The Negaunee Integrative Research Center

All Archaeopteryx specimens come from a fossil deposit in southern Germany called the Solnhofen Limestone. This fossil was unearthed by quarry workers in 1990, and has been in the hands of private collectors ever since. A coalition of supporters helped the Field Museum procure it, and it arrived at the Museum in August 2022. “When the specimen arrived, it was still unprepared, meaning that most of the skeleton was obscured by a top layer of rock,” reports Jingmai O’Connor, Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles. “We weren’t sure how complete it was—when we X-rayed the fossil slab and saw that the fossil inside was nearly 100% complete, we cheered.” The preparation was led by Field Museum Fossil Preparators Akiko Shinya and Connie Van Beek, whose work preserved fine details that are critical for research. Jingmai declares that it is the best-prepared Archaeopteryx anywhere, and she is preparing a study on never-before-seen details of the animal’s skeleton, especially its skull.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle were on hand Monday for the unveiling of the fossil as part of a press preview. The fossil went on public display the next day, accompanied by a hologram-like animated 3D projection showing how Archaeopteryx would have looked in life. Field Museum Members are also getting to see the specimen at Members’ Nights, when our exhibitions and behind-the-scenes collections are open for Members to explore. Following the Field’s Dinopalooza celebration on Saturday, June 8, the fossil will be removed from view in preparation for its permanent exhibition in a large immersive display opening in Fall 2024.

Acquisition of the specimen was made possible through the generosity of the Walter Family Foundation and a challenge grant from an anonymous donor, with additional support provided by Diana and David Moore, Jessica and Steve Sarowitz, Nicholas J. Pritzker, the Lauer Foundation for Paleontology (Bruce Lauer and René Lauer), and the Marshall B. Front Family Charitable Foundation (Laura De Ferrari and Marshall B. Front). For copious news coverage, just Google “Archaeopteryx Field Museum,” and you’ll see links to WTTW, WGN, U.S News and World Report, ABC Chicago, NBC-5 Chicago, Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, Smithsonian Magazine, and more.

May 10. 2024

As detailed in a new article in Heritage, analysis with liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-qToF-MS) revealed the presence of several multiply chlorinated xanthones that are produced only by certain species of lichens. Various lichen dye sources have been documented in the literature for centuries and are classified as either ammonia fermentation method (AFM) or boiling water method (BWM) dyes based on their method of production. However, none of these known sources produce the distinctive  metabolites present in the Heroes tapestry. The researchers also used LC-qToF-MS to compare the chemical composition of the dyes in the tapestry with that of several species of crustose lichen. They definitively identified lichen metabolites, including thiophanic acid and arthothelin, based on comparison with lichen xanthone standards, and a reference of Lecanora sulphurata, confirming the presence of a lichen source. This is the first time that evidence of lichen dye from a variety of species has been found in a historic object, and also the first evidence that boiling water methods were used before the 18th century.

Background from the Met: The motif of Nine Heroes drawn from Classical, Jewish, and Christian traditions was first mentioned in a French poem in 1312, and soon became a popular theme throughout art and literature in late medieval Europe. Pulled from both history and legend, Hector of Troy, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar represented the Heroes of the Classical era. Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabeus, from the Hebrew Bible and related accounts, constituted the Jewish Heroes. Finally, from medieval Europe, King Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon formed the Christian Heroes. Celebrated as perfect embodiments of chivalry, the Nine Heroes provided exemplars of worthy warriors and just leaders for men of the noble and upper classes.

Dating to around 1400, The Cloisters’ Heroes are among the oldest surviving medieval tapestries in the world. Their state of preservation is remarkable, even though only five heroes are still extant. Made entirely of wool, these hangings were both decorative and practical, keeping stone interiors warm and festive during the colder months of the year.

Since the acquisition of the Heroes Tapestries, scholars have suggested that they may have been made for Jean, duke of Berry (1340–1416), son of John II, King of France. Of the fourteen heraldic banners in the upper part of the Hebrew tapestry, ten display Jean’s coat of arms. Of the remaining four, three show the royal arms of France and one the arms of Jean’s younger brother, Phillip the Bold, duke of Burgundy. Tantalizingly, inventories of the collections of the duke of Berry indicate that he did own tapestries featuring the Nine Heroes, but these hangings—unlike those in The Cloisters’ collection—were made with gold and silver threads. Although Met’s tapestries may have resembled the the duke’s, there is no conclusive proof regarding their original ownership.

In this tapestry, Julius Caesar wears the imperial crown and brandishes a falchion, a specialized single-edged saber. A shield bearing a double-headed eagle, signifying the ancient Roman Empire, hangs from a spear at his side. He is surrounded by musicians and foot soldiers whose blue apparel and accessories mimic Caesar’s regal role. Originally, Julius Caesar would have been part of the Classical Heroes tapestry alongside Hector of Troy and Alexander the Great. Another tapestry preserved at The Met Cloisters (47.101.2d) most likely depicts Hector, or possibly Alexander; the third hero does not survive. The Julius Caesar tapestry is currently off view and undergoing an intensive treatment in the Museum’s Department of Textile Conservation.

May 10. 2024

The research focused on deploying BRUVs (Baited Remote Underwater Video) around the lower Florida Keys. The team collected 100 hours of video, which will be examined to understand the diversity of elasmobranchs—sharks, rays, skates, and sawfish—in the area. The team also tagged and sampled nurse sharks during the trip. These samples will be part of a larger study examining nurse shark population genetics throughout the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

May 10. 2024

She argues that collaboration and dialogue between disciplines holds enormous potential for expanding knowledge about our ancestors and how they lived. The interview, entitled (in English) “Dialogue as a Key to Prehistory,” can be read (if you read German), here.

