Marla MacKinnon

Marla is PhD candidate working under the supervision of Dr. Helen Kurki on a project entitled "Human skeletal variation: Adaptive responses during growth of the bony pelvis."  She holds a BAH in Classics from Queen’s University in Kingston, ON, a MSc in Forensic Archaeological Science from University College London in London, UK, and a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship.  Broadly, her research interests include bioarchaeology, human skeletal morphological variation, 3D imaging for archaeology, and ethical care and curation of human remains.  More specifically, she is interested in the ways in which cultural practices, activities, and environment affect human skeletal growth and morphology.  Her previous research focused on regional variation in skull morphology and the ancestral diversity of medieval British skeletal collections, as well as methods of 3D imaging for archaeology (including photogrammetry and reflectance transformation imaging). 

Marla has carried out fieldwork in both Ontario and the United States, as well as in Jordan, Greece, and Scandinavia, both in the context of cultural resource management as well as academic research.  She worked at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, QC within the repatriation division, as well as with the Paterson Group in the archaeology division in Ottawa, ON. She also held an internship at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, IL in the repatriation division.