Bioarchaeology,
Osteology, Dental Anthropology, Mortuary Archaeology, Eastern Africa,
Sub-Saharan Africa, Spread of Food Production
Curriculum Vitae
Elizabeth Sawchuk is a bioarchaeologist who has
worked with archaeological human remains from across eastern and southern
Africa. She received her B.A. (Honours) and M.A. in Anthropology from the
University of Alberta, followed by her Ph.D. in 2017 from the University of
Toronto. Her dissertation research focused on monumental “pillar site”
cemeteries built around Lake Turkana ~5000 years ago and the transition to food
production in eastern Africa. For her postdoctoral work at Stony Brook
University in New York, she is expanding this research to evaluate human social
and biological dynamics across Lake Turkana as herding spread along this
frontier. Her research reconstructs patterns of migration and interaction
involved in the introduction of herding and farming throughout sub-Saharan
Africa using osteological, dental morphological, archaeological, and
biomolecular methods. She collaborates on diverse projects with MPI-SHH as a
specialist in bioarchaeological excavation and skeletal analysis.
Publications:
Hildebrand EA, Grillo KM, Sawchuk EA, Pfeiffer S, Conyers L, Goldstein ST, Hill AC, Janzen A,
Klehm C, Helper M, Kiura P, Ndiema E, Ngugi C, Shea J, Wang H. 2018. A
monumental cemetery built by eastern Africa’s first herders near Lake Turkana,
Kenya. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences 115(36): 8942-8947 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721975115
Sawchuk EA, Goldstein ST, Grillo KM, Hildebrand EA. 2018. Cemeteries and the spread of pastoralism from
the Sahara through eastern Africa. Journal
of Anthropological Archaeology 51: 187-205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2018.08.001
Miller
JM†, Sawchuk
EA†, Reedman A, Willoughby PR. 2018. Snail Shell Beads
in sub-Saharan African Archaeological Record: When, Where and Why? African Archaeological Review († =
authors contributed equally) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-018-9305-3
Prendergast ME†, Sawchuk EA†. 2018. Boots on the ground in
Africa’s ancient DNA “revolution”: archaeologist perspectives on ethics and the
need for best practices. Antiquity 92(363):
803-815.(† = authors contributed equally) https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.70
Goldstein
ST, Hildebrand EA, Storozum MJ, Sawchuk EA, Lewis JE, Ngugi C, Robbins
LH. 2017. New archaeological
investigations at the Lothagam Harpoon Site at Lake Turkana. Antiquity 91 360, e5: 1-5. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.215
Biittner KM, Sawchuk EA, Miller JM, Werner JJ, Bushozi P, Willoughby PR. 2017. A Terminal Pleistocene Later Stone Age to Recent
Iron Age Record at Mlambalasi Rock Shelter, Southern Tanzania. African Archaeological Review 34(2):
275-295. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-017-9253-3
Sawchuk EA, Willoughby PR. 2015. Terminal Pleistocene
Later Stone Age human remains from the Mlambalasi Rock Shelter, Iringa Region,
Southern Tanzania. 2015. International
Journal of Osteoarchaeology 25(5): 593-607. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2323