ISU Biological Anthropology Lab

Directed by Dr. Shelby Putt, the Biological Anthropology Lab @ Illinois State U investigates human biology & behavior from an evolutionary perspective.

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

New paper out in Journal of Archaeological Science!

It's time to rethink how we reconstruct the origins of technology.
https://t.co/GFPCvdTrpA
@_chloe_holden_ @isuresearch #archaeology #HumanOrigins #bonobos #stoneage #primatebehavior #ExperimentalArchaeology #kanzi @isu

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

Learn how to bring research into your #experimentalarchaeology classroom for a hands-on learning experience using the #CURE model. New paper published in @exarc_net: https://t.co/ZfLe0F4umK

#highereducation #archaeologyeducation #RedbirdScholar @ProDevISU

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

Dr. Putt's research on the evolution of language was recently discussed in New Scientist:

https://t.co/sWsvFNVfAn

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

Ape knapping behaviors fall outside the range of experienced human knappers, meaning there's no single universal way to make even simple stone tools. This suggests that the stone knapping actions of early hominins was likely affected by their anatomy, cognition, and motivations.

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

New paper out in Journal of Archaeological Science!

It's time to rethink how we reconstruct the origins of technology.
https://t.co/GFPCvdTrpA
@_chloe_holden_ @isuresearch #archaeology #HumanOrigins #bonobos #stoneage #primatebehavior #ExperimentalArchaeology #kanzi @isu

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

In this study, we looked at the stone toolmaking behaviors of apes and experienced human knappers to see how their toolmaking behaviors compare.

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

@ISUResearch @IllinoisStateU @ISUBio @ISUPsychDept @ISUKinesandRec @ISUAgriculture @NursingISU @ISUFCS @TCH_ISU @educationISU @ISUSciTech Heather Salmons is in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. The article mistakenly says that she is in the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders.

[Research at ISU @ISUResearch]

#RedbirdProud of the students who received @IllinoisStateU's Office of Student Research's FIREBird and BirdFEEDER research grants:
@ISUBioAnth @ISUBio @ISUPsychDept @ISUKinesandRec @ISUAgriculture @NursingISU @ISUFCS @TCH_ISU @educationISU @ISUSciTech

https://t.co/KiEfpLnv2s

[Research at ISU @ISUResearch]

Learn how Redbird undergrads are gaining new skills, career trajectories in a research experience funded through the @IllinoisStateU Office of Student Research and by the Provost's Office. @ISUBioAnth https://t.co/qiGsM3vz2W

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

Meet our summer interns! Valerie Jackson is a junior Anthropology major fascinated by primate behavior. She is looking forward to learning how to construct an ethogram and navigate new coding software to investigate ape behaviors, which she hopes to develop into a senior thesis.

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

Meet our summer interns! Lucah Kloster is a junior Anthropology major who hopes to "gain experience with large project planning, further insight into the origins of early hominin stone technology, and make preparations to run an experiment on asocial flintknapping in the fall."

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

We’re #redbirdproud of Michaela Schroeder‘a successful defense of her thesis. Congratulations, Michaela!

#redbirdscholar #Masters #primatology #kanzi #bonobo

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

Rachael Kooistra represented the Anthropology Program at the ISU Research Symposium with her poster, “The Selection against Wisdom Teeth.” Rachael‘s research into wisdom teeth began in Dr. Putt’s ANT 265 class as an unessay project.

#RedbirdProud #RedbirdScholar

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

Dr. Putt’s approach to teaching biological anthropology and archaeology involves a student-centered classroom that emphasizes the power of play and project-based learning.
https://t.co/un6aWnxdmv via @IllinoisStateU

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

I must be doing something right!

#teachingaward #universityteaching

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

Katelyn critically analyzed the methods that forensic anthropologists use to identify a deceased person's ancestry from their bones. She was especially concerned about the application of traditional methods when identifying people of mixed ancestry.

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

Heidi compared the ear anatomy of Neandertals and modern humans. She created exaggerated wire art replicas of the semicircular canal and cochlea to show the differences between these two species. She concluded that Neandertals were more prone to ear infections.

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

Heather and Ashley were inspired by a study done by the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University in which a captive chimpanzee was superior at a memory game compared to human players. So, they put their classmates to the test!

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

Kate wanted to know how eye color variation in #BloNo has changed since the 1930s and how it compares to global variation. So, she created eyeball pie charts. The eye on the left represents global frequencies, and the eye on the right represents eye color frequencies locally.

[ISU Biological Anthropology Lab @ISUBioAnth]

What do eyeball earrings, wire cochlea, and a memory game all have in common? They're all #unessay projects in Explorations in Biological Anthropology! Click on the pictures to learn more about this batch of students' semester projects.
#anthropology