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 - past and present. An anthropology degree balances practical, applied, and theoretical research within liberal arts, as well as interdisciplinary education.

Current Anthropology News

A laser beam emitting a blue light is projected into a diamond anvil cell
Research | December 27, 2022

Groundbreaking discovery was the norm for Rebel researchers in 2022. Here's a selection of our favorite news-making UNLV research highlights from the year. 

a female student sits in the grass by a tree reading a book
Campus News | September 1, 2022

A roundup of prominent news stories highlighting university pride, research, and community collaboration.

UNLV anthropologist Brian Villmoare
Research | August 5, 2022

In new paper, UNLV-led anthropology team balks at a widely held belief that modern humans experienced an evolutionary decrease in brain size.

woman posing with colorful lighting
People | August 4, 2022

This admin assistant has been running around campus since she was a kid. Now she's the 2022 President's Classified Employee of the Year.

Remember sculptor Claes Oldenburg who created U.N.L.V.'s iconic Flashlight sculpture this month.
Campus News | August 3, 2022

A collection of news stories highlighting university experts’ insights on and contributions to health, environment, and society.

Lake Mead
Campus News | July 11, 2022

A collection of news stories highlighting UNLV experts who made headlines locally, nationally, and around the world.

Anthropology In The News

Los Angeles Times
March 1, 2023

Despite the fact that Genaro García Luna, former security secretary in the six-year term of Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) and one of the main implementers of the so-called "war on drugs", was found guilty of drug trafficking just last week, many people in Mexico are still waiting for him to be investigated for his role in the death and forced disappearance of thousands of people.

Rielpolitik
February 17, 2023

Take an apple, for example. This amazing fruit is brimming with pharmacologically (or better yet, nutrigenomically) active compounds, most notably ascorbic acid, also known as vitamin C. Another compound it contains is phlorizin, over a dozen polyphenols, potent antioxidants concentrated in the skin of the apple and known to elicit multitargeted effects that reduce the impact of high blood sugar in animal models.1 But this strictly material layer of nutritional analysis barely touches the surface when it comes to appreciating the informational complexity of food.

The Daily Evergreen
February 8, 2023

There are different perspectives behind our reasoning for kissing. The history of kissing is also very diverse, from being an instinct from breastfeeding to having to do with chimpanzees’ habits.

Desert Research Institute
January 5, 2023

DRI archaeologist Greg Haynes, Ph.D., recently completed a synthetic report on the prehistoric ceramic artifacts of the Colorado and Mojave deserts for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) California Desert District (CDD). The CDD manages the 11 million-acre California Desert Conservation Area, which holds cultural artifacts dating back thousands of years. Following a century of research on the prehistoric people and cultures of the Colorado and Mojave deserts of California, this is the first large-scale synthesis focused on ceramics and what they can tell us about the past.

Guardian
December 31, 2022

The remains have caused a public stir, but authorities say the falling water level due to the climate crisis is the real scandal

Guardian
December 31, 2022

The remains have caused a public stir, but authorities say the falling water level due to the climate crisis is the real scandal

Anthropology Experts

An expert in the evolution of human nutrition, hunter-gatherer societies, and the division of labor between the sexes. 
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 love and intimacy.
An expert in paleontology and human evolution.
An expert in Neolithic archaeological sites.
An expert in forensic anthropology, bioarchaeology, human remains, and skeletal biology.

Recent Anthropology Accomplishments

March 2, 2023
Barbara Roth (Anthropology) has published a book, Households on the Mimbres Horizon, with the University of Arizona Press. The book is based on her excavations at La Gila Encantada, a Pithouse period (AD 550-1000) archaeological site located in southern New Mexico.
March 2, 2023
Iván Sandoval-Cervantes (Anthropology) published an opinion piece in the LA Times Español on violence, non-human animals, and the "war on drugs" in Mexico. 
March 1, 2023
Nicholas Barron (Anthropology) was recently interviewed for the KNPR Desert Companion story, "Spirit Moves," about a potential U.S. National monument designation for Avi Kwa Ame (or "Spirit Mountain"), which would protect nearly a half million acres of Native land, south of Las Vegas. 
February 24, 2023
Doctoral student Liam Johnson (Anthropology) was awarded a Pollitzer Student Travel Grant for up to $500 by the American Association of Biological Anthropologists.
February 13, 2023
Professor Levent Atici (Undergraduate Research, Anthropology) is the lead editor of a new book titled, Food Provisioning in Complex Societies: Zooarchaeological Perspectives, published through the University Press of Colorado. Atici also has co-authored a chapter in the book.  Through creative combinations of ethnohistoric evidence, iconography,…
December 11, 2022
Iván Sandoval-Cervantes (Anthropology) was interviewed for the New Books Network about his recently published book, Oaxaca in Motion: An Ethnography of Internal, Transnational, and Return Migration (University of Texas Press 2022). Based on nearly two years observing and interviewing migrants from the rural Oaxacan town of Santa Ana Zegache. Many…