Man at a computer shining a bright light on a prehistoric grinding implement used to process food.

Department of Anthropology News

Anthropology focuses on the spectrum of the human experience from the past to the present. With a comprehensive and well-integrated curriculum, the Department of Anthropology teaches and trains students in a way that balances methodological and theoretical approaches in anthropology. Our courses and research programs are relevant on local and global scales, and we provide students with an insightful understanding of our shared humanity and diversity human cultures around the world.

Current Anthropology News

Virginia Smercina stands at entrance of Graduate Commons
People |

The soon-to-be two-time UNLV alumna is helping graduate students find their voice and advocate for themselves.

two women and one man working in UNLV Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Lab
Research |

Faculty and students from the Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Lab help solve missing persons cases.

Fall 25 commencement2
Campus News |

A collection of the top news headlines featuring UNLV faculty and students.

Two male and one female students sitting at desks wearing virtual reality headsets
Campus News |

From trips to Peru and an alien zoo, UNLV faculty lead students on learning journeys via the university’s newest immersive learning tools.

First day of classes.
Campus News |

The top news stories starring university students and staff.

UNLV professor Brian Villmoare (right, in blue shirt) working at the Ledi-Geraru research site.
Research |

UNLV anthropologist and international research team find Ethiopian fossils; details published in Aug. 13 Nature paper.

Anthropology In The News

Sausage of Science Podcast

Join us for a conversation about decolonizing research, rethinking education, and building institutions that actually serve the communities at their center. Chris sits down with Dr. Alyssa Crittenden, who returns to the show, this time as Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate College at UNLV.

Portland Monthly

The standard in the US is for the placenta to be treated as medical waste, but cultures across the world have had widely varied traditions, often tied to the belief that the placenta is a living relative or guardian to the child. In an analysis of 179 societies, medical anthropologists at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, found 169 disposal methods, including burial, incineration, and intentional placement in a specific location, such as hanging in a tree.

AnthroBiology Podcast

Dr. Brian Villmoare of the University of Nevada – Las Vegas shares how his team found teeth in Ethiopia and what those teeth might mean in terms of who was around when in the evolutionary record.

KSNV-TV: News 3

The 2nd annual Missing in Nevada Day is set to run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Jan. 31 at UNLV's University Gateway Building.

PBS

A study on Ozempic’s impacts on Alzheimer’s disease didn’t have the results scientists hoped for. We talk to UNLV’s Dr. Jeffrey Cummings on the research and what’s next. Also from UNLV: a look at how a “new” species of an ancient human ancestor can help shape our view on evolution. We end with a fun story on “Silver Belle”... the first tree from Nevada to serve as the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree!

PBS

A study on Ozempic’s impacts on Alzheimer’s disease didn’t have the results scientists hoped for. We talk to UNLV’s Dr. Jeffrey Cummings on the research and what’s next. Also from UNLV: a look at how a “new” species of an ancient human ancestor can help shape our view on evolution. We end with a fun story on “Silver Belle”... the first tree from Nevada to serve as the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree!

Anthropology Experts

An expert in paleontology and human evolution.
An expert in forensic anthropology, bioarchaeology, human remains, and skeletal biology.
An expert on archaeology of Arizona and Southern Nevada, Ancient Technology, Native Americans.
An expert on the anthropology of migration, gender, social movements, and activism.
An anthropologist and expert on hunter-gatherer adaptations in American Southwest to arid environments, and the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture
An expert in the evolution of human nutrition, hunter-gatherer societies, and the division of labor between the sexes. 

Recent Anthropology Accomplishments

Paul Vincent Ruma (Anthropology) presented at the 2026 European Hip Hop Studies Network Conference, “Things Done Changed,” held March 18-21, 2026, at the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands. His presentation, “There’s No Book: Master Practitioner Publishing as Breaking’s Knowledge Infrastructure,” examined the gap between embodied cultural…
Jennifer Byrnes (Anthropology) co-authored "Buckle Rib Fractures Are More Than a Pleural Surface Phenomenon: A Case Report and Literature Review" in Forensic Anthropology. Drawing on a literature review and a forensic case example, the authors explore how buckle rib fractures are defined and offer recommendations to practitioners for more accurate…
Lisa Johnson (Anthropology) recently co-presented at the 20th annual Tulane Maya Symposium on "Maya Cities," a talk titled "Households, Neighborhoods, and the Dynamics of Urbanism at Lakamha'."
Lisa Johnson (Anthropology) recently published a co-edited volume, "The Urban Questions: Interdisciplinary & Multiscalar Approaches to Investigating the Ancient Mesoamerican City," through the University of Utah Press, Available Dec. 19, 2025, ISBN: 978-1-64769-228-5. 
Paul Vincent Ruma (Anthropology) was an invited speaker at the international symposium “Faire connaissance(s): Hip hop dances as fields of research and invention,” held December 4–6 at La Villette in Paris and organized by the Centre national de la danse (CN D), a national institution of the French Ministry of Culture. Ruma’s presentation, “From…
Derek Boyd (Anthropology) published an open-access article in Early View in the International Journal of Paleopathology titled, "An Intersectional and Bayesian Investigation of Pleural Disease in Industrializing England (1700-1857CE)," (2026). In this article, Boyd combines intersectionality theory with Bayesian linear modeling to map the burden…