Anthropology

Traditional measurements of genetic ancestry rarely offer information on specific ancestors in a family tree. A new approach to genetic ancestry developed by Stanford researchers yields insight into African American history by providing estimates of the number of African and European genealogical ancestors in typical family trees.

A research collaboration with the Muwekma Ohlone tribe – whose ancestral lands include the Stanford campus – shows a genetic relationship between modern-day Tribe members and individuals buried nearby who lived more than 1,900 years ago.

Research based on the daily movements of people living in a contemporary hunter-gatherer society provides new evidence for links between the gendered division of labor in human societies over the past 2.5 million years and differences in the way men and women think about space.

Stanford researchers find both socio-cultural and personal characteristics influence how individuals experience the presence of gods and spirits.

Creating a relationship with a supernatural other takes effort that can lead to meaningful change, says Stanford anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann.

In a graduate seminar taught by Stanford medical anthropologist S. Lochlann Jain, students examined how previous epidemics – such as yellow fever, smallpox, polio and AIDS – can illuminate the social dynamics and politics of the era.

Muwekma: Landscape Archaeology and the Narratives of California Natives allows Stanford students to move beyond the myth of the “perpetually vanishing native” and to understand Native American history and culture from an indigenous perspective.

Complex disease transmission patterns could explain why it took tens of thousands of years after first contact for our ancestors to replace Neanderthals throughout Europe and Asia.

Despite extensive records of the history of Rome, little is known about the city’s population over time. A new genetic history of the Eternal City reveals a dynamic population shaped in part by political and historical events.

In collaboration with tribes in Northern California, researchers examined traditional fire management practices and found that these approaches, if expanded, could strengthen cultures and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires.