Future anthropologist focuses on infectious diseases
Binghamton doctoral student Meg Gauck won a SUNY Graduate Research Empowering and Accelerating Talent Award. Read more
Can skeletons have a racial identity?
In recent years, a growing number of forensic anthropologists, including Binghamton scholar Liz DiGangi, have grown critical of ancestry estimation and want to replace it with something more nuanced, The New York Times reports. Read more
We may finally know how Easter Island’s statues got their stone hats
Almost a thousand stone figures dot Easter Island, known also as Rapa Nui. These moai have puzzled generations of Western anthropologists: How were they created? How were they moved from the places where stone was quarried to the points where they’re found today? How did they end up wearing hats made out of different kinds of stone? A new study from a team of American researchers, including Binghamton University scholar Carl Lipo, offers an answer to this last baffling question, Popular Science reports. Read more
Artifacts reveal history of family planning
The archaeological discovery of presumably aborted fetuses in New York outhouses along with pill bottles and historical records led Binghamton University researchers to conclude that many 19th century American women had family-planning concerns similar to those of 21st century women, Forbes reports. Read more
Scientists discover oldest modern human fossil outside of Africa
A Binghamton anthropologist contributed to the analysis of the fossil, which suggests Homo sapiens left Africa at least 50,000 years earlier than previously thought. Read more
Ancient DNA preserved in humans, study finds
Residents of the remote equatorial islands of Melanesia share fragments of genetic code with two extinct human species, according to a new study published in the journal Science. Read more
Easter Island not destroyed by war, new analysis shows
A new analysis led by a Binghamton University archaeologist contradicts the belief that the ancient civilization of Rapa Nui, Chile, was destroyed by warfare. Read more
