Albuquerque Journal Originally Posted: December 22, 2018 BY: CHRISTOPHER ROOS / ENVIRONMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGIST, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY AT SMU DALLAS The wildland fire tragedy in California underscores the risk of living on a flammable planet. In 2017, co-occurring outbreaks cost dozens of lives in both California and Portugal. Australia also endures waves of deadly fire. Even […]
Tag: anthropology
National Geographic Originally Posted: November 8, 2018 Ancient DNA reveals complex migrations of the first Americans Newly sequenced Native genomes showcase a wealth of surprises, from previously unknown populations to unique high-altitude adaptations. “Where do I come from?” That’s perhaps one of the most fundamental questions for humanity. Now, three studies of ancient and […]
American Anthropological Association Originally Posted: November 13, 2018 Katherine E. Browne earned her master’s and Ph.D. from SMU Katherine E. Browne’s academic research and engaged anthropology have energized the fields of economic anthropology, disaster studies, and visual ethnography. She is currently a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Colorado State University. In her first book, Creole […]
CBC Radio Originally Posted: July 27, 2018 For centuries, the Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains hunted the bison that once roamed across much of the continent in enormous numbers. But hunting these huge animals takes an enormous amount of skill and planning. New research has shown that First Nations people actively altered their landscape — including with the […]
KERA Originally Posted: August 1, 2018 Christopher Roos is an archaeologist at Southern Methodist University and lead author of a new study that looks into how that use of fire affected the ecosystem. LISTEN Interview Highlights On how the land was managed by Native Americans One of the primary uses of fire on the landscape was to refresh the prairie. Bison […]
Newsweek Originally Posted: July 19, 2018 Dr. Catrina Whitley, Gwen Bakke, and Abigail Fisher are working on a historic African American cemetery in Houston. Dr. Whitley is a Dedman College alumna and a former adjunct lecturer in the Department of Anthropology. Gwen Bakke and Abigail Fisher are SMU anthropology Ph.D. students. A school district in Texas […]
Earth and Environment Originally Posted: July 26, 2018 Native American communities actively managed North American prairies for centuries before Christopher Columbus and his ilk arrived in the New World, according to a new study. Fire was an important indigenous tool for shaping North American ecosystems, but the relative importance of indigenous burning versus climate on […]
COSMOS Originally Posted: July 18, 2018 A mystery concerning how some of North America’s first farmers survived on a diet that appears manifestly inadequate may have been solved. The ancestral Pueblo people who lived in what is now known as the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States shifted from a nomadic to a […]