well – graduate students present engaging and exciting new research, their peers ask pertinent questions, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Anatomy, Palpable Anatomy | Tagged , , | 4 Comments