To read Sabina's article that led to the interview above, you can click on its title here: Why kinship still needs anthropologists in the 21st century.

May 10. 2024

The essay challenges the prevailing concept of an evolutionary and linear transition of how metal tools replaced flint ones right after bronze metallurgy spread over Europe around 2000 BCE. The authors argue that various patterns of tool selection were not diachronic but depended on the rank and network in which particular manufacturing centers participated. The piece also contributes to a general discussion about the reception of technological innovations in communities of various degrees of social complexity.

May 10. 2024

During that time, he served as a content specialist on Death: Life’s Greatest Mystery, and expanded the results of his doctoral work on the funerary performances and religious landscapes of the Moche culture, which flourished in northern Peru between the 2nd and 9th centuries CE. From that post, Luis went on to a Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellowship at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where he collaborated on the development of another exhibition, Taming the Desert: Resilience, Religion and Ancestors in Ancient Peru, which will open in November. During his term, he also held the status of Visiting Professor at the UCLA Department of Art History/Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, teaching classes on Andean archaeology and ancient art. He is currently spearheading the Ucupe Cultural Landscape Project in Lambayeque, Peru, a multidisciplinary project that seeks to study the origins of Moche religion in relation to climatic fluctuations in the Andes in the first millennium CE. Luis, who holds a MA and Ph.D. from Stanford University and a BA and Licenciatura from Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, is interested in the interface of performance, death, and politics in the ancient Andes, and his work integrates anthropological and performance theory with multi-scalar methods of spatial analysis and absolute dating techniques.

April 26. 2024

As part of a panel that included former Peruvian Minister of Tourism and Commerce Rogers Valencia, Luis spoke about the critical issues of Machu Picchu’s carrying capacity, the control and circulation of visitors, and the construction of a new large-scale visitors’ center. Luis also spoke last week on the same podcast about the current conservation situation of Kuélap, a pre-Inca fortress located in the Amazon Region, Peru. Regarding the Nasca Lines site, Luis and colleagues presented a poster at the “2024’s Geo-Science from Latin America Conference” held at Eichstätt, Germany. This poster synthesizes recent geoscientific studies on the Nasca and Palpa Lines, in southern Peru. The study seeks to assess progressive changes in the moisture, heat, and compaction levels of the desert soil produced because of climatic change. This poster presented, for the first time, flooding hazard maps of the Nasca basin and the potential impact of future ENSO events on the Nasca geoglyphs.

April 26. 2024

Now back in Chicago, Sara has been expanding on the broader boa reconnaissance. Sara and Arianna’s goal was to collect genetic samples from the island’s four species of boas: the tree boas Sanzinia madagascariensis and S. volotany and the ground boas Acrantophis madagascariensis and A. dumerilli. Despite being large conspicuous snakes—primarily a Neotropical group but with scattered representatives in other parts of the world—there has not been much work done on this group since the advent of advanced high-throughput genetic techniques that would allow a better understanding of both boa biogeography and dispersal, as well as population and species diversity. Sara and Arianna flew to Madagascar where they met up with Fandresena Rakotoarimalala, a doctoral student at the University of Antananarivo co-advised by Sara and Professor Achille Raselimanana. Fandresena was a recipient of an African Visiting Scholar Fellowship from the Museum’s Science and Scholarship Funding Committee last year, and spent six weeks here learning molecular techniques for her dissertation work. Fandresena works on chameleons of Madagascar’s Central Highlands, examining populations in fragmented habitats with respect to usage and gene flow, but for this field trip, the focus was on boas. The trip started out with a stay at Mantadia, where the trio joined up with the aforementioned field school. Sara reports that

it rained for what seemed like all day every day. But the boas were plentiful. By putting out the word locally, Fandresena’s phone was ringing every day with calls from people finding boas. With each find, we jumped into our field car (Nissan SUV) and were off with a tissue kit to get samples for DNA extraction. Boas were also found by hiking the region, especially at night.

After five days working at and around the field school, Sara, Fandresena and Arianna, along with their driver Ange, set off north, heading towards the city of Tomatave. The drive there and back produced eight more boas, including tissues collected from those found dead on the road, as well as babies of both Sanzia and Acrantophis. Says Sara, “boas give birth to live young and this was the season for it!” After long hours in the car, the next stop was Ranomafana, the first national park of Madagascar. This was a short visit (less than two days) but produced another boa so was well worth it, as there are no tissue samples from that locality in any searchable database. After the long drive back to Tana, the last of the trip was spent working with Fandresena’s chameleon dataset and planning further on the next steps with the boa project.

April 26. 2024

The area in question, known as Ala Atsinanana, was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007 and is composed of six different national parks scattered along the 1200 km long eastern side of Madagascar and with a total surface area of slightly less than 500,000 ha (~1.24 million acres). In 2010, a UNESCO commission placed the area on the list of at-risk World Heritage sites, due to high levels of illegal exploitation of precious forest trees and capture of lemurs for bush meat in two of the six sites—problems that were closely tied to a major political upset on Madagascar, with a coup d’etat in 2009 that created havoc across the country and allowed different foreign groups to get a foothold in remote areas and illegally exploit different natural resources.

However, there were flaws in the assessment. The shapefiles used by the GIS specialist engaged by the commission were not the official government files, and the calculations of forest loss within the parks were seemingly miscalculated. As documented in the analyses Steve presented using the official shapefiles, most of the large-scale deforestation took place outside the World Heritage sites. Further, at the Nairobi meeting the Malagasy delegation from Madagascar National Parks presented information on the current status of the zone and the corrective measures put in place to address the reasons Ala Atsinanana was considered as at risk. As Steve notes, “it is important that Ala Atsinanana has a correct status,” and at the confab Steve discussed in detail the truly remarkable levels of biodiversity and endemism this World Heritage site represents in relation to national and world-wide levels. The needed initial steps to remove the zone from the “at risk” list have commenced, which is important to the conservation of Madagascar's protected areas for several different reasons, and the process, if successful, will take several years.

