Tyler O`Brien
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Forensic Anthropology Consultant
Bartlett 2121
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Tyler O`Brien
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Forensic Anthropology Consultant
Ph.D. Binghamton University, 2003
M.A. University of Tennessee, 1994
B.A. State University of New York, Plattsburgh, 1991
Dr. O’Brien is a well-trained applied biological anthropologist specializing in human skeletal biology. He teaches an introductory course to biological anthropology and archaeology called ANTH 1001 Bones & Stones – the science of human origins. He also offers courses in forensic anthropology and bioarchaeology, as well as attempting to answer the bigger question of what it means to be human by exploring concepts of evolutionary theory, adaptation and human variation in his upper-level courses. In 2016, he received the Class of 1943 Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Dr. O’Brien’s has conducted both national and international research in the field and in the laboratory. For example, he has excavated and studied skeletons from a prehispanic site in the Bolivian altiplano near Lake Titicaca, as well as investigating collections of ancient bones housed at museums in Bolivia and Argentina. Throughout his studies he has examined close to 1,500 human skulls from across North and South America.
Dr. O’Brien’s most recent publication is a book titled Boards and Cords: an anthropological study of cranial modification. It explores the long practiced biocultural phenomenon of intentional head shaping through an anthropological lens, by offering answers to popular questions about the practice, setting the groundwork for better understanding how scientists interpret abnormally shaped pathological skulls from those that are modified, presenting a thorough exploration of archaeological evidence and ethnohistoric accounts beginning with the earliest modified skulls, found at sites dating back 15,000 years, and continuing to today's modern day use of the cranial orthotic helmet as corrective treatment for infants with deformational plagiocephaly.
Some other examples of O’Brien’s research include: an anthropological analysis of female death reports in Tahlequah newspapers of the Cherokee Nation, 1844-1907, biological distance studies among ancient populations in the south-central Andes, and earlier forensic anthropological decomposition rates in underwater contexts as they relate to establishing the post-mortem interval.