Andrew Nelson

My research falls into three broad areas: 

1) The use of non-destructive imaging in Bioarchaeology and Archaeology (Paleoimaging)
This area of interest involves the use of radiography and other imaging techniques to non-destructively capture and analyze human skeletal remains and archaeological artifacts.  Specific methods include plain film x-ray, CT scanning, and micro-CT scanning.  Specific subjects of analysis include skeletal remains from many sites and Egyptian and Peruvian mummies, Moche pots, stone and shell beaded pectorals, and medieval prayer beads (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4aCWcA1WsQ) .  The use of paleoradiology and virtual imaging in the analysis and presentation of Egyptian mummies has been a particularly fruitful area of research. 

2) Peruvian Bioarchaeology
I started going to Peru as a student in 1982, and have been going as a professional bioarchaeologist since 1995.  I have worked primarily on the North Coast at sites in the Jequetepeque Valley (San Jose de Moro, Pacatnamu, Farfán) and with material from other sites in Peru (Cajamarquilla, Tucume, Laguna de los Condores).  My interests lie in the areas of biocultural change over time, the interactions between culture and biology (cranial modification etc), and patterns of heath and disease. 

In 2019, I began a new SSHRC funded project working on skeletons and mummy bundles (fardos) from the Peruvian Central Coast to document changes in mortuary rituals and patterns of health and disease from the Middle Horizon to the Late Horizon. This includes x-rays and CT scans of individuals from the sites of Rinconada Alta, Huaca Huallamarca, Huaycan de Piriachi, Huaca Malena and Pachacamac. The project is entitled “Mummies as Microcosms” because each mummy bundle is a microcosm of the cultural and biological world in which the individual within lived.   

3) Hominid growth, development and body size
My doctoral dissertation focused on hominid body size and how body size could affect traits throughout the skeleton, and subsequent research involved the examination of how body size and its associated characteristics was achieved through ontogeny. Much of the latter work has been undertaken in collaboration with my colleague Dr. Jennifer Thompson formerly of UNLV.

Themes

Two key themes that characterize each of these research areas are interdisciplinarity and collaboration.  The study of human remains is inherently interdisciplinary, drawing upon methods and theory from across the full spectrum of academic disciplines.  It is a way of thinking about the world, seeing beyond disciplinary silos, seeking the expertise of scholars in other disciplines. 

Book

Beckett, R.G., Conlogue, G.J. & Nelson, A.J. (editors). 2021. Case Studies for Advances in Paleoimaging and Other Non-Clinical Applications. Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fl.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Nelson, AJ & Kogon, S. 2021. Case Study 6: Teeth; Plane radiography (Film); clinical CT; micro-CT. In: Beckett, R.G., Conlogue, G.J. & Nelson, A.J. (editors). Case Studies for Advances in Paleoimaging and Other Non-Clinical Applications, Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fl., pp: 99-109.

Conlogue, G.J., Nelson, A.J. & Lurie, A.G. 2020. Chapter 7. Computed tomography (CT), multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT), micro-CT and cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). In: R.G. Beckett & G.J. Conlogue (editors.) Advances in Paleoimaging: Applications for Paleoanthropology, Bioarcheology, and Cultural Artifacts, Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fl., pp: 111-178.

Brown ,P.G. P.J.A. McCausland, A.R. Hildebrand, L.T.J. Hanton, L.M. Eckart, H. Busemann, D. Krietsch, C. Maden, K. Welten, M. W. Caffee, M. Laubenstien, D. Vida, F. Ciceri, E. Silbe, C.D.K. Herd, P. Hill, H. Devillepoix, Eleanor K. Sansom, Martin Cupák, Seamus Anderson, R.L. Flemming, A.J. Nelson, M. Mazur, D.E. Moser, W.J. Cooke, D. Hladiuk, Barbara Malečić, Maja Telišman Prtenjak, R. Nowell. 2023. The Golden Meteorite Fall: Fireball trajectory, orbit and characterization. Meteoritics and Planetary Science 1–35. doi: 10.1111/maps.14100

Poeta, L.A., Ordóñez, M.P., Fournier, E. & Nelson, A.J. 2022 Correlative tomography and authentication features of a shrunken head (tsantsa). PLOS One 17(8): e0270305. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270305

Sargan, J.D., Lockhart, J.J., Nelson, A.J., Meert-Williston, D. & Gillespie, A. 2022. The ghosts of bindings past: Micro computed X-ray tomography for the study of bookbinding. Digital Philology 11(1): 142-173.

Van Loon, LL., Nelson, AJ, Wartenberg Kagan, U, Barron, K & Banerjee, NR.  2019. Bubbles in the bullion: Micro-CT imaging of the internal structure of ancient coins. Microsc Microanal. 5 (Suppl 2): 420-421

Kozachuk, MS, Sham, TK, Martin, RR, Nelson, AJ, Coulthard, I, McElhone. JP. 2018.  Recovery of degraded-beyond-recognition 19th century daguerreotypes with rapid high dynamic range elemental X-ray fluorescence imaging of mercury l emission. Nature Scientific Reports 10.1038/s41598-018-27714-5. 

Ellis, L, Suda, A, Martin, RM, Moffatt, E, Poulin, J & Nelson, AJ. 2017.  The virtual deconstruction of a prayer bead in the Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario with micro-CT scanning and advanced 3d analysis software.  In: E Wetter & F Scholten (eds.), Prayer-Nuts, Private Devotion and Early Modern Art Collecting, pp: 209-217. Abegg-Siftung: Riggisberg. 

Nelson, AJ & Wade, AD.  2015.  IMPACT: Development of a radiological mummy database.  Anatomical Record 298:941–948. 