April 26. 2024

A total of 11 posters and 14 oral presentations reported on research carried out with EAF instrumentation by former and present UIC-FM students and faculty and colleagues from all around the US and beyond. Maria Isabel Guevera Duque, a PhD student at UIC presented a poster (with MacArthur Curator Gary Feinman) dealing with the portable XRF and LA-ICP-MS study of Mesoamerican copper artifacts from the FM collection in an attempt to identify different regional productions and having a better understanding of copper circulation in ancient time in this part of the world. Other presentations focused on the extensive research Ryan Williams and his colleagues (Adjunct Curator Donna Nash and Research Associate Nicola Sharratt) have conducted in Peru, to the change in circulation patterns of Mesoamerican obsidian through time (Research Associate Mark Golitko and Curator Gary Feinman) or to the exchange of glass beads around the Indian Ocean and beyond (Laure Dussubieux and colleagues). Dr. Kuan-Wen Wang from the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica travelled from Taiwan to present her research on glass beads found in Taiwan (1st millennium CE) coming from the Middle-East

April 26. 2024

The authors analyzed mammalian skeletal scaling using two systems. First, they looked at a group of Philippine rodents known as the cloud rats, which range across several orders of magnitude in body size, with body mass ranging from 15 grams to about 6 pounds. For this group, they analyzed how body mass affects the external shape of vertebrae and the internal shape of vertebral trabecular bone (the spongy bone that fills vertebrae, the ends of long bones, and some parts of the skull). The cloud rats are all tree-living herbivores, and this uniform ecology controls several confounding variables, making it easier to isolate the effects of body size. For the other approach, they analyzed trabecular bone scaling in a larger group of mammals that included all the cloud rats plus an additional data set covering a much wider range of body masses, from shrew-sized to elephant-sized. They found that small mammals and large mammals have different scaling patterns in their skeletons. For example, in mammals under around 3.75 lb. in mass, the thickness of their internal trabecular bone components increases “with geometric similarity”—which basically means they are the same size relative to the whole bone no matter how much the animal weighs. But above that weight, that rate slows down, and the trabecular elements start to become thinner and thinner relative to the size of the whole bone. This seems backwards, noted Dr. Smith in an e-mail,

because trabecular thickness is correlated with the strength of the bone it’s in—which raises the question of why bigger, heavier animals developed this trait that probably makes their bones less strong relative to their mass. This is a question that has received some attention in the literature, and other workers have tested hypotheses about how overall bone cross sectional area and limb posture change in extremely large vertebrates. But the more interesting follow-up question is what this mean for the biomechanics of tiny skeletons. Like, is this why mice can fall off a shelf and run away without having suffered any apparent damage? Are their bodies “overbuilt” for the types of stresses they undergo on a daily basis? Is there some other selective pressure that has resulted in them having relatively thick, dense trabecular bone?

Based on results obtained thus far, there are likely to be biomechanical consequences of the relative robusticity of these tiny skeletons. Now, Stephanie is leading an NSF-funded follow-up project (with Ken and a colleague from Bucknell) that considers how body size relates to actual functional performance of tiny mammal bones.

April 26. 2024

The program included a special symposium on Friday April 12 to celebrate the upcoming 70th birthday for Sir Peter Crane (see photos here). Peter has served the Field Museum in a variety of roles since the 1980s, including Curator of Paleobotany, Vice President and Director, and currently, Trustee. During his tenure as curator and Vice President, Peter built an internationally recognized paleobotany research program at the Museum and led major improvements to the curation of our extensive paleobotanical collections.

On Saturday the celebrations continued with the 41st Midcontinent Paleobotanical Colloquium (MPC). One of Peter’s early contributions as curator was to initiate this meeting in 1983, which was hosted that year at the Field. The MPC program on Saturday was a very full day with 23 presentations and 17 posters, enjoyed by 120 attendees from across the USA, Mexico, Panama, the U.K., Ireland, Germany, and China. On Sunday, April 14 attendees enjoyed a field trip to the famous Mazon Creek fossil area near Braidwood and Coal City. The birthday symposium included 11 presentations by former graduate students and postdocs and collaborators from throughout Peter’s career, including Susana Magallon, Rick Lupia, and Paul Kenrick. In addition, there were several recorded congratulations messages from colleagues who were not able to attend the conference. Tony Kirkham, former Director of the Arboretum at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, was the after-dinner speaker.

The organizers are especially thankful to Amanda Dick (Administrative Coordinator, Negaunee Integrative Research Center) for spearheading the logistics. The weekend was a success largely due to her hard work.

April 26. 2024

For example, some groups like the horsetail relatives have their spore-bearing bracts attached to the axis in whorls at nodes, whereas in others the spore-bearing bracts are attached alternately. The rare and enigmatic Pennsylvanian cone Tetraphyllostrobus was unique and conflictive as it externally resembled cones of Sphenophyllales (an extinct group related to the horsetails) except for its apparent decussate architecture (opposite bracts at a node are arranged at right angles), and has since been considered of uncertain affinity. In a new study published in the American Journal of Botany, Negaunee Postdoctoral Scientist Michael D’Antonio, Negaunee Assistant Curator of Paleobotany Fabiany Herrera, Research Associate Peter Crane (Oak Spring Garden Foundation), and collaborators Carol Hotton (Smithsonian Institution) and Selena Smith (University of Michigan) have reconstructed in 3D a cone specimen externally resembling Tetraphyllostrobus from the Field’s Mazon Creek Paleobotany Collection. Using a combination of advanced visualization techniques including X-ray micro-computed tomography, scanning electron microscopy, Airyscan confocal super-resolution microscopy, and optical microscopy, they determined that the cone had a whorled architecture and other anatomical characters specific to Sphenophyllales. They also analyzed in-situ spores which they determined to be of a type specific to Sphenophyllales. After detailed comparison to other small sphenophyll cones, they determined that the cone represented a new form and established Hexaphyllostrobus kostorhysii as a new genus and species. The fossil was named “kostorhysii” in honor of Jim Kostorhys, an enthusiastic Mazon Creek collector and the donor of the specimen to the Museum. These findings show the utility of state-of-the-art visualization techniques for Pennsylvanian plant systematics and suggests that as better-preserved Tetraphyllostrobus material becomes available, reconstructions of that cone, too, will likely indicate a whorled architecture.

