DR. SERA L. YOUNG, University of California, Berkeley, California, received a Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship in October 2008 to aid research and writing on 'Eating Dirt and Loving It: A Biocultural Study of Pica.' For over 2300 years we have known that people eat dirt, on purpose. Earth and other non-food substances like starch, charcoal, and ice have been craved and eaten in nearly every culture: by pregnant women in Ancient Greece, by plantation slaves, by religious pilgrims and by thoroughly ashamed modern women, who only dare confess their desires anonymously in internet chat rooms.

'The World Heritage of Human Origins'
April 17-21, 2007, Australia Museum in Mildura, Victoria, Australia
Organizers: Michael C. Westaway and Gary Pappin (Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area - Buronga, Australia)

Wenner-Gren funding was used to bring six international representatives from Europe, Asia, and Africa to the conference to discuss current issues within six World Heritage Areas.

Preliminary abstract: This project will investigate how women's desire to live near childcare providers affects post-marital residence. I will work with the Thwa of northwestern Namibia and southwestern Angola to test the hypothesis that the availability of childcare providers (allomothers) in the wife's camp can be used to predict post-marital residence. The traditional approach to understanding post-marital residence focuses on cross-cultural comparisons. These comparisons ignore the patterning of variation within groups.

Preliminary Abstract: This study examines the role of cultural transmission in the construction of human disease ecologies and the co-evolution of humans and their pathogens using a comparative study of tuberculosis (TB) in the Paraguayan Chaco. This dissertation will specifically address: how do different degrees of effective cultural transmission from outside groups change disease ecology in Nivacle communities?

DR. MARIA VARELA-SILVA, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, United Kingdom, and DR. FEDERICO DISKINSON-BANNACK, University of Merida, Merida, Mexico, were awarded an International Collaborative Research Grant in October 2009, to aid collaborative research on 'Nutritional Status and Health Outcomes in a Dual-Burden Population of Maya in Yucatan.' Developing countries are currently facing a dual burden of chronic malnutrition (stunting) and overweight/obesity.

BENJAMIN T. VALENTINE, then a student at University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, received funding in April 2011 to aid research on 'Isotopic Perspectives on Migration and Identity: A View from the Harappan Hinterland,' supervised by Dr. John Krigbaum. Indus Civilization cemetery burials provide an important opportunity for understanding the interaction between migration and identity in ancient urban South Asia.