Research Interests
I am interested in hominin behavioral and morphological evolution, and particularly in the environmental and dietary correlates of evolutionary processes. My research uses stable isotope analysis of fossil calcified tissues to recover palaeoecological and palaeodietary information, with the goal of developing more reliable terrestrial proxies for palaeoenvironmental conditions.
Current Research
I am currently working on developing new methods for the analysis of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in enamel and dentin, and on creating models relating the isotopic signatures found in differnt tissues and tissue fractions to each other and environmental inputs.
Other Research Interests
I am interested in the biological and diagenetic processes underlying isotopic patterns, including the physiological and biochemical factors affecting the relationship between environmental inputs and the isotopic composition of mammalian tissue, and the interactions between fossil material and its burial environment. I am also interested in the ways ecological variables like seasonality and mobility are reflected in tissue isotopic values.
In addition to isotopic methods and models, I am interested in the morphology and development of the calcified tissues composing mammalian bones and teeth, and the genetic and biomechanical factors influencing skeletal and dental development. The broader context of my research, the hominin fossil record and evolutionary processes in general, contains an endless number of fascinating topics to ponder at the lab bench.
Teaching
I have been a teaching fellow for OEB 121a: Advanced Structure and Function of the Vertebrates, QR 34: Counting People, and B64: Feeding the World.Research Support
My thesis research is supported by the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, the American Society for Prehistoric Research, and the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University. I work primarily with Noreen Tuross in the Biogeochemistry/ Mass Spectrometry Lab and Dan Lieberman in the Skeletal Biology Lab.Publications
Kirsanow, K., Makarewicz, C., and Tuross, N. 2008. Stable oxygen (d18O) and hydrogen (dD) isotopes in dentinal collagen record seasonality. Journal of Archaeological Science 35(12):3159-3167.
Tuross, N., Warinner, C., Kirsanow, K., and Kester, C. 2008. Oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in a porine controlled dietary study. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 22(11): 1741-1745.
Gosden, C., and Kirsanow, K. 2006. Archaeological timescales. In Lock, J., and Molyneaux, B., Eds., Confronting Scale in Archaeology: Issues in Theory and Practice. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