April 26. 2024

Niche overlap in sympatric cichlids, including an incredibly enigmatic species. The cichlid genus Rocio includes a well-known species to many who enjoy keeping cichlids or other fishes in aquariums: Rocio octofasciata, aka the Jack Dempsey Cichlid, which are distributed from southern Mexico south into the Caribbean slope of Honduras. Another species in that genus, Rocio spinosissima, is endemic to the Río Dulce basin in eastern Guatemala and has long been considered a rare and fairly enigmatic species largely due to its scarce representation in collections despite fieldwork efforts. In fact, efforts by Cesar, Diego, and Caleb as part of the IUCN working group for Central American freshwater fishes, assessed the conservation status of R. spinosissima as endangered. Río Dulce is an important area to study to better understand the population status and ecology of this enigmatic cichlid, but given that both species of Rocio occur here, it is also an interesting system to test hypotheses about niche overlap between two sympatric closely related fishes. With Resident Graduate Student César Fuentes, Windsor Aguirre (DePaul University and FMNH Associate), and Christian Barrientos (Wildlife Conservation Society), and Caleb and Diego recently published a paper in the journal Ecology of Freshwater Fish aiming to answer these questions. Environmental data based on their fieldwork showed similarities in habitats for the two species, but a larger range of suitable area for the widespread Jack Dempsey Cichlid compared to the endemic R. spinosissima. Additionally, analysis of morphological data to study patterns of variation in body shape uncovered interesting results trends, not only in very clear differences between the two species, but differences that become more pronounced as the cichlids grow from juveniles to adults. One of the hopeful outcomes of this study was that while R. spinosissima warrants attention to habitat needs and availability, our ichthyologists were excited to find this species might not be quite as rare as initially thought. The results of this work set up new ideas and questions to be studied for these cichlids as well as other fishes in the area. This basin is the study site for a new NSF grant awarded to Caleb to study historical shifts in fish communities and populations.

Disentangling historical relationships within livebearing fishes using genomic data.

Livebearing fishes (family Poeciliidae) are widely distributed across the Americas, with over 270 species across 27 genera. FMNH ichthyologists Diego Elias (Bass Postdoctoral Fellow) and Caleb McMahan (Collections Manager of Fishes) are authors on a recent study in Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution that used data based on sequences of ultraconserved elements in the first attempt to use genomic data to study evolutionary relationships and diversification in this family of fishes. Additionally, the authors used the large dataset to assess the influence of various analyses and evolutionary processes on our understanding of relationships across livebearing fishes. While a number of genera or major groups of livebearers were found to be monophyletic (descended from a common ancestor), there were several that were not, and their evolutionary history will be the basis of ongoing and future projects on these fishes—currently under study at the Field Museum.

April 26. 2024

Nominations are submitted by members, and the Leonard Medal Committee reviews those nominations and makes a recommendation to Council. Fellows are elected in even-numbered years, and no more than 1% of the membership can be elected for each class. The 2024 Fellows will be recognized at the annual Meteoritical Society, which will be held in Brussels, Belgium, from 28 July – 2 August, 2024. Read more on the Meteoritical Society website.

April 26. 2024

Peter is recognized as a world leader in evolutionary biology, globally acclaimed for his groundbreaking contributions to the field of plant diversity, both living and extinct. His extensive body of work spans from the origin and fossil history of plant life to its current state, encompassing themes of conservation and practical utility. His palaeobotanical discoveries, combined with phylogenetic analyses of morphological data, have profoundly altered our outlook on early angiosperm evolution. After leaving the Field in 1999, he went on to serve as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental and is currently President of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. He has pursued these roles with an unceasing spirit of innovation, inclusion and engagement.

April 26. 2024

Thorsten Lumbsch has served as Vice President of Science & Education (now Collections, Conservation, and Research Division) since June 2017. Thorsten joined the Museum as Curator of Lichenized Fungi in 2003.

In addition to his administrative and research roles, Thorsten is also active as a mentor to the scientists of tomorrow. He is a lecturer at the University of Chicago, and is active in advising graduate students there and the University of Illinois–Chicago. He also supervises postdoctoral scientists at the Museum and participated in K-12 educational programs, and served as content adviser for the exhibit Lichens: The Coolest Things You've Never Heard Of (2014–2017).

Thorsten previously received the Gerhard Hess Award from the German Science Foundation for outstanding young scientists in 1999, and in 2017 he was named a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher.

The new Fellows will be celebrated on September 21, 2024 in Washington, D.C.

April 19. 2024

Raman spectroscopy non-destructively identifies molecules in an object by directing the light produced by a laser onto its surface and measuring the scattered photons that interact with the samples. In Anthropology, this instrument is used to characterize pigments on ceramics or other substrates, determine the nature of certain stones, or identify unknown materials. The instrument comes in a case on wheels that contain the heart of the instrument (the laser) and can travel into collections, avoiding any need to move objects to the lab. Additionally, the apparatus is able to analyze oversize artifacts. This unit will complement the table-top Raman instrument housed in Geology and will expand the suite of non-destructive techniques the EAF can apply to museum objects.

