Andrea Waters-Rist

Dr. Andrea Waters-Rist is a Biological Anthropologist focusing on a range of research avenues within the subfield of Bioarchaeology. These include the use of stable isotopes to reconstruct the diets of past populations, focusing in particular on infant feeding practices, the analysis of human skeletal and dental remains for evidence of a wide range of diseases and activity-induced modifications, and investigations into patterns of bone and tooth growth and development. She is currently working on skeletal remains from various geographic areas and temporal periods, including Medieval and post-Medieval Dutch populations, historic Québecois settler communities, historic Guelph, Ontario, citizens, and Neolithic to Iron Age Siberian hunter-gatherers and pastoralists.

2026. Waters-Rist A.L., Palmer J.L.A. Stranger in a Strange Land? Isotopic Determination of a Non-Local Birthplace of a Renowned Roman Soldier from Velsen, The Netherlands. In: A Soldier in the Well: New Research on Well 2 in the Early Roman Fort at Velsen I, The Netherlands. van Driel-Murray C., Driessen M. (eds.). Analecta Praehistoria Leidensia. Sidestone Press.

2025. Salahuddin, H. Waters-Rist A.L., Longstaffe F.J. Exploring Early Childhood Diet, Stress, Trophic Position and Dietary Protein Quality using Amino Acid Nitrogen Isotope Compositions of Fingernail Keratin. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 188, no. 2: e70128.

2025. Morgan B., Langlois M., Schats R., Van der Merwe A.E., Ribot I., Waters-Rist A.L., Brickley M.B. A Framework for Anemia Differential Diagnosis in Paleopathology Incorporating Metric Methods. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 188, no. 1: e70125.

2024. Salahuddin, H. Waters-Rist A.L., Longstaffe F.J. Amino acid stable carbon isotopes in nail keratin illuminate breastfeeding and weaning practices of mother–infant dyads. Amino Acids 57 (1): 13

2024. Lieverse A.R., Faccia K., Waters-Rist A.L., Antonova A., Vahdati Nasab H., Haverkort C.M., Schulting R. Demography, health, and activity at the early Neolithic cemetery of Shamanka II. In: Shamanka II, An Early Neolithic Cemetery on Lake Baikal. Bazaliiskii VI, Weber A. (eds).

2024. Palmer, J.L.A, Lieverse A.R, Waters-Rist A.L. A Recording Method for Sixteen Nonadult Muscle Entheses. Childhood in the Past. DOI:10.1080/17585716.2023.2275850

2023. Waters-Rist A.L. Stable isotope evidence for infant feeding practice variables in past populations: Breastfeeding and weaning in ancient Siberian foragers. In: Exploring Human Behavior through Stable Isotope Analysis: Applications in Archaeological Research. Beasley M., Sommerville A. (eds). Springer Publishing Company.

2022. Waters-Rist A.L., de Groot K., Hoogland M.L.P. Isotopic Reconstruction of Absent to Short Breastfeeding in a 19th century Rural Dutch Community. PLOS ONE. 17(4): e0265821. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265821

2022. Losey R.J., Nomokonova T., Guiry E., Fleming L.S., Garvie-Lok S.J., Waters-Rist A.L., Bieraugle M., Szpak P., Bachura O.P., Bazaliiskii V.I. and Berdnikova N.E., 2022. The evolution of dog diet and foraging: Insights from archaeological canids in Siberia. Science Advances. 8(29): https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abo6493

2022. Schats R., van Hattum IJ., Kootker L.M., Hoogland M.L.P, Waters-Rist A.L. Diet and urbanisation in medieval Holland. Studying dietary change through carious lesions and stable isotope analysis. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. doi.org/10.1002/oa.3051

2021. Dediu D., Moisik S., Baetsen W.A., Bosman A.M., Waters-Rist A.L. The vocal tract as a time machine: inferences about past speech and language from the anatomy of the speech organs. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 376(1824): 20200192.

2021. Veselka B., Brickley M.B., Waters-Rist A.L. A joint medico-historical and palaeopathological perspective on vitamin D deficiency prevalence in post-Medieval Netherlands. International Journal of Paleopathology. 32: 41-49.

2021. Blom A.A, Schats R., Hoogland M.L.P., Waters-Rist A.L. Coming of Age in the Netherlands: an osteological assessment of puberty in a rural Dutch post-Medieval population. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 174(3): 463-478.

