News and events

The Department is sad to announce the death of Dr. Leland H. Donald, on April 10, 2024.

Dr. April Nowell (ANTH) is cited in the New Scientist story about early human childhood and the unexpected reasons why human childhood is extraordinarily long.

Dr. Iain McKechnie in an interview with CTV news on herring spawning and its importance.

Congratulations to Allison Balabuch’s (PhD candidate in Curriculum & Instruction) whose work with Dr. Ann Stahl in developing curriculum resources is based in Banda, Ghana. Allison is a finalist in the SSHRC Storytellers competition on this work that has been firmly rooted in a project out of Anthropology.

Congratulations to our PhD student Raey Costain who is the digital communications lead on the Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives project.

IndigiNews article on Dr. McKechnie's woolly dog's research

Dr. Ammie Kalan was interviewed for Mongabay Series: Great Apes.

"Little Sapiens" - story of prehistoric children inspired by Dr. Nowell's book - to be broadcasted on CBC March 14th, 2024!

Congratulations to two of our alumni on their published works.

Congratulations to our PhD student Lydia Toorenburgh on their "2024 Distinguished Indigenous Community Alumni Award".

Dr. Ammie Kalan was interviewed for CBC to provide comment on this publication, text and broadcast interview.

Dr. April Nowell comments in an article titled: 'Intellectually inferior' humans caused Neanderthals to go extinct, a new book claims.

Dr. Nowell interviewed in an article "Neanderthals: More knowable now than ever".

Major grant has been awarded to the Counter Currency Laboratory

Congratulations to our MA student Kathryn McKenzie on winning the "The Junior Researcher Open Zooarchaeology Prize" for her project "Open Science and Digital Data for Zooarchaeological Comparative Collections: Emerging Capacities for Indigenous Knowledge and Environmental Research on the Northwest Coast of North America".

Dr. April Nowell discussed Neanderthal sexual behaviour on a UK podcast "Betwixt the Sheets" with host Katie Lister.

The exhibition of a prominent Nuu-chah-nulth artist George Clutesi was put together by Dr. Andrea Walsh (ANTH faculty), Dr. Jennifer Robinson (ANTH alumna), Dr. India Young and Raey Costain (ANTH PhD student) at the University of Victoria Visual Story Lab.

Top news of 2023 from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. "160-year-old pelt sheds light on origin and sudden disappearance of Indigenous woolly dog" - article on research that Dr. Iain McKechnie was a co-author on.

Dr. Tommy Happynook comments on the importance of the exhibit, titled GEORGE CLUTESI: ḥašaḥʔap / ʔaapḥii / ʕc̓ik / ḥaaʔaksuqƛ / ʔiiḥmisʔap.

Dr. Iain McKechnie is a co-author of this article “The history of Coast Salish ‘Woolly Dogs’ revealed by ancient genomics and Indigenous knowledge,” published in Science.

Dr. Nowell comments on Neanderthals' creative structures in an article "Creative Structures Built By Neanderthals Is Upending How We View the Species".

Dr. Kalan comments on CBC radio in an article "Chimps and bonobos remember friendly faces even after decades apart, study finds"

"Rethinking Neandertals" - few new articles based on Dr. Nowell's research

Congratulations to Dr. Tatiana Degai who is in a group leading the discussion process and community consultations on Indigenizing Arctic research planning.

New BC archaeology publications by UVic Anthropology Adjunct Professor Duncan McLaren.

Congratulations to our PhD student Lydia Toorenburgh on the publication of her first scholarly article.

Congratulations to Dr. Brian Thom on receiving a Google Impact Award for his work supporting Indigenous rights with Google Earth.

Congratulations to Dr. Ann Stahl on the publication of the special 40th-anniversary issue of the African Archaeological Review devoted to “Archaeology for Education”.

Please walk over to the library and check out the survivor-led repatriation project in the lobby – done in collaboration with our department (specifically Dr. Andrea Walsh).

Congratulations to Jacob Salmen-Hartley, our MA alumnus, who led a paper about Indigenous halibut fishing technology (which also influenced the cover art of the journal).

Our department was profiled as a success for priority #4 – Partnering for a Shared Future - in UVic's new Strategic Plan.

Dr. Nowell quoted in Live Science article on cave art.

Dr. Nowell receives 2023 European Archaeological Association book prize.

New article by Dr. Kurki titled "Beyond sex, gender, and other dilemmas: Human pelvic morphology from an integrative context"

Congratulations to Dr. Alison Murray and our PhD candidate Marla MacKinnon on this article "Anterior diaphyseal curvature of the femur and tibia has biomechanical consequences during unloaded uphill locomotion" recently published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

A UVic-led archeological dig in Cardova Bay reveals signs of the ȾEL¸IȽĆE village dating more than 1,000 years ago.

New article by Dr. Kurki and PhD candidate Marla MacKinnon

New article by PhD student/alumni/faculty

Dr. McKechnie's and alumna's research

Dr. Stahl - Learning From Our Past - lifeways in Ghana

Dr. Nowell quoted in The New York Times

Ph.D. candidate Luke Kernan and his book project.

UVic students explore ancient life on barely documented Indigenous land

Congratulations to Dr. Iain McKechnie on being one of the contributing authors on a new paper which explores the human niche through categorizing uses of vertebrates on a global scale.

Dr. Nowell quoted in articles on Neandertal engravings

New article by Dr. Alex Boudreault-Fournier

Dr. Daromir Rudnyckyj's book and an interview on the topic of the “best books for illustrating how anthropology helps us understand the economy” featured on Shepherd See article here: https://shepherd.com/best-books/how-anthropology-helps-us-understand-the-economy

Congratulations to Dr. Erin McGuire - one of the recipients of the 2023 West Coast Teaching Excellence Awards: https://bctlc.ca/announcing-the-recipients-of-the-2023-west-coast-teaching-excellence-awards/

Paper co-authored by hiininaasim Tommy Happynook, an Indigenous scholar, ḥawił (hereditary leader) from Huu-ay-aht First Nations, and our assistant professor on how indigennous principles can improve biodiversity science and management.

Congratulation to our faculty hiininaasim Tommy Happynook and Iain McKechnie and our PhD student Dylan Hillis on co-authoring a paper on "Disrupting and diversifying the values, voices and governance principles that shape biodiversity science and management".

Congratulations to Dr. April Nowell, whose book "Up in the Ice Age: Archaeological and Fossil Evidence for the Lived Lives of Plio-Pleistocene Children" has been shortlisted for the European Archaeological Association book prize.

Congratulations to Dr. Daromir Rudnyckyj and his team of volunteers for putting on a successful 2023 Biennial conference of the Society for the Anthropology of Religion.

Our PhD student Mavis Underwood and Dr. Brian Thom were interviewed on CBC Radio this morning about the significance of the upcoming UVic - Tsawout 2023 archaeology field school.

New story on our upcoming fieldschool.

Port Alberni Valley Museum exhibit: GEORGE CLUTESI: ḥašaḥʔap / ʔaapḥii / ʕac̓ik / ḥaaʔaksuqƛ / ʔiiḥmisʔap A stunning and powerful new exhibit exploring the legacy of George Clutesi through his art, scholarly work & human rights activism.

Congratulations to Dr. Nowell on receiving the Distinguished Lansdowne Fellow award.

Dr. Brian Thom was interviewed by Vancouver Sun on the issue of birth certificates with traditional names.

Our MA student Shane Doddridge received the "The Best Masters Paper Award 2023" at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Geographers.

First Nation and UVic researchers to uncover ancient Indigenous village in Cordova Bay

Congratulations to Dr. April Nowell on the interview with NPR