DIRECTED
READINGS & RESEARCH IN
BIOLOGICAL
ANTHROPOLOGY
Professor: Susan Guise Sheridan, Ph.D.
Office: 171 Decio Building |
Office phone: 631-7670
E-mail:
sheridan.5@nd.edu |
Class: Anth 489
Credits: 3 |
Admittance to this course is by invitation
of the instructor and limited to a maximum of 2 students per year.
This is a team-taught two semester course. Each semester will carry
3 credit hours, with continuation into the second semester based upon completion
of the requirements with an "A" average, and at the discretion of the professor.
The requirements for each semester include: 1) completion by the
end of the first semester of an extensive annotated bibliography, research
prospectus, grant proposal, and preliminary laboratory work; 2) oral
defense of the prospectus, data collection and analysis, and a publication-quality
paper will be expected by the end of the second semester.
FIRST
SEMESTER:
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Directed Readings --
The student will be expected to complete an extensive directed readings
list on their research topic and related areas, assigned by the instructors
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Annotated Bibliography
-- Each student will complete an annotated bibliography by the end of the
first month of classes on the assigned readings.
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Research Prospectus
-- The next 1/3 of the semester will be spent writing a prospectus on the
proposed research. This will include a detailed introduction, statement
of problem, background and rationale, and methods and materials.
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Grant Proposal -- Using
the prospectus, each student will be expected to submit at least one grant
proposal for review to agencies such as Sigma Xi, the Indiana Academy of
Sciences, etc. to support their work. The proposal will be the final
product of the Fall semester.
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Laboratory Work -- during
the course of the semester, the student will be expected to donate two
hours per week to completing tasks related to the maintenance of the laboratory
and in the preparation of materials needed for their analyses. Students
will be introduced to the laboratory procedures necessary for their research
during this part of the course.
SECOND
SEMESTER
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Oral Defense -- At the
beginning of the semester, each student will present an oral defense to
a committee chosen by the student and instructors. This will be analogous
those required for most Master's/Dissertation prospectus defenses.
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Data Collection and
Analysis -- The students will collect and analyze their data during the
second semester. This should be completed by the final 1/3 of the
semester.
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Paper -- During the
final 1/3 of the class, each student will write a publication-quality paper
using the information from their annotated bibliography, prospectus, suggestions
from their oral defense, and their results.
It is our hope that
the student will then continue with their research for a senior honors
thesis, or try to present and possibly publish their work during their
final year. Should this happen, they will produce an abstract in
the Fall and present a poster or paper during the Spring semester at either
regional or national meetings in Archaeology/Biological Anthropology.
Each
class is specifically designed to meet the student's interests. Below
is an example of one project:
STUDENT: Jenny Richtsmeier
SEMESTER: FALL 1994
PROJECT: Elemental Analysis
of Health and Nutrition in Nubian Children
COURSE SUMMARY:
Listed below are the readings to be completed
this semester. An annotated bibliography for the articles will
be due at the end of the semester. If you choose to continue on with
this project, your bibliography will be very helpful in compiling an research
prospectus. Each annotation should be approximately a page long and
address the following points:
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what's the author's purpose for writing the
article?
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a summary of the pertinent information?
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what are the author's conclusions?
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what question is being asked?
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what methods and materials were used?
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what were the results and how do they relate
to the question asked?
In addition to the articles listed below,
you will be expected to find at least 2 more articles relating to
the study of iron-deficiency in ancient populations. Also, you will
be expected to find at least 3 more articles dealing specifically with
iron metabolism in humans. Check with me when you find the articles
to be sure they are acceptable.
Keep a list of questions as you read through
the articles. We will meet every two weeks or so to discuss your
progress and go over aspects of the readings.
PROJECT SUMMARY:
Iron is an essential trace element to
human health. Iron-deficiency anemia is present in both the children
and adults from ancient Kulubnarti, Sudan; a disorder which is still the
leading nutritional anemia today. This semester you will be expected
to become an "expert" on the subject. You will gain a functioning
knowledge of the Nubian collection housed at CU, as well as an understanding
of trace element analysis of ancient human remains. The main focus
of your study however, will be to become fluent in the literature concerning
iron. You will need to learn how it is utilized in humans, what aspects
of the diet contribute to it's incorporation, what elements promote and
inhibit its uptake, and how it can be studied in ancient human remains.
Samples from 50 sub-adults from the site
of Kulubnarti were analyzed for minor and trace element content.
The adult segment of the Nubian mummy population housed at the University
of Colorado has been analyzed for iron content and that data will be readily
available for your project. These individuals were sedentary agriculturalists
who occupied the Nile valley near the current border of Egypt and Sudan
approximately 1,000 years ago. Two major questions may be addressed in
this project:
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can subadult remains be used to assess ancient
health due to the interfering effects of growth and development?
and,
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can a clear parallel be drawn between the
skeletal indicators of childhood stress and elemental concentrations related
to nutrition?
Should you choose to continue with this project
next year, we will focus on the first question. This is of vital
importance to the field of elemental analysis for it will allow anthropologists
to analyze diet and disease from a new quantifiable perspective using subadult
remains. The second question provides a focus for future research.
Should the later be testable, it will be the first time such an investigation
has been undertaken.
