Tag Anthropology

UW–Madison anthropologist, students featured in NOVA Neandertal documentary

January 8, 2013

Perched on a corner of a table in his biological anthropology lab, John Hawks is surrounded by an array of human skulls, jaws and skeletons – and a film crew complete with lights, camera and a microphone dangling over his head.

Surprising demographic shifts in endangered monkey population challenge conservation expectations

September 18, 2012

At first glance, the northern muriqui monkey is a prime conservation success story.

Study: Monkey mothers key to reproductive success of sons

November 7, 2011

If you are a male human, nothing puts a damper on romantic success like having your mother in tow. If you are a male northern muriqui monkey, however, mom’s presence may be your best bet to find and successfully mate with just the right girl at the right time, according to a study reported by UW–Madison anthropologist Karen B. Strier.

Eleven professors appointed to named professorships

October 6, 2011

Eleven distinguished faculty members have received named professorships, some of the highest honors for established faculty.

Coming full circle, new graduate makes a difference in women’s health

May 12, 2011

On Sunday, May 15, Wren Keturi will graduate from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a bachelor's degree in gender and women's studies with an emphasis on biological anthropology. Less than 24 hours later, she will put her degree to work.

Ancient Mesoamerican sculpture uncovered in southern Mexico

February 14, 2011

With one arm raised and a determined scowl, the figure looks ready to march right off his carved tablet and into the history books. If only we knew who he was - corn god? Tribal chief? Sacred priest?

To future archaeologists, old technology is beautiful technology

August 2, 2010

A couple of dozen students sit on plastic tarps under the trees at the edge of the Eagle Heights Community Gardens, at the west end of the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. Their professor - a noted archaeologist - faces them, sitting on his own tarp, much as he would while supervising a dig in his specialty area, South Asia. Within arm's reach, UW–Madison archaeology professor Jonathan Mark Kenoyer has some raw materials of ancient technology: boxes of arrows, stone tools, horns, hunks of obsidian and flint, cords, a chalkboard and a box of Band-Aids.

Anthropologist coaxes stories, history from skeletons and their genetics

March 24, 2009

Five questions with …John Hawks

Teeth of Columbus’s crew flesh out tale of new world discovery

March 19, 2009

The adage that dead men tell no tales has long been disproved by archaeology.

Anthropology professor honored by Librarian of Congress

October 2, 2008

University of Wisconsin–Madison William F. Vilas Professor of Anthropology Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney has been named John W. Kluge Distinguished Chair of Modern Culture by the Librarian of Congress.

Genome study places modern humans in the evolutionary fast lane

December 10, 2007

Countering a common theory that human evolution has slowed to a crawl or even stopped in modern humans, a new study by UW–Madison researchers examining data from an international genomics project describes the past 40,000 years as a time of supercharged evolutionary change.

Family, memories at core of anthropologist’s new book

December 5, 2007

A UW–Madison anthropologist first decided to write a book about her family when she was 10 years old, a decision she made while growing up in Bombay, the child of an American mother and an Indian father.

Tool-wielding chimps provide a glimpse of early human behavior

November 12, 2007

Chimpanzees inhabiting a harsh savanna environment and using bark and stick tools to exploit an underground food resource are giving scientists new insights to the behaviors of the earliest hominids who, millions of years ago, left the African forests to range the same kinds of environments and possibly utilize the same foods.

Curiosities: Why do we have fingernails?

May 21, 2007

Fingernails are essentially flattened versions of claws, and they evolved in all primates — including humans — to support broad fingertips, says UW–Madison anthropology…