Sloan R. Williams, PhD
Department Head and Associate Professor
Anthropology, Biological
Contact
Building & Room:
BSB 2102
Address:
1007 W. Harrison Street
Office Phone:
Email:
About
I use molecular genetic techniques to identify population substructure and differentiation in both modern and archaeological populations in order to study biological and cultural evolution in the Andes, and more recently in East Africa. I am also interested in the ethical issues associated with genetic research involving living and extinct humans; and burial practices and mortuary archaeology. Important themes in my work include population change and continuity, social complexity and genetic patterning, and the biological components of ethnicity. My current projects include identifying the origins of the Swahili civilization on the Kenyan coast in collaboration with Chap Kusimba and Ryan Raaum. Shannon Novak and I are beginning a genetic analysis of human remains from the historic Spring Street African American Cemetery in New York.
Education
PhD from Northwestern University, 1990