💡How can we identify archaeological bones embedded in resin? A group of researchers, including ICArEHB members Paul Goldberg, Shannon McPherron, William Chase Murphree and Vera Aldeias explore this with new paleoproteomics methods in their latest publication. 🔗 Read more: https://lnkd.in/d8xYJKKq #Archaeology #Paleoproteomics #ICArEHB #BoneAnalysis #PNASNexus

Recent interdisciplinary research on Mongolian burial sites has provided new insights into the social and genetic landscape of Bronze Age societies. Analysis of ancient DNA and burial practices revealed that two genetically and culturally distinct nomadic groups coexisted in central Mongolia for centuries, maintaining separate identities despite close proximity. The emergence of the Slab Grave culture in the Early Iron Age marked a significant cultural and genetic shift, with eastern populations largely replacing western groups. These findings highlight the complex interplay between cultural practices and genetic continuity in prehistoric Eurasian steppe societies.

🦷 Dental calculus — often called tartar — might look like just hardened plaque, but in archaeology and bioanthropology, it’s a goldmine of information. This mineralized deposit can preserve microremains, pathogens, and even ancient DNA, offering insights into past diets, health, and lifestyles. What was once just a dental nuisance has become one of the most exciting sources of biocultural data in human skeletal studies. #Bioarchaeology #ForensicAnthropology #Archaeology #DentalCalculus #AncientDNA #Osteology

CDS MS and undergrad students gathered last Wednesday to explore an interdisciplinary research opportunity. Alejandra Ortiz from NYU's Anthropology department presented an NSF-funded project examining genetic architecture of tooth configuration in non-human primates. The collaborative study spans four institutions and involves generating ~1,000 micro-CT scans of macaque and tamarin skulls from pedigreed colonies. Students interested in biological systems and data analysis learned about opportunities to automate image segmentation, develop quantifiable reconstruction methods, and enhance virtual reality practices using specialized imaging software. Alejandra was joined by her PhD student, Jordan Guerra. #DataScience #ComputationalAnthropology #ResearchOpportunities

This widely discussed research on automatic ontology generation has a downbeat (ie. it's a no-go for now). Two novel prompting techniques for ontology generation, Memoryless CQbyCQ and Ontogenia, were assessed and shown to improve ontology generation, surpassing previous approaches. However, challenges like multiple domains and ranges, and superfluous elements were highlighted, indicating the need for elaborate manual evaluation methods. While #LLM-generated ontologies can benefit novice engineers, weaknesses like erroneous restrictions and superfluous elements persist. https://lnkd.in/eNHSQXqz #ontology #KnowledgeGraphs

LLM alone cannot handle ontologies; that's where help comes from symbolic reasoning. 📘 Domain Text / Documents     ↓ 🧠 Neural Extraction Layer (LLM or Transformer)  → Extract entities, candidate relations, axioms     ↓ 🧩 Symbolic Reasoning Layer (Ontology reasoner + constraints)  → Validate domains/ranges, deduplicate, check consistency     ↓ 🔁 Feedback / Correction Loop  → Update model prompts or embeddings with validated facts     ↓ ✅ Curated Ontology Although conceptual, this should be a plausible alternative.

Humbled and excited to contribute to the new "Anthropology and AI" collection from Routledge. My chapter, “From Present Tense to Future (Im)perfect,” invites anthropologists to engage more directly in the structure and design of ML models and AI systems. Rather than standing outside as critics, we have tools to shape how models are trained, tuned, and built - embedding frameworks of cultural knowledge, context, and resistance into the systems themselves. I offer a few examples of how theory can serve not just as an analytic lens, but as a template for design As always, I'm deeply grateful to Matt Artz, Lora Koycheva and Angela VandenBroek, PhD for the invitation, the nudge to think differently, and for their editorial expertise. And I'm excited to finally read the contributions of the other authors! Link to the book is below. #anthropology #AI #appliedanthropology

📢 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭 of Mélanie Henriques 💀 Pleased to share her latest article entitled: "𝑻𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝑴𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑩𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝑷𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝑪𝑻-𝑺𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝑺𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆" This research is part of her amazing and valuable Ph.D. work, developed in the Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology – Laboratório de Antropologia Forense, Centre for Functional Ecology - Science for People & the Planet, Universidade de Coimbra, and at Aix-Marseille University, under the supervision of Eugenia Cunha and Pascal ADALIAN. Their study introduces a 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝 that enhances the 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬, 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭��𝐚𝐮𝐦𝐚 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. ❓ How can we reliably tell apart injuries caused by a fall versus a blow? ❓ Can postmortem CT scans, analyzed through an anthropological lens, reveal patterns that traditional methods might miss? ❓ Could this approach reshape the way complex trauma is interpreted in forensic investigations? Want to know more? Check out the full article here: 🔗https://lnkd.in/dTjyJC6P Also, if you are interested about Mélanie Henriques research, fell free to contact her. #ForensicAnthropology #BluntForceTrauma #Falls #Blows #SkeletalFractures #CTscan #Imagiology #RandomForest #Anthropologie #Schweizerbart #TraumaAnalysis #Research #Innovation #Justice

Easter Island’s statues actually “walked” – and physics backs it up, according to research from Anthropology Professor Carl Lipo. Read more: https://lnkd.in/emmtP8kK

📝▶️ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗥 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 – 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱: 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 Last Thursday, the SCOR General Meeting took place, offering a valuable opportunity to reflect on the future direction of SCOR. The discussion was highly productive, and a broad consensus emerged: beyond promoting ontology research, SCOR should also aim to deliver actionable insights into the application and implementation of ontology within the Swiss industry. 🎥 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴: https://lnkd.in/eXAcQxk6 Many thanks to all participants — especially Josh Billig for his engaging pitch on behalf of the National Center for Ontological Research (https://lnkd.in/eteMZJH4). #SCOR #Ontology #AppliedOntology #OnlineMeeting #Switzerland #SwissInnovation #AI