April 5, 2024

The trip was supported by a grant to the Lincoln Park Zoo from the Walder Foundation and involved over 20 scientists, graduate students, conservation practitioners, and people from local villages. The project had a training as well as a conservation aspect, documenting the plants and animals living in the park. The lowland moist evergreen forest sites surveyed included one that was largely intact, some that were more heavily degraded, and regenerating forest formations. Assistant Curator Sarah Ruane and colleague Arianna Kuhn (Virginia Museum of Natural History), spent a few days with the group to find boas. Of the five Master’s students that took part in the field school, four will receive stipends and research funds for the work associated with their theses.

April 5, 2024

1. "Prehispanic Population Estimates for the Valley of Oaxaca.” In Ancient Mesoamerican Population History: Urbanism, Social Complexity, and Change, edited by Adrian S. Z. Chase, Arlen F. Chase, and Diane Z. Chase, pp. 309–335. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2024.

2. "Rethinking Politics and Spectacle in the Deep Past: Parallels for the Present.” Authored with Adjunct Curator Linda Nicholas. In Pomp, Circumstance, and the Performance of Politics: Acting Politically Correct in the Ancient World, edited by Kathryn R. Morgan, pp. 15–47. ISAC Seminar Series No. 16. Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, University of Chicago, Chicago, 2024.

3. "All Crises Are Unhappy in Their Own Way: The Role of Societal Instability in Shaping the Past.” SocArXiv Papers (with 15 co-authors).  February 16, 2024.

4. "Economic Archaeology.” In Encyclopedia of Archaeology, 2nd edition, vol. 1, edited by E. Nikita, and T. Rehren, pp. 253–259. Academic Press, London, 2024.

5. "Understanding and Calculating Household Size, Wealth, and Inequality in the Maya Lowlands,” and “Measuring Inequality: The Effect of Units of Analysis on the Gini coefficient.” (With three co-authors.) Ancient Mesoamerica vol. 34 (2023).

6. “Salud esquelética entre los zapotecos mesoamericanos de Tlacolula, Oaxaca.” By Gary, Linda, and Ricardo Higelin Ponce de León. In Población y movilidad entre zapotecos prehispánicos de Oaxaca, edited by Ana Julia Aguirre Samudio, Edith Ortiz Díaz, and Ricardo Higelin Ponce de León. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2023.

7. “Rethinking Premodern Governance: Passing the Torch.” Social Evolution and History vol. 22, 2023.

April 5, 2024

The team wanted to determine whether metal knives found in late Bronze Age deposits in Karmin in western Poland (ca. 900–800 BCE) could have been used as multi-tools in processing hard materials like red deer antler and animal bone. To get at this question, they applied an experimental method involving a five-piece collection of late Bronze Age knives from four deposits, and a contemporary replica of a late Bronze Age bronze knife tool. They subjected the replica to use-wear analysis—the first such study to focus on the knife instead of the material that was processed. The experiment included five movements engaging various sections of the knife blade and tip, and produced diversified traces depending on the type of technique and raw material worked. The results showed that an adequately cast knife, hardened by cold working, could have been applied in all stages of manufacturing antler and bone objects, from initial material division (cross-cutting), to over shaping (surface cutting, whittling), to finishing (scraping, drilling). Although the tool required frequent resharpening, it efficiently performed various movements. The traces on the replica, such as U-shaped notches, chips, blunting, bows, scratches, and serrated and wavy edges, correspond well with those observed on the knives from Karmin.

Justyna also recently published a review of The Life and Journey of Neolithic Copper Objects: Transformations of the Neuenkirchen Hoard, North-East Germany (3800 BCE) by Henry Skorna (Leiden: Sidestone Press, 2022) in Journal of Anthropological Research.

April 5, 2024

1. Pikas are emblematic animals of high mountain habitats. These mammals—closely related to rabbits and hares—can live at extremely high altitudes, reaching up to 6,000 meters (nearly 20,000 feet) in the Himalayas. Since 2017, Dr. Feijó has been pursuing projects and field surveys across China in collaboration with colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences to better understand how these animals can survive such extreme environments. Another piece of this puzzle has just been published in the Journal of Mammalogy. Studying differentially expressed genes across tissues can reveal physiological adaptations associated with distinct environments, and in this study the team compared high-altitude pikas and mid-altitude pikas, analyzing sets of genes under expression in the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, and brain. They found that the tissues of high-altitude pikas have an elevated expression of genes related to DNA damage repair, energy metabolism, and immune regulation (e.g., some highly expressed genes are known to inhibit the development of liver cancer, and metabolic regulation mechanisms are important to survive at low oxygen levels). The results suggest that high-altitude pikas may improve the metabolic capacity of carbon compounds and reduce reliance on oxygen as an adaptive mechanism to survive in high-altitude hypoxic environments. In addition, enhancing immune cellular performance in the liver and the expression of genes associated with cell repair are beneficial in regulating inflammation and mitigating tissue damage caused by high UV radiation. These findings illuminate the physiological demands required to survive in extremely high elevations. The team now plans to replicate these analyses for other mammals and expand to other montane regions like the Andes.

