> Backgrounder 1: Some key researchers/ASSC1
Backgrounder 1: Some key researchers/ASSC1
Mark Skinner, professor, Archaeology, 778.782.4171; mskinner@sfu.ca
www.sfu.ca/archaeology/dept/fac_bio/skinner/index.htm
Dongya Yang, associate professor, Archaeology,778.782.4651; yang@sfu.ca
www.sfu.ca/archaeology/dept/fac_bio/yang/index.html
David Burley, Chair, Archaeology 778.782.4194; burley@sfu.ca
www.sfu.ca/archaeology/dept/fac_bio/burley/index1.htm
Jonathan Driver, professor, Archaeology, 778.782.8165; driver@sfu.ca
www.sfu.ca/archaeology/dept/fac_bio/driver/index1.htm
Gail Anderson, professor, Criminology, 778.782.3589; gail_anderson@sfu.ca
www.sfu.ca/criminology/facstaff/AndersonGail.html
Lynne Bell, associate professor, Criminology, 778.782.7240; lynneb@sfu.ca
www.sfu.ca/archaeology/dept/fac_bio/skinner/index.htm
Dongya Yang, associate professor, Archaeology,778.782.4651; yang@sfu.ca
www.sfu.ca/archaeology/dept/fac_bio/yang/index.html
David Burley, Chair, Archaeology 778.782.4194; burley@sfu.ca
www.sfu.ca/archaeology/dept/fac_bio/burley/index1.htm
Jonathan Driver, professor, Archaeology, 778.782.8165; driver@sfu.ca
www.sfu.ca/archaeology/dept/fac_bio/driver/index1.htm
Gail Anderson, professor, Criminology, 778.782.3589; gail_anderson@sfu.ca
www.sfu.ca/criminology/facstaff/AndersonGail.html
Lynne Bell, associate professor, Criminology, 778.782.7240; lynneb@sfu.ca
September 18, 2007
Archaeology
Mark Skinner:
A driving force behind the new Centre for Forensic Research, Mark Skinner’s work in forensic archaeology - which includes assisting Canadian law enforcement agencies with field recovery of human remains - spans three decades. His own long term research program involves enamel hypoplasia – a tool he uses in the study of teeth, both in fossil and prehistorical research and in learning more about physiological well-being in children during their development.
He also applies his expertise internationally, investigating allegations of mass graves in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Serbia and East Timor. In 2002 he received the Bora Laskin National Fellowship in Huamn Rights Research to analyse protocols for the exhumation of mass graves.
Skinner has also worked in Sarajevo as the Director of Forensic Sciences at the Department of the International Commission on Missing Persons.
Dongya Yang:
Dongya Yang is a molecular archaeology whose research forcuses on DNA analysis of ancience human, animal and plant remains. He has developed superior techniques for extracting and analyzing ancient DNA and has successfully applied them to a variety of archaeological investigations.
Yang has also been called on in recent years to assist forensic investigators and will be better positioned to do that in a new lab designed to be free of contaminants, with its own ventilation system equipped with ultra-violent irradiation and contained as a separate building within the building space.
David Burley:
David Burley’s research interests include studies of chiefdom societies and much of his archaeological work focuses on the origins of the South Pacific’s ancestral Polynesian cultures and the effects of human colonization, particularly the Tongan group of islands, as well as the Republic of Fiji and the Yukon Territory.
Jonathan Driver:
Zooarchaeology is a sub-field of archaeology concerned with identifying the remains of animals found on archaeological sites. These remains can reveal much about past environments and how people interacted with their environment.
In order to identify the species represented by these remains, a comparative collection of modern specimens is needed.
The new zooarchaeology laboratory, supervised by SFU archaeologist Jonathan Driver, houses a collection of hundreds of skeletons of fishes, birds and mammals, as well as thousands of marine shells.
These are used by professors and students mainly to identify ancient remains from archaeological sites. But they are also useful for biologists who want to identify modern bones, and are occasionally used to help wildlife officials identify animals that have been illegally hunted - and even to identify unusual bones that turn up in restaurants.
Criminology
Gail Anderson:
Gail Anderson, Canada’s first full-time entomologist, spent this past weekend dropping a pig carcass 94 metres into the Pacific Ocean off Vancouver Island - it’s her latest research aimed at better understanding insect activity on bodies to more accurately determine important information such as time of death or whether a homicide victim has been moved.
New labs will provide the latest technology for examining her insects and pinpointing their relevance to investigations, and work more closely with others doing related work.
