In Winter 2021, I taught ANTH 1101, an introduction to Primatology & Human Evolution, as an 'online' or remote course during the Covid-19 pandemic. To inspire students to get a little creative with their learning, and give them the opportunity to step away from their screens, they completed UNessays for their final assignments. 

The aim of these unessays was to examine, teach, show, visualize, and/or express academically-researched concept(s) related to our course. Students could choose any relavent theme, but had to do some peer-reviewed research to inform their work (which also got them thinking about science communication!). 

I was also inspired to play along (and get some non-screen time), so I made my own UNessay assignment too! (Coming Soon!)

With each student's express permission, this webpage showcases a small selection of the very amazing projects produced during this term. Some students wished to have their names presented alongside their work, others wished to remain anonymous. In all instances student requests have been honoured. 

Project guidelines are available from the link on the right. 

Who Was This? How Anthropologists Identify Remains

Ancient Rome: The Atlas Bear Soldier

63 BC. Atlas Mountains, Morocco

In 2010, Anthropologists uncovered a unique set of remains along the Roman roads in the Atlas mountains in Morocco. Upon an excitation near Volubilis at the feet of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, one anthropologist noticed a set of remains not near anything significant. A dust storm combined with some rare rainfall exposed the remains. Human remains in this region are almost unheard of so these piqued the anthropologist’s curiosity. They began a full-fledged visual and isotopic analysis of the remains to determine who they belonged to (Price, 2014). The gender, age, and ethnicity were identified, then the theory began to form. Due to the three main traumas evident on the remains. The most prominent evidence anthropologists found were bones spurs in the elbow pointed to excessive spear use (Kennedy, 1983), the rubbing on the base of the skull and spine consistent with horseback riders (Zaia, 2019), and facial trauma consistent with bear attacks (Baht, 2018). An isotopic analysis further confirmed the individual spent significant time in both Rome and Northern Africa and pointed to the cause of death being Malaria (Marciniak, 2018). This audio story tells the full tale of the process anthropologists went through to uncover this individual’s story as a soldier who spent his time catching exotic animals to be sent back to Rome (Epplett, 2001). 

CLICK images to see the full handbook!