Oct. 16, MSU Museum: Bring Them Home, a Tribal panel on NAGPRA, repatriation and campus collections. 2:15 to 4:15 p.m., no registration. The Broad screens Aanikoobijigan at 7. museum.msu.edu/events/bring...

Archaeology Now, a new MSU Anthropology lecture series, opens Oct. 8 with short talks from Dr. Phyllis Johnson, Dr. Madeline Mackie and Dr. Gabriel Wrobel. 5 p.m., McDonel Hall C-103, and live on YouTube. Learn more: anthropology.msu.edu/archaeology-...

Can a shift in angle make X-rays of the same clavicle look like a mismatch? MSU doctoral student Natalie Clark built a study around that question during her summer internship at the DPAA's Omaha lab, the agency working to identify missing U.S. service members. anthropology.msu.edu/2026/10/01/m...

MSU forensic anthropologist Dr. Joe Hefner told WLNS 6 News how a biological profile from skeletal remains is used to build a short list of potential matches among missing persons. An MSU Anthropology team is assisting Lansing police in an ongoing case. anthropology.msu.edu/2026/09/29/m...

MSU Anthropology team assists Lansing police with investigation of human remains

Lansing police brought in an MSU Anthropology team to assist after human remains believed to be several years old were found in Lansing on Saturday, according to WLNS. The Medical Examiner’s Office…

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Dr. Rhian Dunn (WCU) and Dr. Joe Hefner (MSU) test whether collection-specific bias masks cranial variation across 1,161 individuals from eight U.S. documented skeletal collections. anthropology.msu.edu/2026/09/28/m...

MSU's Computational Cultural Heritage fellowship just announced its 2026-27 cohort. This interdisciplinary @leadr.bsky.social fellowship supports original digital cultural heritage projects across an academic year. Learn more: leadr.msu.edu/fellowships/

Dr. Madeline Mackie on the La Prele mammoth site: nine excavation seasons revealed a campsite, not a kill site. Hearths, bone needles, ochre. A community moved to the mammoth, not the other way around. Full episode of The Ancients podcast: open.spotify.com/episode/0Qbl...

What skills matter in an AI-shaped workplace? The Wall Street Journal points to anthropology. Understanding technology matters. Understanding people does, too. Read: www.wsj.com/lifestyle/ca... (Subscription required.)

MSU anthropology senior Megan Berry spent the summer analyzing soil that sat unstudied in museums for years. In it: microdebitage, the tiny stone flakes struck off in toolmaking that reveal where people once worked. Story: anthropology.msu.edu/2026/09/02/m...

MSU anthropology senior Megan Berry finds big questions in archaeology’s smallest fragments

A summer sorting microscopic fragments led anthropology senior Megan Berry to an unexpected interest…

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How do you make a 19th-century artifact accessible to researchers anywhere? Michigan State University anthropology PhD students use photogrammetry to build 3D models of Saints' Rest finds, and the MSU Museum is folding them into a VR experience. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ovi...

Saints' Rest: From Collections to Virtual Reality

The MSU Museum is transforming archaeological discoveries into new opportunities for learning. This video highlights the Saints' Rest project, which combines campus archaeology, 3D digitization, and…

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"Contact" asks one word to cover two centuries of shifting power, trade and violence in the Great Lakes. Dr. Jessica Yann argues for breaking it apart: a continuum that centers how Indigenous communities persisted and adapted. anthropology.msu.edu/2026/08/13/r... #Archaeology #Anthropology

Dr. Phyllis Johnson, MSU anthropologist, on healthier working environments in cultural resource management, a field that runs most of US archaeology's jobs. New article in the journal Advances in Archaeological Practice. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

The default interpretation for human remains in Maya caves has been sacrifice. Dr. Gabriel Wrobel has spent two decades pushing back on that, and the skeletal evidence is on his side. anthropology.msu.edu/2026/07/30/c... #anthropology

Congratulations to Dr. Carolyn Isaac on her reappointment as assistant professor of anthropology. 🎉 Dr. Isaac is a biological anthropologist specializing in forensic anthropology.