Wade, AD & Nelson, AJ. 2013. Evisceration and excerebration in the Egyptian mummification tradition.  Journal of Archaeological Science 40: 4198-4206  

Martin, RR, Naftel, SJ, Macfie, SM, Jones, KW, & Nelson, AJ.  2013. Pb distribution in bones from the Franklin expedition: synchrotron X-ray fluorescence and laser ablation/mass spectroscopy.  Applied Physics A 111: 23-29.  

Book

Mackey, CJ & Nelson, AJ. 2020. Life, Death and Burial Practices During the Inca Occupation of Farfán, on Perú’s North Coast. Andean Past Monograph #2, Department of Anthropology, University of Maine - https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/andean_past_special/6/

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Nelson, AJ, Motley, J, Watson, LC, Williams, J, Kirgis, P, Huchet, J-B, Gauld, S, Poeta, L, Ward, A, Nakahodo, N, Woodley, K, Andersen, H, Rountree, S, Succee, R, Baldeos, J, Fuentes, S,y Pozzi-Escot, D. In press. Headless Burials from Pachacamac, Peru: A taphonomic approach to reconstructing mortuary ritual. Bioarchaeology International.

Watson, L., Fuentes, S., Nelson, A., Williams, J., Gauld, S., Motley, J., Poeta, L., Gomez, L., Baldeos, J., & Pozzi-Escott, D. 2022. Envolviendo al muerto a orillas del mar: análisis de escaneos tomográficos computarizados de fardos de Ancón y Pachacamac (1100 d. C. - 1532 d. C.). Boletín de Arqueología Pontifica Universidad Católica del Perú, 31: 81-101.

Nelson, AJ, Watson, LC, Williams, J., Gauld, S, Motley, J, Poeta, L, Seston, D, Gomez, E, Baldeos, J, Fuentes, S & Pozzi-Escot, D. 2021. Análisis de los fardos funerarios de Pachacamac: Aplicación sistemática de rayos X y tomografía computarizada en un contexto arqueológico. Actas VI Congreso Nacional de Arqueología, Ministerio de Cultura, August, Lima, Perú, 293-308.

Kozachuck, M.S., Sham, T.K., Martin, R.R. & Nelson, A.J. 2020. Bromine, a possible marine diet indicator? A hypothesis revisited. Archaeometry 62: 1267-1279. DOI: 10.1111/arcm.12590.

Ordóñez, MP, Beckett, R, Nelson, AJ, Conlogue, G. 2015.  Paleoimagen y análisis bioanthropológico de la colección Maranga del Museo Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño.  Antropologica: Quadernos de Investigación (Revista de la Escuela de Antropología|Pontifica Universidad Católica del Ecuador.  No 15. 

Dolphin, A, Naftel, S, Nelson, AJ, Martin, RR & White, CD. 2013. Bromine in teeth and bone as an indicator of marine diet.  Journal of Archaeological Science 40: 1778-1786   

Book

Thompson, JL, Krovitz, G & Nelson, AJ. (editors). 2003. Growth and Development in the Genus Homo.  Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. 

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Thompson, JL & Nelson, AJ. 2016.  Childhood and patterns of growth in the genus Homo. In: C Meehan & A Crittenden, (eds.), Childhood: Origins, Evolution and Implications, pp: 75-102. University of New Mexico Press/School of American Research: Santa Fe.   

Thompson, JL & Nelson, AJ. 2011. Middle childhood and modern human origins. Human Nature 22: 249-280.   

Cross, A, Collard, M, & Nelson, AJ. 2008. Body segment differences in surface area, skin temperature, and 3D displacement and the estimation of heat balance during locomotion in hominins. PLOS One 3(6) e2464: 1-9. 

Nelson, AJ & Thompson, JL 2005. Le Moustier 1 and the interpretation of stages in Neandertal growth and development. In: H Ullrich (ed.), The Neandertal Adolescent Le Moustier 1 - New Aspects, New Results, pp: 328-338. Staatliche Museen Zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesiz: Berlin. 

Nelson, AJ, Krovitz, GE & Thompson, JL. 2003. Hominid growth and development in Upper Pleistocene Homo. In: JL Thompson, G Krovitz & AJ Nelson (eds.), Growth and Development in the Genus Homo, pp: 412-435. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. 

Thompson, JL, Nelson, AJ & Illerhaus, B. 2002. 3-D imaging and traditional morphometric analysis of the adolescent Neandertal from Le Moustier.  In: B Mafart & H Delingette (eds.), Three-Dimensional Imaging in Paleoanthropology and Prehistoric Archeology, British Archeological Reports, International Series 1049, pp: 55-61. 

Thompson, JL & Nelson, AJ. 2000. The place of Neandertals in the evolution of hominid patterns of growth and development. Journal of Human Evolution 38(4): 475-495.  

Undergraduate courses: 

• Anthropology 1020 – Many Ways of Being Human
• Anthropology 2236 - Human Aging: Bioanthropological Perspectives
• Anthropology 2239 - The Scientific and Cultural Analysis of Mummies
• Anthropology 3311 - Bioarchaeology: Practice and Theory
• Anthropology 3336 - Topics in Human Evolution
  
• Anthropology 4424 – Advanced Analytical Techniques in Biological Anthropology and Archaeology
• Anthropology 4426 – Mortuary Archaeology

Graduate courses: 

• Special Topics in Bioarchaeology: Advanced Analytical Techniques in Archaeology and Bioarchaeology
• Special Topics in Bioarchaeology: Bioarchaeology
• Research Methods in Bioarchaeology
• Mortuary Archaeology

Doctoral Supervision

 MA Supervision