HISTORY OF ANCIENT NUBIA
The articles listed below discuss aspects
of health and nutrition of ancient populations, with a focus on Nubia.
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Armelagos, GJ. (1969).
Disease in ancient Nubia. Science, 255-259.
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Goodman, AH, RB Thomas, AC Swedlund,
and GJ Armelagos. 1988. Biocultural Perspectives on stress
in prehistoric, historical, and contemporary population research.
Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, 31:169-202.
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Van Gerven, DP. 1987.
Nutrition, disease, and the human life cycle: a bio-ethnography of
a Medieval Nubian community. In Primate Life History and Evolution.
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Carlson, DS, GJ Armelagos, and
DP Van Gerven. 1974. Factors influencing the etiology of cribra
orbitalia in prehistoric Nubia. Journal of Human Evolution, 3:405-410.
INTRODUCTION TO TRACE ELEMENT RESEARCH
Trace elements have been studied for a
variety of reasons. The articles below provide an introduction to
elemental analysis related to health and nutrition, and give an historical
perspective on the field. A copy of my dissertation will be provided
for reference for this and the remaining sections.
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Gilbert, RI jr. 1985.
Stress, paleonutrition, and trace elements. The Analysis of Prehistoric
Diets. RI Gilbert and JH Mielke, eds. Orlando: Academic
Press, Inc. pp. 339-358.
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Kirn, TF. (1987).
International study looks at trace elements in diet. Journal of the
American Medical Association, 258(23):3358.
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Oster, O. ?. The
diagnosis of disease by element analysis.
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Parker, RB and H Toots.
1980. Trace elements in bones as paleobiological indicators.
In Fossils in the Making: Vertebrate Taphonomy and Paleoecology.
AK Behrensmeyer and AP Hill. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press. pp. 197-207.
TRACE ELEMENTS IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL BONE
The articles below discuss the uses of
elemental analysis in studying archaeological bone. They focus on
the best bones and elements for use in such analyses, and outline the difficulties
imposed due to diagenesis (postdepositional alteration). Again, use
my dissertation for supplemental information and to provide an overview
of the subject.
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Lambert, JB, SV Simpson, CB
Szpunar, and JE Buikstra. 1984. Ancient human diet from inorganic
analysis of bone. Acc. Chem. Res. 17:298-305.
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Lambert, JB, CB Szpunar, and
JE Buikstra. 1979. The chemical analysis of excavated human
bone from Middle and Late Woodland sites. Archaeometry, 21(2):115-129.
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Sillen, A and M Kavanaugh.
1982. Strontium and paleodietary research: A review.
Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, 25:67-90.
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Lambert, JB, SV Simpson, CB
Szpunar, and JE Buikstra. 1985. Bone diagenesis and dietary
analysis. Journal of Human Evolution, 14:477-482.
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Keeley, HCM, GE Hudson, and
J Evans. 1977. Trace element contents of human bones in various
states of preservation. Journal of Archaeological Science, 4:19-24.
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Hare, PE. 1980.
Organic geochemistry of bone and its relation to the survival of bone in
the natural environment. In Fossils in the Making: Vertebrate
Taphonomy and Paleoecology. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press. pp. 208-219.
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Lambert, JB, SV Simpson, SG
Weiner, and JE Buikstra. 1985. Induced Metal-ion exchange in
excavated human bone. Journal of Archaeological Science, 12:85-92.
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Nelson, DA and NJ Sauer.
1984. An evaluation of postdepositional change in the trace element
content of human bone. American Antiquity, 49(1):141-147.
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Brown, AB and RL Blakely.
1985. Biocultural adaptations as reflected in trace element distributions.
Journal of Human Evolution, 14:461-468.
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Hatch, JW and RA Geidel.
1983. Tracing status and diet in prehistoric Tennessee. Archaeology,
January/February:56-61.
ANALYSIS OF IRON-DEFICIENCY ANEMIA IN ANCIENT
BONES
Iron-deficiency anemia has been studied
extensively in ancient populations, usually in the form of cribra orbitalia
or porotic hyperostosis. Iron concentrations in preserved tissues
have been investigated very little to date.
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El-Najjar, MY DJ Ryan, CG Turner,
and B Lozoff. (1976). The etiology of porotic hyperostosis among
the prehistoric and historic Anasazi Indians of the southwestern United
States. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 44:477-488.
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Mensforth, RP, CO Lovejoy, JW
Lallo, and GJ Armelagos. (1978). The role of constitutional
factors, diet, and infectious disease in the etiology of porotic hyperostosis
and periosteal reactions in infants and children. Medical Anthropology,
2:1-59.
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Sanford, MK, DP Van Gerven and
RR Meglen (1983). Elemental hair analysis: new
evidence on the etiology of cribra orbitalia in Sudanese Nubia. Human
Biology, 55(4):831-844.
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Stuart-Macadam, PL. (1985).
Porotic hyperostosis: representative of a childhood condition.
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 74:511-520.
IRON METABOLISM IN HUMANS
Listed below is an article dealing with
the absorption of iron in humans. You will be expected to find 3
additional articles dealing with iron physiology in humans.
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Monsen, ER (1988).
Iron nutrition and absorption: dietary factors which impact iron
bioavailability. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 88(7):786-789
