Andrea Waters-Rist

Dr. Waters-Rist is a Biological Anthropologist focusing on a range of research avenues within the subfield of Human Osteoarchaeology. Dr. Waters-Rist uses stable isotope and synchrotron-based trace element methods to reconstruct the diets of past populations, focusing in particular on infant feeding practices. Dr. Waters-Rist also analyses human skeletal and dental remains for evidence of a wide range of diseases and activity-induced modifications, and assesses patterns of growth and development. She is currently working on skeletal remains from various geographic areas and temporal periods, including post-Medieval Dutch rural and urban populations, Neolithic to Iron Age Siberian hunter-gatherers and pastoralists, and pre-Columbian Nicaraguan agriculturalists.

in press. 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.

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.

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. Waters-Rist A.L. Breastfeeding and Weaning Practices in Ancient Siberian Foragers: Stable Isotope Reconstruction. In: Premiers Cris, Premières nourritures. Herrsher I., Seguy I. (eds). Editions des Presses Universitaires de Provence (PUP). pp. 275-284.

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., 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.

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. 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. 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. 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.

2017. Bosman A.M., Dediu D., Moisik S.R., Waters-Rist A.L. Talking Heads: Morphological variation in the human mandible over the last 500 years in the Netherlands. HOMO – Journal of Comparative Human Biology 68(5): 329-342.

2017. Krap T., van de Goot F., Oostra R-J., Duijst W., Waters-Rist A.L. Temperature estimations of heated bone: a questionnaire-based study of accuracy and precision of interpretation of bone colour by forensic and physical anthropologists. Legal Medicine 29: 22-28.

2017. Veselka B., van der Merwe A., Hoogland M.L.P. Waters-Rist A.L. Gender-related vitamin D deficiency in a Dutch post-Medieval farming community. International Journal of Paleopathology 23: 69-75.

2017. Vikatou I., Hoogland M.L.P., Waters-Rist A.L. Osteochondritis Dissecans of skeletal elements of the foot in a 19th century rural farming community from The Netherlands: These clogs were made for walking, and working. International Journal of Paleopathology 19:53-63.

2017. Waters-Rist A.L., Jeneson K., Halbertsma R. New Insights about the Lady of the Roman Simpelveld Sarcophagus, The Netherlands. BABESCH 92:187-207.

2017. Saers J.P.P., Hoogland M.L.P., van Rijn R.R., Schats R., van der Merwe L., Waters-Rist, A.L. Habitual activity in pre-industrial rural and urban Dutch populations: a study of lower limb cross-sectional geometry. Bioarchaeology International 1(3-4): 131–147.

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.

2021. Waters-Rist A.L. Tooth dentine bands reveal seasonal lead (Pb) intake via synchrotron-based x-ray fluorescence of 19th century Dutch teeth. Virtual podium presentation at the Bone and Joint Institute Showcase Series.

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. 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.

2018. Bartholdy B., Hoogland M.L.P., Waters-Rist A.L. Barking up the wrong tree? Searching for sexual dimorphism in deciduous enamel thickness and density. Poster presentation at the American Association of Physical Anthropology, held in Austin, USA.

2018. Veselka B., Hoogland M.L.P., Waters-Rist A.L., Brickley M. Bioarchaeological interpretations of vitamin D deficiency prevalence in two 17th – 19th century populations from Beemster and Hattem, the Netherlands. Symposium on Mortuary Archaeology Today: Approaches, Methods and Ethics, held in Groningen, the Netherlands.

2017. Waters-Rist A.L., Hoogland. M.L.P. Dietary Effects of the 19th Century Potato Blight in a Rural Dutch Population. Poster presentation at the Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology, held in Edmonton, Canada.

2017. Bosman A., Moisik S., Dediu D., Waters-Rist A.L. Talking Heads: Morphological variation in the human mandible over the last 500 years in the Netherlands. Poster presentation at the European Society for Human Evolution, held in Leiden, Netherlands.

2017. Deckers K.P, Hoogland M.L.P., Waters-Rist A.L. Trabecular Bone Ontogeny in the Human Talus of a 19th Century Dutch Population. Poster presentation at the European Society for Human Evolution, held in Leiden, Netherlands.