2. Understanding the evolution of widespread groups of animals can shed light on the development of biogeographical realms. This requires the study of large numbers of species, knowledge of their distributional ranges, and genetic data—data that are rarely available for species-rich groups of invertebrates, severely limiting global-scale analyses. In a new study published in Journal of Biogeography, Anderson and colleagues from China, the United Kingdom, and Czech Republic found a way to partly circumvent this problem. Anderson and his colleagues were particularly interested in assessing the eastern boundary between the Palaearctic (northern Eurasia) and Oriental (southern Asia) realms as these regions were never divided by open ocean and lacked obvious physical barriers (the western boundary between these two realms is clearly defined by the Himalayas). To get at this, they focused on a highly diverse group of leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae), with nearly 40,000 species recognized, and generated hundreds of mitochondrial genomes from beetle communities in selected places to represent each of the major zoogeographic regions of the world, including areas in China, Borneo, and Panama. Based on this global dataset, they explored the geographic evolutionary history across lineages as old as 160 million years using analytical methods Anderson had developed and applied previously to understand mammal evolution in Asia. The new study shows that the Qinling Mountains located in eastern China act as a contact zone of evolutionarily deeply separated biotas of mainly (sub)tropical origin in the south from those of temperate origin in the north that have come into contact fairly recently. These findings help define the Qinling Mountains as an important biogeographical zone, harboring a mixed biota with distinct evolutionary histories, and numerous endemic species. The site-based sampling method can be widely used for other poorly known, super-diverse lineages of invertebrates and make global-scale biogeographic analyses possible beyond well-studied vertebrates.

March 22, 2024

Although forests are crucial to the ecological integrity of floodplains, understanding of their species composition and how this may differ from surrounding forest types is very limited, particularly as changing inundation regimes begin to reshape floodplain tree communities and the critical ecosystem functions that they underpin. This article addresses this gap by taking a spatially explicit look at Amazonia-wide patterns of tree-species turnover and ecological specialization of the region’s floodplain forests. The study indicates that the majority of Amazonian tree species can inhabit floodplains, and about a sixth of Amazonian tree diversity is ecologically specialized on floodplains. The degree of specialization in floodplain communities is driven by regional flood patterns, with the most compositionally differentiated floodplain forests located centrally within the fluvial network and contingent on the most extraordinary flood magnitudes regionally. The research results provide a spatially explicit view of ecological specialization of floodplain forest communities and expose the need for whole-basin hydrological integrity to protect the Amazon’s tree diversity and its function.

March 22, 2024

MacArthur Curator Gary Feinman has been a leading advocate for developing better models to interpret the past and synthesize archaeological information across time periods and geography. He observes that “we can now begin to assess a truly global historical record that is not narrowly restricted to just literate societies or the European past. For a long time, the classical Mediterranean world or medieval Europe—both known from texts—were used as proxies for humanity’s past. Now, we know that is not appropriate, as our past as a species has neither been uniform nor linear.” This synthesis of human origins research and new understanding of human biology presents a powerful perspective and roadmap for dealing with some of our biggest challenges. Gary discusses the implications of this perspective in Rozenberg Quarterly, which you can read here.

March 22, 2024

The paper appears in Earth and Environmental Science: Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Olivier, long-time collaborator Li Chun (Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology [IVPP], Beijing), and other colleagues originally described the species in 2003—those of you who have been around a while may recall seeing the first articulated specimen of the species, which was exhibited here at the Field as the Sneaky Sea Creature in 2005. The discovery of additional, more complete specimens, including one that is fully articulated, has allowed scientists to depict the bizarre long-necked creature in full for the very first time.

With 32 separate neck vertebrae, D. orientalis had an extraordinarily long neck that draws comparison with that of Tanystropheus hydroides, another strange marine reptile from the Middle Triassic of both Europe and China. Both reptiles were of similar size and have several features of the skull in common, including a fish-trap type of dentition. However, Dinocephalosaurus is unique in possessing many more vertebrae both in the neck and the torso, giving the animal a much more snake-like appearance. The reptile was clearly very well adapted to an oceanic lifestyle, as indicated by the flippered limbs and exquisitely preserved fishes in its stomach region. Despite superficial similarities, Dinocephalosaurus was not closely related to the famous long-necked plesiosaurs that evolved around 40 million years later. The fossils were discovered in Guizhou Province, southern China. Dr. Nick Fraser FRSE, Keeper of Natural Sciences at National Museums Scotland and a co-author, calls the fossil “yet one more example of the weird and wonderful world of the Triassic that continues to baffle palaeontologists.” Researchers from Scotland, Germany, America and China studied the fossil over the course of 10 years at the IVPP. The research was covered by NPR, CNN, BBC, ABC, CBS, MSN, as well as many outlets that don’t have three-letter acronyms, like The Independent, India Today, Daily Mail, People, and many more.

March 22, 2024

1. With support from the EAF’s NSF program, University of Oklahoma PhD student Pierce Wright investigated the coalescence of Choctaw communities in the 18th century via LA-ICP-MS ceramic analysis, as reported in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

2. In another article in the same journal, Lambert et al. analyzed a single copper bead using LA-ICP-MS to show how a late Archaic community in Southern Mississippi established long distance connections to obtain this object manufactured from copper from the Great Lakes region

3. In an article in American Antiquity, Stevenson et al. studied copper object compositions via LA-ICP-MS to investigate the circulation of European smelted copper artifacts in Virginia during the 17th century.

4. Dussubieux et al. reported in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences on elemental and isotopic analysis of glass beads from northeastern Thailand to show network ramifications reaching as far as the Middle East and the South China Sea, as well as India and Sri Lanka.

5. In Archaeometry, Gilg et al. used LA-ICP-MS and Raman at the Field Museum to study garnet beads housed at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures at the University of Chicago. The beads are from Lower Nubia and spanned 4000 years, and the analysis revealed how the trade of such ornaments evolved in that region through time.

6. Finally, in Latin American Antiquity, former Resident Grad Student David Reid (now Visiting Research Assistant Professor, UIC) used pXRF and LA-ICP-MS to investigate the circulation of obsidian in the Arequipa region of Peru during the Middle Horizon.

