Biological Anthropology Research Program
We are a collegial group of biological anthropologists who collaborate in research and teaching.
Our program offers students the opportunity to study human biology, past and present, using a variety of data, methods, and theoretical orientations in genetics, epidemiology, nutrition, bioarchaeology, and paleopathology.
We have active research projects in current child health and nutrition and the nexus of diet and maternal-child health in past and contemporary communities, the origins and evolution of pathogens and epidemics, Indigenous health, mammalian phylogeography, molecular anthropology and Roman bioarchaeology. We are addressing questions about human origins and migration, population structure, health and disease, and human-environment interactions in past and present populations.
We have state-of-the-art laboratory facilities in hard tissue thin sectioning, microscopic image analysis, molecular genetics and enjoy collaborations with researchers in Italy, France, England, the Netherlands, Spain, US, Canada, and locally in the City of Hamilton.
The Shelley Saunders/ Koloshuk Family Scholarship
The Shelley Saunders/Koloshuk Family scholarship supports biological anthropology PhD students for 4 years of study with a minimum of $35,000/year (international students) and up to $25,000/year (domestic students). Apply to our PhD program and you will be automatically considered. There are funds available to assist with lab and fieldwork.
Visit our PhD Program page for more information
Learn more about The Shelley Saunders/Koloshuk Family Scholarship (PDF)
Centres, Facilities and Labs
- McMaster Ancient DNA Centre
- Fisheries Archaeology Research Centre (FARC)
- Laboratory for Integrated Bioarchaeological Research in Health, Diet, Disease, and Migration (Bioarch-HDDM)
- GIS Laboratory available through School of Earth, Environment & Society
Access to
- Soils analysis lab
GO BACKGraduate Courses
- 705 Advanced Skeletal Biology
- 707 Past Perspectives on Health
- 708 Anthropology of Infectious Disease
- 711 Advanced Topics in Physical Anthropology
- 715 Readings in Physical Anthropology
- 718 From Cradle to the Grave: Anthropological Demography
- 721 Ancient Molecules and Preservation of the Past
- 740 Biocultural Synthesis
- 745 Topics in Bioarchaeology
GO BACKTopical Areas of Study
- Emerging infectious disease, epidemiology and paleopathology
- Diet, nutrition and growth
- Environment and health
- Extinctions: human, faunal and microbial
- Peopling of the New World
- Demography and paleodemography
- Modern human origins
- Molecular anthropology
- Aboriginal health
- Bioarchaeology
GO BACKMethods
- Ancient DNA
- Evolutionary genetics
- Coprology
- Skeletal and dental analysis
- Anthropometry
- Community health surveys
- Archival fieldwork and analysis
- Palaeopathology
- Stable isotope analysis
GO BACKTheoretical Orientations
- Biocultural anthropology
- Evolutionary theory
- Epidemiological transition theory
- Determinants of health
- Multi-scalar analysis and interpretation
Faculty
Megan Brickley PhD
graduate-chair, Anthropology
Professor, Anthropology
(905) 525-9140 ext. 24256
Tracy Prowse PhD
Associate Professor, Anthropology
Associate Professor, Anthropology
adeansoc@mcmaster.ca prowset@mcmaster.ca
(905) 525-9140 ext. 26077
Emeritus Faculty
Laboratory Technicians and Research Assistants
Theses awarded in Biological Anthropology
Welsh, Hayley
2021 Investing Patterns of Growth and Development in Subadults from the 10th-13th Century Cemetery of St. Etienne de Toulouse, France
Tapson, Madeline
2020 An Analysis of Rodent Reservoirs of Plague During the Second Pandemic: Shifting Focus Towards a Multi-host and Multi-mechanism Model of Plague Maintenance and Reintroduction in the Past
Lamer, Madeleine
2020 Decoding Adolescent Rickets: The Effects of the Environmental and Social Contexts on the Development of Rickets in Adolescents in the Netherlands from the 17th to 19th Centuries
Salahuddin, Hana
2019 Individual Breastfeeding and Weaning Histories in Iron Age South Italy using Stable Isotope Analysis of Incremental Dentine Sections and Bone Collagen
Peacock, Taylor
2019 City, Town and Village: An Intra and Inter Site Analysis of Long Bone and Rib Fractures at Five Settlements in the Western Roman Empire
Smith, Taylor
2018 Individual breastfeeding and weaning histories in a 19th century Spanish sample using stable isotope analysis of incremental dentine sections
Jennings, Emma
2017 Analysis of Trauma Patterns and Post-Traumatic Time Interval in a Late Romano-British and Spanish Context
Avery, L Creighton
2016 An Analysis of Dental Health in Relation to Sex and Social Status at Roman Winchester
Wei, Xuan
2016 An evaluation of “old age” traits in transition analysis and mandibular ridge resorption in age estimation of older individuals
Semchuk, Lisa
2016 A Stable Isotope Investigation of Diet at Vagnari
Timmins, Sarah
2016 Subadult Growth and Rickets from a Late Roman and Merovingian Period Context in Lisieux, France
Ingram, Joelle
2015 Activity and Aging in Adult Males: Investigation of Entheses and Cortical Bone from the Site of Lisieux-Michelet in Northern France
Schattmann, Annabelle F.
2015 The Co-Occurrence of Scurvy and Rickets in 16th to 18th Century Skeletal Material from Douai, France
Casaca, Lia
2014 Taphonomy: What About the Small Bones, Long Bones, and Cranial Bones? A Study of the Representation and Weathering of Human Remains from the Battle of Stoney Creek during the War of 1812
D’Ortenzio, Lori L.
2013 You are not what you eat during stress: An Isotopic Evaluation of Human Hair from Belleville, Ontario
Emery, Matthew
2012 A Stable Isotopic Invesigation of the Smith’s Knoll Sample
Lockau, Laura
2012 Bioarchealogical Analysis of Trauma in an Skeletal sample from Smith’s Knoll Historic Cemetary
Murchie, Tyler
2021 Ancient environmental DNA as a means of understanding ecological restructuring during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Yukon, Canada
East, Kaitlin
2021 Stress, Dying, and Disease: Hair Cortisol Concentration in the Study of Stress at the End of Life in the Past and Present
D’Ortenzio, Lori
2018 Tooth Tales: What Internal Dental Structures Reveal About Visiting Vitamin D Deficiency and Age Estimation
Lockau, Laura
2018 Skeletal evidence for vitamin D deficiency and chronic respiratory infections across the life course at two Roman period sites
Emery, Matthew
2018 Assessing Migration and Demographic Change in pre-Roman and Roman Period Southern Italy Using Whole-Mitochondrial DNA and Stable Isotope Analysis
Gilmour, Rebecca
2017 Resilient Romans: Cross-Sectional Evidence for Long-Term Functional Consequences of Extremity Trauma.
Stark, Robert James
2017 Ancient lives in motion: A Bioarchaeological Examination of Stable Isotopes, Nonmetric Traits, and Human Mobility in an Imperial Roman Context (1ST-3RD C. CE)
Mant, Madeleine
2016 Slips, trips, falls, and brawls: Fractures of the working poor in London during the long eighteenth century
Marciniak, Stephanie-Marie
2016 Scourge of the Empire? Ancient Pathogen Genomics and the Biosocial Context of Malaria in Imperial Period Southern Italy (1st-4th c. A.D.)
Devault, Alison
2014 Genomics of Ancient Pathogenic Bacteria: Novel Techniques & Extraordinary Substrates
Bos, Kirsten
2011 Genetic Investigations into the Black Death