Susan Pfeiffer

Areas of Expertise

The skeletal biology of past peoples, focusing on Southern African Khoe-San and North American Lower Great Lakes; repatriation and the establishment of sustained working relationships with aboriginal peoples.

Research Interests: Bioarchaeology, palaeopathology, adult age estimation methods, natural selection in past Homo sapiens, evolutionary theory, African foragers & pastoralists, First Nations of the Great Lakes region

Background

To see Dr. Pfeiffer’s complete CV, click here.

Education

1976 Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto 

* Thesis Title: The Skeletal Biology of Archaic Populations of the Great Lakes Region (Advisor: F.J. Melbye). 

1972 M.A., Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto

1968 B.A. in Religion, University of Iowa

Publications

2022     Pfeiffer, S. Osteobiographies: The Discovery, Interpretation and Repatriation of Human Remains. Academic Press.  ISBN: 9780128238806. https://www.elsevier.com/books/osteobiographies/pfeiffer/978-0-12-823880-6

2021     Williamson, R., MacDonald, R., Cooper, M., Lesage, L., Pfeiffer, S. The long road to collaboration: A history of ASI relationships with indigenous communities with a focus on the Huron-Wendat Nation. Arch Notes 26:2:4-14.

2021     Cameron, M.E., Pfeiffer, S., Stock, J. Small body size phenotypes among Middle and Later Stone Age Southern Africans. Journal of Human Evolution. Accepted 18/12/20.

2020     Forrest, C., Williamson, R., Lesage, L., Pfeiffer, S. The joy of the souls: the return of Huron-Wendat Ancestors. Working with and for Ancestors: Collaboration in the Care and Study of Ancestral Remains, C. H. Meloche, L. Spake, K. L. Nichols, eds. Chapter 12, pp.151-165. London and New York: Routledge Press.

2020     Pfeiffer, S. Disease as a Factor in the African Archaeological Record. African Archaeological Review, 37(3):487-490. DOI: 10.1007/s10437-020-09405-7

2020     Pfeiffer, S., Williamson, R. F., Newton, J., le Roux, P. J., Forrest, C., & Lesage, L. Population movements of the Huron-Wendat viewed through strontium isotope analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science-Reports, 33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102466

2020     Pfeiffer, S., Sealy, J., Harrington, L., Loftus, E., Maggs, T.  A Late Holocene community burial area: evidence of diverse mortuary practices in the Western Cape, South Africa. PLoS ONE April 16, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230391

2019     Beresheim, A., Pfeiffer, S., Grynpas, M. Ontogenetic changes to bone microstructure in human ribs. Journal of Anatomy. 236:3:448-462.

2019     Pfeiffer, S., Cameron, M.E., Beresheim, A., Sealy, J. Diet and adult age-at-death among mobile foragers: A synthesis of bioarchaeological methods. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 2019;1–17. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23883

2019     Sawchuk, E.A., Pfeiffer, S., Klehm, C.E., Cameron, M.E., Hill, A.C., Janzen, A., Grillo, K.M., Hildebrand, E.A. The bioarchaeology of mid-Holocene pastoralist cemeteries west of Lake Turkana, Kenya. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11:6221-6241. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12520-019-00914-4.

2018     Pfeiffer, S., Harrington, L. Regional Continuity and local challenges to resilience among Holocene hunter-gatherers of the greater Cape floristic region, South Africa. In D. Temple & C. Stojanowski (Eds.), Hunter-Gatherer Adaptation and Resilience: A Bioarchaeological Perspective (Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology, pp. 26-46). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316941256.002

Distinctions

2019   Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science – Anthropology Section

2017   Faculty of Arts & Science nominee for J. B. Smith Graduate Supervision award

2016   J. Norman Emerson Medal, Ontario Archaeological Association

2016   Students’ Choice: Outstanding Anthropology Course Instructor, Anthropology Students Association

2013   Symposium, Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology, UTSC, October 19, 2013: Canadian Contributions to Bioarchaeology in Honour of Susan Pfeiffer

2004   Senior Fellow, Massey College, University of Toronto

2001   University of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Science Outstanding Teacher Award (Social Sciences)

1995   Association of Southern African Professional Archaeologists (ASAPA)

1988   Sigma Xi

1968   Phi Beta Kappa