March 22, 2024

1. A grant from the Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies funded sampling of Antarctic Gentoo Penguin (Pygoscelis ellsworthi) colonies at multiple sites in and around the Antarctic Peninsula in 2022. A new paper based on this and other sampling, co-authored by Curator of Birds John Bates and Research Associate Sushma Reddy, is just out in Molecular Ecology. This data set was part of expedition member Rachael Herman’s dissertation at the University of Stonybrook (NY). The study presents genomic data documenting genetic differentiation among colonies at impressively local geographic scales (birds are not moving between colonies that can be less than 100Km apart). Thanks to a new grant from the Pritzker Center, the expedition group is currently working on securing permits that will allow them gather samples for genomic data across similarly distributed colonies of Falkland Gentoo Penguin (Pygoscelis papua) in December 2024. 

2. A new paper in BioScience entitled “Increasing the impact of vertebrate scientific collections through 3D imaging: The openVertebrate (oVert) Thematic Collections Network” summarizes a multi-institutional effort to CT-scan anatomical species in vertebrate collections and make those digital 3D scans available through the on-line portal MorphoSource. This effort was funded by a four-year grant from the National Science Foundation. Collections Manager of Birds Ben Marks, former Amphibian and Reptiles Collections Manager Alan Resetar, and Curator of Birds John Bates were co-Principal Investigators on this project, and over 1200 CT-scans of Field Museum vertebrates (mostly birds and amphibians and reptiles, but also mammals and fish) were created using the micro-CT scanning facility at the University of Chicago under the direction of Associate Zhe-Xi Luo (also a co-PI on the grant). John, Ben, and Daryl Coldren (Collections Assistant, Birds) were co-authors on the new paper, which details how these data are being downloaded by researchers, educators, and the public for a growing array of projects. The capacity to make digital CT-scans of vertebrate specimens broadly available is opening up entirely new areas on study of morphological evolution (e.g., Research Scientist Chad Eliason and Associate Curator Shannon Hackett's recent work comparing evolution of brain size and bill shape across kingfishers). At the same time, as rich and useful as our collections are, the paper and the project highlight the need for future specimens to fill gaps in sampling (e.g., for 50% of the 10,800 species of birds there are one, two, or zero anatomical specimens in any collection in the world).

3. Most curators would agree that one of the best aspects of the job is working with graduate students and seeing them move on in their careers. Three former Field Museum Resident Grad Students based in Birds have started or will be starting faculty positions this year. Jacob Cooper graduated from the University of Chicago’s Committee on Evolutionary Biology (CEB) in 2021, did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University, and is now a tenure-track faculty member in the Dept. of Biology at the University of Nebraska–Kearney. Valentina Gómez Bahamón graduated from the University of Illinois–Chicago in 2021. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Penn State University, she will be starting a tenure-track faculty position in the Department of Biology at Virginia Tech University this coming Fall (as will her herpetologist husband Roberto Marquez, who did his PhD at the University of Chicago). João Capururcho also did his doctorate at the University of Illinois, Chicago graduating in 2020. He stayed at FMNH on postdoctoral fellowship before returning to Brazil for a postdoc in Manaus, and recently started a faculty position in the Biology Department at the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora in the state on Minas Gerais. All three continue collaborations with their former advisor Curator John Bates and colleagues in Birds.

March 22, 2024

Archaeologists have been using many of the diagnostic and visualization tools of social network analysis (SNA) since at least the early 1970s. John argues that as a body of theory rather than a set of formal methods, there is a disconnect between the aims and assumptions of modern SNA and the goals of contemporary archaeology. He also posits “relational thinking” and “contingency analysis” as more accurate labels than “network analysis” and “network science,” but observes that as a set of exploratory techniques for data analysis and visualization, the “networks revolution” in archaeology should continue.

March 22, 2024

Lions in the various protected areas sampled comprised two genetic groups, one in the south and the other in the central and northern parts of Kenya. Although no populations showed signs of inbreeding, fenced populations showed little genetic variation while large open areas showed the highest genetic diversity. The data is a valuable tool for Kenyan conservation. The authors hope the information about different genetic groups and their unique evolutionary histories can aid in protecting lion diversity—e.g., by avoiding translocation of problem lions for excessively long distances, and regularly exchanging lions in fenced reserves with other lions to prevent inbreeding. More details on conservation implications can be found in the press release from Leiden University.

If you’re wondering about the lions of Tsavo, they showed the highest levels of admixture between northern and southern groups, not surprising given Tsavo National Parks’ enormous size (the Greater Tsavo Ecosystem is about 40,000 sq km—roughly the size of Massachusetts + Connecticut), and the variability that large populations can sustain. Also relevant is the fact that Tsavo sits on a major faunistic transition zone where species of ostrich, gazelle, and giraffe replace one another. Complicating matters further, for years the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has been translocating “problem lions” (typically stock raiders) from various parts of Kenya to its largest wilderness areas, Tsavo and Meru—thus human agency may contribute to the admixture pattern in Tsavo (although the prospects for successful translocations are not high, as lions can be inhospitable to intruders). The lead author on the paper, Ms. Monica Chege, is now finishing her PhD at Leiden University with Hans de Iongh and Laura Bertola. Twelve years ago, as a fresh recruit to KWS, Monica received a bursary from the Field Museum for her Associates degree at the Kenya Wildlife Service Institute in Naivasha, thanks to the generous support of former Earthwatch volunteers Bud and Onnolee Trapp. This article marks Monica’s latest step toward a career in conservation management.

March 22, 2024

The first week was spent at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing where Jingmai worked for 10 years before coming to the Field. The second week was spent at the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature in Pingyi, which can be reached from Beijing by 2.5 hours on the bullet train and another hour by car. This museum has the distinction of being “the largest dinosaur museum in the world” in the Guiness Book of World Records. There the team was able to see thousands of specimens of feathered paravians (birds and their closest relatives), from which they plan to describe several new species of enantiornithine birds. Yosef, the team’s molt expert, was able to find additional evidence of molt in two feathered paravians, reinforcing the conclusions from a 2023 paper by he and Jingmai that molt in non-ornithurine feathered dinosaurs was a rare occurrence and likely did not occur on the annual cycle present in living birds.