2021. Waters-Rist A.L., Lieverse A.R., Novikov A.G., Goriunova O.I., Kharinskii A.A., McKenzie H.G. .Spatial and Temporal Differences in Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age Forager Diet in Lake Baikal’s Little Sea Microregion, Siberia. Archaeological Research in Asia 25: 100235

2021. Waters-Rist A.L., McCafferty G. Ancient Peoples of Mesoamerica’s Southern Frontier: Osteological Markers of Health and Identity at the Site of El Rayo, Nicaragua (AD 600-1250). In: The Archaeology of Greater Nicoya: Two Decades of Research in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Steinbrenner L., Geurds A., McCafferty G., Salgado S (eds). University Press of Colorado. Pp. 433-468.

2021. McCafferty G., McCafferty S., Waters-Rist A.L., Chilcote C. Raising the Dead: Mortuary Patterns in Pacific Nicaragua. In: The Archaeology of Greater Nicoya: Two Decades of Research in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Steinbrenner L., Geurds A., McCafferty G., Salgado S (eds). University Press of Colorado. Pp. 395-432.

2020. Sengelov A., van der Wijdeven G., Gnade M., Laffoon J., Snoeck C., Waters-Rist A.L. Identifying human mobility in Post-Archaic Satricum, Italy, using bioarchaeological examination of isotopes (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹⁸O) and dental morphological traits. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 31: 102285.

2019. Veselka B., Brickley M., D'Ortenzio L., Kahlon B., Hoogland M.L.P., Waters-Rist A.L. Micro-CT assessment of dental mineralization defects indicative of vitamin D deficiency in two 17^th to 19^th century Dutch communities. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 169(1):122-131.

2019. Palmer J., Waters-Rist A.L. Acts of life: Assessing entheseal change as an indicator of social differentiation in post-medieval Aalst (Belgium). International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 29(2): 303-313.

2019. Bartholdy B., Hoogland M.L.P., Waters-Rist A.L. How old are you now? A new ageing method for nonadults based on dental wear. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2758.

2019. Palmer J.L.A., Quintelier K., Waters-Rist A.L. A comparison of two methods for entheseal change recording on a Flemish post-medieval urban population. Archaeometry 61(1): 211-225.

2018. Inskip S., Carroll G., Waters-Rist A.L., López-Costas O. 2018. Diet and food strategies in a southern al-Andalusian urban environment during Caliphal period, Écija, Sevilla. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0694-7

2018. Waters-Rist A.L., Hoogland M.L.P. The Role of Infant Feeding and Childhood Diet in Vitamin D Deficiency in a 19th Century Rural Dutch Community. Bioarchaeology International 2(2): 95-116.

2018. Carroll G., Inskip S., Waters-Rist A.L. Stable Isotope Fractionation: Assessing the Impact of Anemia on Enamel Apatite δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C Values and Bone Collagen δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C. Bioarchaeology International 2(2): 117-146.

2018. Schats R., Hoogland M.L.P., Waters-Rist A.L. A probable case of metastatic carcinoma in the medieval Netherlands. International Journal of Paleopathology 22: 181-188.

2018. Amkreutz L., Verpoorte A., Waters-Rist A.L., Niekus M., van Heekeren V, van der Merwe A.E, van der Plicht H, Glimmerveen J., Stapert D., Johansen L. What lies beneath…Late glacial human occupation of the submerged North Sea landscape. Antiquity 90: 857–75.

2018. Colombo A., Dutour O., Coqueugniot H., Hoogland M.L.P., Waters-Rist A.L. Trabecular bone microarchitecture analysis, a way for an early detection of genetic dwarfism? Case study of a dwarf mother's offspring. International Journal of Paleopathology. 20: 65-71.

2018. Waters-Rist A.L., Schats R., Hoogland M.L.P. Ethical issues in human osteoarchaeology: recommendations for best practice in The Netherlands. In: The Urban Graveyard: Archaeological Perspectives. van Oosten R., Schats R., Fast K., Arts N., Bouwmeester J. (eds). Sidestone Press. The Netherlands. Pp. 9-26.

