News

Vikings in Africa

By Aislinn Sanders Vikings, the Middles Ages Norse explorers, have a long history of exploration and contact with other civilizations. They settled from the Greenland to the western coast of Canada. Their history in Africa, however, remains a forgotten part… Read More

Did Homo naledi use fire?

By Aislinn Sanders           Fire and Homo naledi Homo naledi, the hominin discovery published in 2015, has sparked a heated debate for nearly a decade. The remains of at least 15 individuals, dated to approximately 300,000 years… Read More

The Origins of the Thanksgiving Meal

By Aislinn Sanders As the temperatures drop and snow begins to fall, people are undoubtedly imbued with the classic holiday spirit that comes with this time of year. Thoughts of holiday-specific food and drink, story telling with friends and family,… Read More

Evidence of Cooking 780,000 Years Ago Found in Israel

By Aislinn Sanders When did hominins utilize fire for cooking? A new study published on November 14th, 2022, suggests that hominins mastered fire for cooking 600,000 years earlier than previous research claimed. Previously, the estimated date of the use of… Read More

UWM Anthropology Searching For Assistant/Associate Professor in Great Lakes Archaeology

UWM Anthropology is searching for qualified candidates to apply for the position of Assistant/Associate Professor in Great Lakes Archaeology. This is an important position within the department and will be the cornerstone of our Midwest Archaeological program. Please follow the… Read More

Uncovering the Neanderthal Diet

By Aislinn Sanders What Neanderthals ate has been an ongoing debate in research communities. A new study on Neanderthal teeth has attempted to provide an answer to this question. Led by Dr. Klervia Jaouen, a researcher at the Observatory Midi… Read More

Svante Pääbo wins Nobel Prize for Sequencing of the Neanderthal Genome

By Aislinn Sanders https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/svante-paabo-wins-nobel-prize-for-unraveling-the-mysteries-of-neanderthal-dna-180980883/ On October 3rd, 2022, Svante Pääbo was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on ancient human genomes. Pääbo’s work on the hominin genome founded the new scientific discipline of paleogenomics, a… Read More

Midwest Archaeological Conference comes to La Crosse

By Aislinn Sanders   Update: The MAC conference went fantastically and over 20 current and former UWM personnel were present to honor Bob Jeske’s long and distinguished career. Our many sessions and symposia were well-attended and received great feedback. Please… Read More

Ancient Beer and Brewing with Bettina Arnold

By Aislinn Sanders Recently, Bettina Arnold was interviewed by the Wisconsin Public Radio Morning Show and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for her knowledge on ancient beer brewing methods. It is her hope that she can get those uninterested in conventional… Read More

Digital Currency and Anthropology

By Aislinn Sanders Currency, in all its various forms, has been utilized by civilizations throughout history to put value on goods and services, trade these goods and services, and display wealth in all types of physical manners. Early in human… Read More