2017. Palmer J.L.A., Waters-Rist A.L. Constant change: evidence for socioeconomic stability in post-medieval Aalst. Podium presentation at the British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, held in Liverpool, UK,

2017. Blom A., Waters-Rist A.L. Waisted diagnosis. Beauty standards or treatment of spinal deformations: overlooked cases of corsetry by males in 16th-19th-century Europe. Poster presentation at the British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, held in Liverpool, UK.

2017. Veselka B., Waters-Rist A.L. Friend or Foe: bioarchaeological analysis of individuals from a Spanish War (1568 – 1648 AD) mass grave from Boksum, the Netherlands. Poster presentation at the British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, held in Liverpool, UK.

2017. Waters-Rist A.L., Palmer J.L.A. Isotopic Determination of a Non-Local Birthplace of a Well-Known Roman Soldier from Velsen. Podium presentation at the European Association of Archaeologists, held in Maastricht, Netherlands.

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.

2013-2015 Granting Agency: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Insight Grant. Project Title: "Small Places of Large Importance: A Bioarchaeological Exploration of Small Prehistoric Sites in the Lake Baikal Region of Siberia, Russia”. Role: Collaborator. CAN $75,000.

2013-2014 Granting Agency: Gerda Henkel Stiftung Foundation, Research Projects. Project Title: “The Osteoarchaeology of Pastoralism in Cis-Baikal, Russia (Southern Siberia)”. Role: Collaborator. €25,000.

2012-2014 Granting Agency: Marie Curie Research Grant, European Research Council, International Incoming Post-Doctoral Fellowship. Project Title: “Osteoarchaeology of the Dutch Middenbeemster post-Medieval Cemetery: Lifeways of a Colonizing Farming Community during the Little Ice Age”. Role: Principal Investigator. €192,724.

2011-2018 Granting Agency: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Major Collaborative Research Initiative Grant. Project Title: “Holocene Hunter-Gatherers of Northeast Asia”.Role: Co-investigator with circa 25 international scholars. CAN $2,500,000.

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: Human Skeletal Biology

5) Anthropology 9101: Research Methods in Archaeology and Bioarcheology

6) Anthropology 9118: Advanced Human Skeletal Biology

Other Course I teach at Western are:

7) Anthropology 4498B: Special Topics in Anthropology: Research in Paleopathology and Paleodiet

8) 9108B: Special Topics in Anthropology: Advanced Research in Paleopathology and Paleodiet

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

In 2016 while at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and still running throughout 2017 & 2018, I created a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) entitled “Osteoarchaeology: The Truth in Our Bones”. This course is about what we can learn from examining the human skeleton, and how we can use this knowledge to reconstruct the lives of people who lived in the past. In archaeology and anthropology, human skeletal remains can provide unique insights into the past and the present; insights that cannot be gained otherwise.

Anyone, at any skill level, can take the course (for free!), consisting of 5 modules covering the topics of 1) Bones to Biography and Demography, 2) Bones to Disease and Trauma, 3) Bones to Diet, 4) Bones to Activity, and 5) Bones to Mobility and Migration.

The course start date reoccurs monthly. We’ve had over 17,000 users to date! Visit this Coursera Homepage to learn more and register: https://www.coursera.org/learn/truthinourbones-osteoarchaeology-archaeology

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:

Hana Salahuddin, whose PhD research uses novel chemical methods (compound-specific individual-amino-acids isotopes) to disentangle the influence of diet, growth, and stress on the stable isotope values of breastfeeding infants. Using hair samples from infant-mother dyads of known diet and health, and hair samples from Peruvian archaeological mummies, her research will improve our (1) suite of methods for paleodiet research, and (2) understanding of infancy and childhood in the past.

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 MA research is investigating infant and child feeding practices in 18th-19th century Pointe-aux-Trembles, a rural community near Montréal, Québec. Using advanced stable isotope methods, her work is exploring the impact of changing food technologies and socioeconomic norms on a group of women historically known to have served as wet-nurses.   

Daniel, Amacker, who just begun his Master’s in bioarchaeology and is interested in age estimation methods, dental analysis, skeletal biology, and human evolution. 

Katie Lewis (co-supervised with Dr. Lisa Hodgetts), who is beginning her Master’s with the intent to research archaeological dogs from the Canadian Arctic using stable isotope analyses. Her interests include Indigenous archaeology, the Canadian Arctic and subarctic, zooarchaeology, stable isotopes, subsistence patterns, and migration and mobility.