Dr. M. Anne Katzenberg, Archaeology

As a consulting forensic anthropologist, Dr. M. Anne Katzenberg uses her study of bones for everything from identifying skeletal remains to help bring closure to distressed families who have lost a relative, to unlocking the secrets of past civilizations.

Unlocking secrets

Through her human osteology research, Dr. Katzenberg, professor in the Department of Archaeology at the U of C, learns everything she can from what’s left of people from the past—usually bones, teeth and occasionally with mummies, hair and soft tissue that can be reconstructed.

The Alberta Medical Examiner calls in Dr. Katzenberg several times a year to identify the sex, age and height from skeletal remains, and through her measurements of the skull and face, ethnicity.

“My work is of value when the remains are in an advanced state of decomposition, when fingerprints and dental records are not available,” says Dr. Katzenberg. “Through my analysis, I can help rule out certain individuals who are missing faster than DNA results can be obtained to confirm identity.”

Dr. Katzenberg also shares her expertise through workshops with search and rescue groups where she describes evidence that may be found in the field and how to protect its integrity. She teaches how to differentiate human bones from animal bones and fosters an understanding of how these skills can be applied.

Past people tell their stories

Through her research, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Dr. Katzenberg looks at how past civilizations lived and adapted to change including diseases, warfare, climate change and degradation of the environment. She specializes in analyzing the protein that is preserved in prehistoric bones to determine what people ate. She can tell if people ate domesticated plants and animals or whether they were hunter-gatherers. The research helps identify community and cultural behaviours and social organizations.

Currently Dr. Katzenberg is collaborating with an international multidisciplinary team investigating cultural dynamics among the Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers of the Lake Baikal region of Siberia, Russia.

“In contrast to forensic anthropologists portrayed on TV shows like CSI, only a few of my cases have been crimes," explains Dr. Katzenberg. "More often they are old burials that have eroded to the surface and suicides carried out in remote places. Most of my work takes place in the morgue, not at ‘the scene’. So, there is less of the ‘crime scene’ and more of the investigation of ‘who is this person?’”

http://baikal.arts.ualberta.ca
http://www.fp.ucalgary.ca/bioanth/