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paleoanthropology, genetics and evolution

Grover Krantz

  • Grover Krantz on exhibit

    Sun, 2009-04-19 21:02 -- John Hawks

    Earlier this year, I pointed to a Washington Post profile of Grover Krantz. Now the Post follows up with the news that Grover's skeleton is on exhibit. And his big dog, too:

    The skeletons of Krantz and his beloved Irish wolfhound, Clyde, make up the striking display that comes at the end of the museum's current forensic anthropology exhibit, "Written in Bone."

    The two are depicted mimicking an old photograph, with the skeleton of Clyde up on his hind legs and Krantz cradling the dog's forelegs in his arms.

    There's a short slideshow with the article. And an ending that brought a tear:

    "That is a big person," said a little girl. "Looks like he's smiling.

    Tags: 
    history of anthropology
    Grover Krantz

  • Grover Krantz profile

    Tue, 2009-02-24 23:13 -- John Hawks

    A reader forwards this article from the Washington Post:

    In a dim hallway in the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, anthropologist David Hunt opens a dingy green cabinet and pulls out a drawer full of human bones.

    "This," he says, "is Grover Krantz."

    If you're an anthropologist, that's all you will need to see to follow the link and read the whole thing. If not, you may need a little more:

    "Grover kept a lot of stuff," he says. "These are his baby teeth."

    Or:

    Working at the Berkeley museum, Krantz broke his big toe in a particularly memorable manner: He dropped the Dead Sea Scrolls on it.

    Click the link. You know you want to. And you'll find a sweet story of a misunderstood anthropologist, the dog he loved, and a death spent teaching.

    Oh, and Bigfoot, too.

    Tags: 
    history of anthropology
    Grover Krantz
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Neandertals

For years, I've worked on their bones. Now I'm working on their genes. Read more about the science studying these ancient people.

Denisova

From a finger bone of an ancient human came the record of a completely unexpected population. My lab is working on the science of the Denisova genome.

Acceleration

The advent of agriculture caused natural selection to speed up greatly in humans. We're uncovering some of the ways that populations have rapidly changed during the last 10,000 years.

Malapa

Just outside Johannesburg, the Malapa site is producing some of the most exciting finds in human evolution. This site is the headquarters of the Malapa Soft Tissue Project.