Faculty | Anthropology | SIU

My research interests are two fold. In the field of forensic anthropology, I am interested in the use of accumulated degree days in estimating the postmortem interval, establishing known decompositional rates for specific geographic and climatic regions, and developing and testing methods for the estimation of age and sex from skeletal remains.

Matthew Greer is a historical archaeologist, specializing in the study of race, class, and slavery in 18th- and 19th-century America. He has a PhD in Anthropology from Syracuse University (2022), an MA in Anthropology from the University of Southern Mississippi (2014), and a BA in History from the University of Mary Washington (2009). Matthew came to SIU in 2024 from the University of Missouri Research Reactor where he was an NSF SBE Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

Erica Moses is a historical archaeologist with field experience throughout the Mid-Atlantic US, and primarily in Virginia. She has a master's degree from the University of York (UK) with a focus on the use of GIS and other digital methods for documenting and interpreting archaeological resources.

Her primary research area is landscape archaeology (e.g., site layouts and settlement patterns, use of space over time, concepts of space and place).

 “I am interested in questions that address primate communication, with a particular focus on the role of vocal communication in coordinating social activities and movement, defending territories, and alerting others to danger. My empirical research centers on the primate community of Khao Yai National Park, Thailand, where my students and I study white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar), pileated gibbons (Hylobates pileatus), and northern pig-tailed macaques (Macaca leonina). We continuously monitor individual life histories and collect demographic data. Current projects focus on vocal complexity, vocal phrase stability, and the impact of social context on duet song variation in white-handed gibbons.”

A biological anthropologist with training in archaeology, anatomy, and chemistry, Dr Stantis focuses on analyzing bones and teeth to place people in their past environment. For archaeological work, her research focuses on methods and types of questions rather than a specific region, culture, or time period. In forensic anthropology, she focuses on methods improvement surrounding stable isotopes chemistry.

My interests include the prehistory and early history of both Native Americans and Europeans in Illinois and the lower Ohio River Valley. I am particularly interested in culture contact issues between Native Americans and Euro-Americans and the variable outcomes contact had for members of both groups.