Last month, she and graduate student Stacey McCann examined insect activity on pig carcasses that had been burned in the trunks of cars. She has also placed carcasses in burning houses, and buried them in the ground.
Anderson began her pioneering work on insects’ role as evidence in homicide investigations almost two decades ago, and she continues to serve as a forensics consultant to the RCMP and police forces across Canada and further afield.
Lynne Bell:
Bell specializes in forensic applications related to human identification. She has a particular interest in understanding and identifying where people lived during particular periods during their lifetimes. She is involved in the study of trace elements and isotopic signatures found in humans to better understand how they might provide useful information to crime investigators about where individuals have lived, to narrow missing persons searches. It also has applications to issue concerning national security.
Bell’s research ncludes the use of remote sensing for locating mass graves. She is working with post-doctoral graduate student Margaret Kalacska to develop ways to detect simulated mass graves in Costa Rica by using spectral analysis of satellite imagery and its ability to disclose soil disturbance and plant regeneration.
Mark Skinner:
A driving force behind the new Centre for Forensic Research, Mark Skinner’s work in forensic archaeology - which includes assisting Canadian law enforcement agencies with field recovery of human remains - spans three decades. His own long term research program involves enamel hypoplasia – a tool he uses in the study of teeth, both in fossil and prehistorical research and in learning more about physiological well-being in children during their development.
He also applies his expertise internationally, investigating allegations of mass graves in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Serbia and East Timor. In 2002 he received the Bora Laskin National Fellowship in Huamn Rights Research to analyse protocols for the exhumation of mass graves.
Skinner has also worked in Sarajevo as the Director of Forensic Sciences at the Department of the International Commission on Missing Persons.
Dongya Yang:
Dongya Yang is a molecular archaeology whose research forcuses on DNA analysis of ancience human, animal and plant remains. He has developed superior techniques for extracting and analyzing ancient DNA and has successfully applied them to a variety of archaeological investigations.
Yang has also been called on in recent years to assist forensic investigators and will be better positioned to do that in a new lab designed to be free of contaminants, with its own ventilation system equipped with ultra-violent irradiation and contained as a separate building within the building space.
David Burley:
David Burley’s research interests include studies of chiefdom societies and much of his archaeological work focuses on the origins of the South Pacific’s ancestral Polynesian cultures and the effects of human colonization, particularly the Tongan group of islands, as well as the Republic of Fiji and the Yukon Territory.
Jonathan Driver:
Zooarchaeology is a sub-field of archaeology concerned with identifying the remains of animals found on archaeological sites. These remains can reveal much about past environments and how people interacted with their environment.
In order to identify the species represented by these remains, a comparative collection of modern specimens is needed.
The new zooarchaeology laboratory, supervised by SFU archaeologist Jonathan Driver, houses a collection of hundreds of skeletons of fishes, birds and mammals, as well as thousands of marine shells.
These are used by professors and students mainly to identify ancient remains from archaeological sites. But they are also useful for biologists who want to identify modern bones, and are occasionally used to help wildlife officials identify animals that have been illegally hunted - and even to identify unusual bones that turn up in restaurants.
Criminology
Gail Anderson:
Gail Anderson, Canada’s first full-time entomologist, spent this past weekend dropping a pig carcass 94 metres into the Pacific Ocean off Vancouver Island - it’s her latest research aimed at better understanding insect activity on bodies to more accurately determine important information such as time of death or whether a homicide victim has been moved.
New labs will provide the latest technology for examining her insects and pinpointing their relevance to investigations, and work more closely with others doing related work.
Last month, she and graduate student Stacey McCann examined insect activity on pig carcasses that had been burned in the trunks of cars. She has also placed carcasses in burning houses, and buried them in the ground.
Anderson began her pioneering work on insects’ role as evidence in homicide investigations almost two decades ago, and she continues to serve as a forensics consultant to the RCMP and police forces across Canada and further afield.
Lynne Bell:
Bell specializes in forensic applications related to human identification. She has a particular interest in understanding and identifying where people lived during particular periods during their lifetimes. She is involved in the study of trace elements and isotopic signatures found in humans to better understand how they might provide useful information to crime investigators about where individuals have lived, to narrow missing persons searches. It also has applications to issue concerning national security.
Bell’s research ncludes the use of remote sensing for locating mass graves. She is working with post-doctoral graduate student Margaret Kalacska to develop ways to detect simulated mass graves in Costa Rica by using spectral analysis of satellite imagery and its ability to disclose soil disturbance and plant regeneration.