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Free Resource: The Skeleton Game
As the lecturer in charge of hominin evolution for our Human Evolution and Diversity Module in 2023, I had my students participate in a weekly challenge. Every week, I would provide a new game, quiz, or activity that they were encouraged to try and win. Every volunteer got candy, but every winner got both candy…
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Free Resource: Primatology Bingo!
A vital part of contextualising the fossil record well, especially in regard to bipedalism (walking on two legs, bi=two + ped=feet) and associated anatomical changes, is illustrating the connection between humans and other extant (contemporary) primates first. If you establish those connections well, then the hunt for bipedal traits in the fossil record is an…
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Free Resource: The (Interactive) Human Family Tree
When developing a human evolution module for any level, it’s important to present data in a range of formats to maximise your students’ engagement. While teaching Human Evolution and Diversity at Durham University, a free and incredibly useful tool I often used was the Smithsonian’s interactive Human Family Tree. One of the first lessons I…
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Free Resource: Teaching Evolution With Sticky-Notes
As a postgraduate teaching assistant at Durham University’s Anthropology Department, part of my job was to plan and deliver plenary sessions for our Human Evolution and Diversity Module. This often meant balancing my own creativity and the class dynamic with academically-backed activities. While researching hands-on options for demonstrating allele frequency within populations, I came across…
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Embodiment (and how to use it)
When was the last time your brain thought about itself? When was the last time you noticed your skeleton inside you? It’s easy to forget that these parts of our bodies are intrinsic parts of ourselves. Our skeletons seem inorganic and passive; our thoughts seem separated from our physical bodies. But if our brains and…
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That’s a wrap—2025
It’s almost hard to believe, but it’s coming up on ten years since the beginning of my PhD program—and five since my degree was officially conferred. And it has been a busy ten years to say the least. After passing my viva voce via Zoom during COVID-19 lockdowns, I had the privilege of lecturing for…
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Fieldwork Comes to an End
Hello anthropologists, I know it has been a while since my last post, and there is more to catch up on than I could ever cover. But I can say that I have officially finished my fieldwork in Guatemala now. It was nothing like I expected it to be, so many things went wrong I…
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Volcán Acatenango
Hola, chicos! As per a request from a follower, I’d like to spend some time today writing about my recent experience climbing my first mountain, Volcán Acatenango. As you may have guessed from its name, Acatenango is a stratovolcano in Guatemala which overlooks its more active sister Volcán Fuego. Stratovolcanoes are formed from layer upon layer…
The Brains and Bones Project 