John Doershuk, State Archaeologist and Office of the State Archeologist Director, will lead the four-week course. Participants will be introduced to the essential methods of field archaeology including artifact identification, site mapping, excavation techniques, artifact processing, and beginning analytical methods. The field school will include lectures on Iowa archaeology and the culture history sequence of western Iowa as well as day trips to the Sanford Museum in Cherokee, Iowa and the Dixon Oneota site, and possibly the Blood Run National Historic Landmark, Jeffers Petroglyphs, and Pipestone National Monument.

Laura Graham has been awarded a SLA Outreach Award in recognition of urgent long-term scholar activist work with A’uwẽ-Xavante of central Brazil, and more recently with the Wayuu of Venezuela.

Elana Buch's book "Inequalities of Aging: Paradoxes of Independence in American Home Care" was just awarded an Eileen Basker Memorial Prize from the Society for Medical Anthropology.

COVID-19 vaccinations are under the microscope – inspiring hope and a possible end to the pandemic, but the rapid production and approval of multiple vaccines can raise concerns from the public.

Savannah DeGroot doesn’t like to sit still. The fourth-year anthropology student normally can be found running from class to class and meeting to meeting—at least during non-COVID-19 times. And the groups and activities she finds most important are the ones that allow her to do work that is near and dear to her heart.

In May, Professor Laurie Graham was elected president-elect (2020-2023) and president (2023-2027) of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America.

Lucas Fagre, who received a BS in global health and a BA in anthropology from the University of Iowa in May 2019, is the winner of a Fulbright Study/Research grant in public health to Bulgaria and Romania for 2020-21.

I am looking at the genes which code for Umami receptors. These are taste receptors which allow human to taste “savory” flavors such as meat. By looking at how these genes differ between humans and our close relatives, we can better understand human’s relationship with meat throughout human evolution.

My dissertation research incorporates text, artwork, and material culture to investigate occupational roles available to women during the High Roman Empire. I utilize the concepts of sex, gender, and intersectionality in my analysis of the artifacts excavated from the site of Gangivecchio, Sicily to argue for the presence of a female-operated medical practice.

Homo erectus, one of modern humans’ direct ancestors, was a wandering bunch. After the species dispersed from Africa about two million years ago, it colonized the ancient world, which included Asia and possibly Europe. But about 400,000 years ago, Homo erectus essentially vanished. The lone exception was a spot called Ngandong, on the Indonesian island of Java. But scientists were unable to agree on a precise time period for the site—until now.