March 22, 2024

ExMAG supports robotic and human space exploration objectives, particularly in the planning of future sample return missions. The group conducts independent or NASA-requested analyses, covering aspects of sample curation, facility construction, contamination control, and development of analytical capabilities. Additionally, ExMAG serves as a resource for sample-return missions, collaborates with other analysis groups, provides a forum for discussion within the planetary science community, and communicates its findings to NASA and the broader scientific community through workshops and studies.

March 22, 2024

These funds will be used to excavate the site of La Otra Banda, in the Zaña Valley, near the site of Ucape, where he is developing a second long-term project. The summer promises to be intense and exciting, as Luis and his team will be excavating both sites almost in parallel.

March 22, 2024

The plant collection is beautifully preserved, and includes type specimens of the legume, Arcoa lindgreni (at left below, described in 2019 by Research Associate Pat Herendeen of the Chicago Botanic Garden and Assistant Curator Fabiany Herrera while a postdoc at CBG), and the bunny-eared seed, Lagokarpos lacustris , among others. However, this collection had never been comprehensively organized, and most specimens remain uncatalogued. Over the past few months, Paleobotany Volunteer Ellen Gieser and Paleobotany Collections Manager Mike Donovan have reduced specimen crowding and catalogued the collection. This project is ongoing, and the next steps will be to photograph all specimens and reorganize the collection based on taxonomy and/or morphology. The Green River collection is one of most significant in the Paleobotany collection, so this process will greatly increase research useability and accessibility.

March 22, 2024

The pair named it Imparavis attenboroughi (“Attenborough’s strange bird”), in honor of naturalist Sir David Attenborough. Imparavis attenboroughi is a member of a group of birds called enantiornithines, or “opposite birds”, named for a feature in their shoulder joints that is “opposite” from what is seen in modern birds. They were once the most diverse group of birds, but they went extinct 66 million years ago following the meteor impact that killed most of the dinosaurs. Scientists are still working to figure out why the enantiornithines went extinct and the group that gave rise to modern birds, ornithuromorphs, survived. “Enantiornithines are very weird,” says Alex Clark. “Most of them had teeth and still had clawed digits. If you were to go back in time 120 million years in northeastern China and walk around, you might have seen something that looked like a robin or a cardinal, but then it would open its mouth, and it would be filled with teeth, and it would raise its wing, and you would realize that it had little fingers.” Scientists previously thought that the first record of toothless-ness in this group was about 72 million years ago, in the late Cretaceous, but the new species pushes that back by 48 to 50 million years.

The specimen was found by an amateur fossil collector near the village of Toudaoyingzi in northeastern China and donated to the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature. Dr. Jingmai O'Connor first noticed something unusual about this fossil several years ago while visiting that collection. What first drew her to the specimen wasn’t its lack of teeth, but its forelimbs. “It had a giant bicipital crest—a bony process jutting out at the top of the upper arm bone, where muscles attach,” she notes. “I’d seen crests like that in Late Cretaceous birds, but not in the Early Cretaceous like this one. That’s when I first suspected it might be a new species.” The FMNH team and their coauthors in China undertook further study of the specimen and determined that it did indeed represent an animal new to science. One unique trait is its unusual wing bones that could have allowed for muscle attachments that let this bird flap its wings with extra power. Its toothless beak doesn’t necessarily tell scientists what it was eating, since modern toothless birds have a wide variety of diets, but like its fellow enantiornithines, and unlike modern birds, it does not appear to have a gizzard that helped it crush up its food. Most enantiornithines are thought to have been arboreal, but, Jingmai notes, “The differences in the forelimb structure of Imparavis suggests that it may have ventured down to the ground to feed, which might mean it had a unique diet compared to other enantiornithines, which also might explain why it lost its teeth.” The researchers also revisited a previously described fossil bird, Chiappeavis, and suggest that it too was an early toothless enantiornithine. This finding, along with Imparavis, indicates that toothlessness may not have been quite as unique in Early Cretaceous enantiornithines as previously thought.

As for the name, Alex states, “I most likely wouldn’t be in the natural sciences if it weren’t for David Attenborough’s documentaries.” Both authors emphasized the importance of Attenborough’s work for celebrating life on earth, and his warnings about the mass extinction the planet is facing due to human-caused climate change and habitat destruction. Sir David Attenborough declared, “It is a great honour to have one’s name attached to a fossil, particularly one as spectacular and important as this. It seems the history of birds is more complex than we knew.” Read more in the press release, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the BBC.

March 8, 2024

On February 21 he spoke about “The beginnings of Urbanism and Inequality in Greece and Hungary” at the Off Color Brewing Taproom in Lincoln Park. February 29 found him in Wellesley, MA speaking about the First Kings of Europe exhibit at an event sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America. On March 6, Bill gave a lecture entitled “First Kings of Europe” as part of Eastern Illinois University’s Premodern Global Studies Celebration Day, which was pegged to the theme, “Succession: Transfer of Power.” First Kings, an exhibit that opened at the Museum in March 2023 and ran until the end of January, featured artifacts from the Balkan Peninsula of Europe to illustrate the rise of kings from 8,000 years ago during the Neolithic Period to 2,500 years ago during the Iron Age.

March 8, 2024

The publication is one of the longest-standing, most highly-cited of the international interdisciplinary environmental journals After discussions with the head editor, part of Steve’s role will be to help change some aspects of the direction of the journal and work on single issue monograph subjects.

March 8, 2024