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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 Entry 1: Antigua and Semana Santa
As some of you undoubtedly know, I’m now in the beautiful Guatemala for the first leg of my research–and honestly, the words to properly describe this place escape me. I’ve done quite a bit of traveling in my short life, but Guatemala is hands down the most beautiful country I have ever seen. The seismic…
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Archaeology – An Overview
For my final four-field overview post, I want to talk a little bit about archaeology. You can find some more specific information about bioarchaeology in my previous posts, but there’s far more to archaeology than just the bones! First and foremost, let’s clarify, archaeology is not the study of dinosaur fossils. That would be paleontology,…
The Brains and Bones Project 