2018. Katzenberg M.A., Waters-Rist A.L. Stable Isotope Analysis: A Tool for Studying Past Diet, Demography and Life History. In: Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton, 3rd edition, Katzenberg M.A., Grauer, A. (eds). Wiley-Blackwell. Pp. 469-504.

2025. Lewis K., Hodgetts L., Waters-Rist A.L., Longstaffe F.J. Variability in early Inuit dog diets: Insights from stable carbon- and nitrogen-isotope analysis. Podium presentation, Canadian Association of Biological Anthropology, Victoria, Canada.

2025. Schneider M., Waters-Rist A.L. A lemon a day keeps the hemorrhagic lesions away, but what else? Mechanisms underlying ascorbic acid’s role in skeletal integrity. Poster presentation, Canadian Association of Biological Anthropology, Victoria, Canada.

2025. Waters-Rist A.L., Ribot I., Holland S., Morgan B., Cooke A., Langlois M.D., Nguyen J., Brickley M.B. Dietary Isotopes & Metabolic Diseases in 18th - 19th Century Montreal-area Nonadults. Podium presentation, Paleopathology Association, Baltimore. USA.

2025. Holland S., Ribot I., Longstaffe F.J., Waters-Rist A.L. Stable isotope investigation of infant feeding practices in rural and urban 18th-19th century Montréal, Canada. Poster presentation, American Association of Biological Anthropologists, Baltimore, USA.

2024. Waters-Rist A.L., Salahuddin H., Holland S., Longstaffe F.J. High Nitrogen Ratios in Newborn Collagen Due to Fetal-Placental Glycine Fractionation Not Just Maternal or Fetal Stress. Podium presentation, European Association of Paleopathology, Leiden, The Netherlands.

2024. Brickley M.B, Morgan B., Ribot I., Schats R., van der Merwe A.E., Cooke A., Langlois M.D., Nguyen J., Waters-Rist A.L. Initial evaluations of co-occurrence of rickets, scurvy and anemia in six Dutch and Canadian 1650-1854 CE communities. Podium presentation, European Association of Paleopathology, Leiden, The Netherlands.

2024. Lovatt C., Holland S., Cooke A., Morgan B., Nguyen J., Dion-Allard E., Brickley M.B., Ribot I., Waters-Rist A.L. Exploring health challenges: A possible case of congenital syphilis in 18th-19th century Pointe-aux-Trembles, Québec. Poster presentation, European Association of Paleopathology, Leiden, The Netherlands.

2024. Amacker D., Waters-Rist A.L., Nelson A. Improving Adult-Age-at-Death Estimation Using Secondary Dentin Accumulation. Poster presentation, Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology, London, Canada.

2024. Holland S., Ribot I., Longstaffe F.J., Waters-Rist A.L. Gastrointestinal distress as a source of infant morbidity and mortality in 18th 19th century Pointe-aux-Trembles, Québec. Poster presentation, Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology, London, Canada.

2024. Lovatt C., Veiga Rilo C., van der Merwe A.E., Longstaffe F.J., Langlois M., Roberge É., Brickley M.B., Waters-Rist A.L. Exploring childhood diet and health in Alkmaar, the Netherlands: Preliminary insights from stable isotope analysis of hair. Poster presentation, Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology, London, Canada.

2024. Weerasinghe P., Liston M., Waters-Rist A.L. Vertebral Pathology in Mycenean and post-Mycenean Individuals buried in the Athenian Agora, Greece. Poster presentation, Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology, London, Canada.

2023. Holland S., Morgan B., Nguyen J., Brickley M.B., Ribot I., Waters-Rist A.L. Early life and early death in a wet-nursing community: Diet and stress in infants from 18th -19th century Pointe-aux-Trembles, Québec. Podium presentation, Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology, Winnipeg, Canada.

2023. Salahuddin H., Waters-Rist A.L., Longstaffe F.J. Nail Keratin Amino Acid Stable Isotopes Reveal Insights into Early Childhood Diet. Podium presentation, Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology, Winnipeg, Canada.

2022. Holland S., Roberge E., Nelson A., Waters-Rist A.L. Testing the association between vitamin D deficiency and caries presence in molars from 15th century Farfán, Peru. Virtual poster presentation, North American Paleopathology Association.

2022. Waters-Rist A.L. Fostering Biologically Realistic Interpretations of Breastfeeding in Bioarchaeology. Invited podium presentation at the Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology, held in Saskatoon, Canada.