Congratulations to Dr. Elizabeth Drexler on her promotion to professor of anthropology. 🎉 Dr. Drexler's research examines violence, human rights, transitional justice, and impunity in Indonesia and Timor-Leste, work she has sustained for more than 20 years.

The Department of Anthropology is proud to congratulate Md "Monir" Moniruzzaman on being named a Fulbright finalist for the 2026-27 academic year. Moniruzzaman was selected for a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to conduct work in Bangladesh. From MSUToday: msutoday.msu.edu/news/2026/06...

There's something nice about digging into your own campus's history, literally. MSU's Campus Archaeology Program is back at the site of the university's 1880 observatory, picking up the thread of a pipe found in 2024 to see where it leads. Full story via The State News. statenews.com/article/2026...

Campus archaeology team heads back to 1880 MSU observatory site - The State News

In 2023, the Campus Archaeology Program at MSU made a groundbreaking discovery: the foundation of the original, 145-year-old campus observatory that was demolished in the 1920s. Now, the team is back ...

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Anthropology alumnus Donald Weir was recently awarded with the National Society of Historical Archaeology’s Award of Merit for his lifetime of work in archaeology at this year’s national conference. The full story: spr.ly/63325B6YhbR #MSUAnthropology #MSUSocialScience

In 1952, Toy Len Goon—a Chinese immigrant & widowed—was named U.S. Mother of the Year. Her granddaughter, Dr. Andrea Louie, shares Goon's story in Chinese American Mothering. 📚 spr.ly/63321CEsRd

From childhood curiosity to forensic anthropology: Dr. Andrea Zurek-Ost joins MSU Anthropology as a research associate on MOSIAC—a $2.1M NIJ-funded project advancing identification methods. Read her story here! spr.ly/63320CBnBq

Congrats to MSU Ph.D. student Intan Kumbayoni and team for placing 3rd in the Geneva Challenge! Their PATH project promotes peer-led health education for migrant teens—one of five global finalists among 313 teams. 🌍👏 #MSUResearch #GlobalInpact

Support the next generation of Spartan anthropologists! Give today! give.msu.edu/?sid=701 #givingtuesday #msu

Students in ANP 364: Fake Archaeology are learning to investigate pseudoarchaeology and analyze its spread on social media using digital tools in MSU’s LEADR Lab. spr.ly/633267W3io @leadr.bsky.social #Anthropology #FakeArchaeology #DigitalResearch #HandsOnLearning

Congratulations to Dr. Stacey Camp on being appointed the new Curator of Archaeology at the MSU Museum! Read more here! spr.ly/6332979eUT

Meet Laila Komis, whose love for cultures led her to anthropology. Now, through a PURI-supported project, she’s exploring how digital media drives movements for economic and social justice. 📖 Learn more: spr.ly/6332279l1G

Thank you MSU Police for inviting Associate Professor Dr. Joe Hefner to speak at the Detective Bureau meeting! Hefner, a forensic anthropologist, shared how his work with MSU’s Department of Anthropology and Forensic Anthropology Lab (MSUFAL) can assist and strengthen local investigations.

Graduate Student Association Annual Chili Cookoff was a blast! 🌶️ Thank you to everyone who came out, voted, and cooked up amazing chili and cornbread! 🏆 Chili Winner: Hot Stuff Comin’ Through 🏆 Cornbread Winner: Kernal Panic #ChiliCookoff #CornbreadChallenge #GradLife

Busy weekend for the LEADR Lab! Chi fellows presented two weeks of their hard work building digital cultural maps Then at the USIH Conference, LEADR + @h-net-humanities.bsky.social presented a proof of concept for their digitization project on the Radical Historians Newsletter

What can ancient Indigenous cuisines teach us about culture & community? A new volume of essays explores how food shaped social life in the ancient Midcontinent. 📚 Learn more: spr.ly/633227pfEn

👏 Congrats to Gungun Islam on receiving the Dr. Delia Koo Global Student Scholarship! Her research in West Bengal, India, explores how infertility care is shaped by social, political & economic inequities. spr.ly/633237Ppdh #GlobalHealth