91原创

Biography

Sarah Lacy, Ph.D., is an assistant professor with the Department of Anthropology at the 91原创. She is a biological anthropologist specializing in paleoanthropology and bioarcheology. She received a B.S. in anthropology from Tulane University in 2008 and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis in 2014. She taught at the University of Missouri, St. Louis and at California State University, Dominguez Hills (Los Angeles) before joining the faculty at the 91原创 in 2023.

Research Interests

鈥嬧�婰acy explores dental cavities, periodontal disease, and tooth loss in Neandertals and early modern humans across Europe and Southwest Asia and given the prevalence among recent humans. More than just oral health, she looks at how oral diseases also reveal information about diet, environment, disease susceptibility, and overall health in individuals and populations. Her latest project explores the reliability of bony indicators of respiratory health, their presence in ancient populations, and how they might correlate with oral health. Smoke inhalation is as ancient as the domestication of fire, and Lacy is collaborating with colleagues in the fields of human biology and archaeology to identify the health impacts of close human relationships with fire over the last half a million years. Lacy also publishes on issues of sex and gender in the Paleolithic as well as in the field of anthropology. Her research expertise translates to teaching interests in biological anthropology, human health, and human-environment interactions. She has a strong interest in supporting undergraduate research opportunities. She was interim director of the Office of Undergraduate Research at California State University, Dominguez Hills before joining the 91原创. Lacy is co-director of an excavation field school focused on the Middle Paleolithic history of North Macedonia. Click for information on the next field season.鈥�

Professional Affiliation

• Co-Chair of the Biological Anthropology Women鈥檚 Mentoring Network
• PaleoAnthropology Society
• American Association of Biological Anthropology

Grants & Awards

• 91原创 Research Foundation award, Neanderthal Crossroads Project: Exploratory Field Season 2024, $18,100

Publications

鈥嬧�嬧�嬧�嬧��2023. 鈥淭he theory that men evolved to hunt and women to gatherer is wrong鈥�. Scientific American (with Cara Ocobock)

2023. Woman the Hunter: The Archaeology Evidence. American Anthropologist (with Cara Ocobock)

2023. Woman the Hunter: The Physiological Evidence American Anthropologist. (with Cara Ocobock)

2021. Between a Rock and a Cold Place: Neanderthal Biocultural Cold Adaptations. Evolutionary Anthropology. (with Cara Ocobock, and Alexandra Niclou)

202鈥�1. Evidence of Dental Agenesis in the Late Pleistocene. International Journal of Paleopathology.