2022. Sadlowski, J., Brickley, M.B., Ribot, I., Waters-Rist A.L. Stable Isotope Analysis of Infant Feeding and Weaning Practices in 19th Century Montreal. Podium presentation at the Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology, held in Saskatoon, Canada.

2022. Brickley MB, Ribot I, Schats R, van der Merwe L, Waters-Rist A.L. Introduction to ‘Integrated approaches paleopathology and paleodiet: Insights into the diet-disease nexus in human health and disease’. Podium presentation at the Canadian Association for Biological Anthropology, held in Saskatoon, Canada.

2022. Roberge E.I., Nelson A., Waters-Rist A.L. High prevalence of interglobular dentin in an Inca population from Farfán (Peru) detected through correlative tomography. Poster presentation at the Paleopathology Association, held in Denver, USA. Refereed. *Winner of Cockburn ‘Best Poster’ Student Prize Award.

2022. Holland, S., Roberge E., Nelson A., Waters-Rist A.L. Testing the association between vitamin D deficiency and caries presence in molars from 15th century Farfán, Peru: A pilot study. Poster presentation at the Paleopathology Association, held in Denver, USA.

2021. Waters-Rist A.L. Adolescent Life in 18th and 19th century Netherlands. Invited virtual podium presentation at the Emerging Adolescence Virtual Meetings.

2021. Waters-Rist A.L., Crawford A., Coulthard I. Short-term seasonal lead (Pb) intake revealed by dentine bands in synchrotron-based x-ray fluorescence (XRF) images of archaeological Dutch teeth. Poster presentation at the Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology, held in Hamilton, Canada. 

2021. Roberge, É, Nelson A, Waters-Rist A.L. Interglobular dentin explored through correlative tomography in an Inca population from Farfán (Peru). Poster presentation at the Canadian Association of Physical Anthropology, held in Hamilton, Canada.

2020. Waters-Rist A.L., Cascon, L.M. and Francozo, M. The 'Man-Wearing' Myth? A Colonial Period Human Tooth Belt from Brazil. Poster presentation at the American Association for Physical Anthropologists (held online in 2021).

2019. Waters-Rist A.L., Nomokonova T., Tishkin A.A., Gorbunov V.V., Grushin S.P., Papin D.V., Losey R. Ancient Dog Diets in the Altai region of Siberia. Invited podium presentation at the Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology, held in Banff, Canada. 

2019. Bartholdy B., Waters-Rist A.L. A Question of Calibration Comparing inverse and classical calibration regression on age-at-death estimates. Poster presentation at the British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, held in London, UK.

2019. van Spelde A-M, Waters-Rist A.L. Orthopaedic Healthcare Practices in Late Medieval and Early Modern Dutch Infirmaries. Podium presentation at the European Association of Archaeologists, held in Bern, Switzerland.

2019. McKenzie H.G., Lieverse A.R., Novikov A.G., Goriunova O.I., Waters-Rist A.L. Spatial differences in Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age hunter-fisher-gatherer diet in Lake Baikal’s Little Sea micro-region, Siberia. Poster presentation at the American Association for Physical Anthropologists, held in Cleveland, Ohio.

2019. Chilcote C., Agarwal S.C., Waters-Rist A.L., Hoogland M.L.P. As the World Churns: Changing Activities and Identities in a Historic Dutch Dairy Farming Community. Podium presentation at the American Association for Physical Anthropologists, held in Cleveland, Ohio.

2019. Waters-Rist A.L., Hoogland M.L.P. Absent to Limited Breastfeeding in 19th Century Dairy Farmers from the Netherlands. Podium presentation at the American Association for Physical Anthropologists, held in Cleveland, USA.

2018. Waters-Rist A.L., Lieverse A. Novikov A.G., Goriunova O.I., McKenzie H. Late Neolithic dietary variation in Lake Baikal’s Little Sea micro-region. Baikal Archaeology Project Meetings, Copenhagen, Denmark.

2018. Waters-Rist A.L. Creating a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in Bioarchaeology: Reflections on Two Years of Experience with “Osteoarchaeology: The Truth in Our Bones”. Poster presentation at the Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology, held in London, Canada.

