Departmental News

Posted:  Jan 15, 2020 - 12:00pm

UNM Anthropology Research was featured in the UNM Research Year-in-Review. 

UNM study highlights importance of female roles in matrilineal families
What do termites, elephants, whales, hyenas, and some human societies have in common? The core of their societies is female. According to a new study led by Siobhán Mattison, assistant professor of evolutionary anthropology and director of The University of New Mexico’s Human Family and Evolutionary Demography Lab and the study’s lead author, females – not males – may provide the backbone on which complex society is built.

UNM database of deceased people a national first
People die. All the time. From many causes, including old age, disease, accidents, murder. But researchers can learn from these deaths. Heather Edgar, forensic anthropologist at The University of New Mexico Office of Medical Investigator (OMI) and associate professor of anthropology, is converting a dataset of whole body decedent CT scans into a searchable database. The website, titled the New Mexico Decedent Image Database, will be available to researchers.