2026-2029. Granting Agency: Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada, Insight Grant. Project Title: “19th-Century Life Histories from Guelph, Canada: A Bioarchaeological Study of Migration and Health”. Co-Principle Investigator. CAD $340,426

2021-2025 Granting Agency: Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada, Insight Grant. Project Title: “Integrated Approaches Paleopathology and Paleodiet: Insights into the Diet-Disease Nexus in Human Health and Disease”. Co-Principle Investigator. CAN $334,669

2020-2021 Granting Agency: Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada, Insight Development Grant. Project Title: “Dietary Precursors to Agriculture: Subsistence in Epipaleolithic Populations from Jordan prior to the Agricultural Revolution”. Principle Investigator. CAN $ $43,030

2018-2020 Granting Agency: Faculty of Social Science FRDF Research Grant Competition. Project Title: “Synchrotron-Based X-Ray Fluorescence of Dental Enamel to Reconstruct Infant Feeding Practices”. Principle Investigator. CAN $7,260

2017-2022 Granting Agency: European Research Council, Starting Grant. Project Title: “Breastfeeding and Weaning in the Past and Present: Implications for Health, Demography, and Social-Cognition”. Role: Leader, €1,498,393.

2014-2017 Granting Agency: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Insight Grant. Project Title: “The Deep History of Humans and Their Dogs in the North”. Role: Collaborator. CAN $241,299.

The courses I teach at Western are:

1) Anthropology 1022: Introduction to Archaeology & Biological Anthropology

2) Anthropology 2238: Reading Life and Death through the Human Body

3) Anthropology 2242: Forensic Anthropology in Fact and Fiction

4) Anthropology 3338/4428: Human Skeletal Biology

5) Anthropology 4408: Paleopathology and Paleodiet

6) Anthropology 9101: Research Methods in Archaeology and Bioarcheology

7) Anthropology 9108: Advanced Research in Paleopathology and Paleodiet

8) Anthropology 9118: Advanced Human Skeletal Biology

Check the Western course calendar to see the offerings this year.

I am interested in accepting graduate students wanting to pursue research in bioarchaeology, stable isotope or trace element analysis, dietary reconstruction, paleopathology, dental anthropology, and growth and development.

I am currently supervising 6 graduate students. They are:

Panchala Weerasinghe, whose PhD research investigates the influence of dietary practices upon the occurrence and patterning of metabolic diseases, especially anemia, in ancient Greek populations. Using bone samples from individuals buried at the Athenian Agora over a span of ~2000-years, and detailed paleopathology analyses, her research will advance our understanding of the diet-disease nexus and reconstruct the health and lifeways of populations that underwent great socioeconomic-political change.

Charmaine Lovatt, whose PhD research explores diet-disease linkages in late- and post- Medieval populations from the Netherlands, especially to better understand the health of mothers and children. This work with include reconstructing breastfeeding and weaning practices using advanced stable isotope analyses of teeth. Her work will highlight the importance of investigating under-studied groups like children, while tracing changing infant feeding practices and its effect on health and survival.

Sydney Holland, whose PhD research is exploring wet-nursing in modern and historic populations, in particular the relationship between 17th to 19th century wet nursing practices and the health outcomes of women and children in eastern Canada and western Europe. This work will include isotopic analysis of breast milk from modern women with long periods of lactation (> ~2 years) that may be observed in wet nursing contexts.

Maris Schneider, whose PhD research aims to identify novel markers of malnutrition, using computed tomography (CT) imaging, in the skeletons of children and adolescents from a modern sample (from the New Mexico Decedent Image Database) and a predominately 19th century Dutch cemetery. This work will enhance our understanding of childhood stress in both past and contemporary contexts and improve our understanding of the adaptability of the skeleton during critical development periods.

Kyara Vizcaino, whose MA research will involve the isotopic analysis of 19th century settlers from Guelph, Ontario, for the purposes of reconstructing birthplace and migration patterns. The migratory journeys of these early Guelph settlers will be integrated with paleopathology analyses of health, adaptation, and survival. Such research is crucial for understanding the everyday people who were the founders and backbones of Canadian communities, whose lives were seldom detailed in historical records.

Zoe Bernier, whose MA research will involve the analysis of non-adults from a 19th century settler cemetery in Guelph, Ontario. The work will contribute to creating osteobiographies - the life story of a person as told through their bones - including information about their age-at-death, health, injuries, growth, and diet.