Dr. Wakefield (Northeast College) and Dr. Niedich (University of Missouri) joined the show to discuss their research on death in early New York mental health institutions and how it differed from the populations around them. Along the way, we talk about the history of mental health institutions in the United States and how differences in the amount and causes of death can illuminate what we care about as a society.

Dr. Walker also worked on this project, but unfortunately was unable to join. Her collaborators wanted to make sure that her contributions were noted :)

• Dr. Wakefield's faculty profile
• Dr. Niedich's faculty profile
• Dr. Walker's faculty profile
• Stuhler, L.S. (2011). The Inmates of Willard 1870 to 1900: A Genealogy Resource. Createspace Independent Publishing.
• Penney, D. (2009). The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic. Bellevue Literary Press.
• Willard Suitcases photo gallery
• Moreno-Garcia, S. (2020). Mexican Gothic. Del Rey Books.
• Wynn-Williams, S. (2025). Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism. Flatiron Books.
• Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club series
• Brindlewood Bay role-playing game

Dr. Brian Villmoare of the University of Nevada - Las Vegas shares how his team found teeth in Ethiopia and what those teeth might mean in terms of who was around when in the evolutionary record.

• Dr. Villmoare's University of Nevada - Las Vegas staff profile
• Dr. Villmoare's Human Paleontology Lab
• Villmoare, B., Delezene, L.K., Rector, A.L. et al. New discoveries of Australopithecus and Homo from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09390-4
• Kalb, J. (2013). Adventures in the Bone Trade: The Race to Discover Human Ancestors in Ethiopia's Afar Depression. Copernicus.
• Wood, B. (2019). Human Evolution: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. [<- This is what I was talking about when I mentioned an intro to human evolution from Cambridge.]
• Ian Tattersall's books + Ian Tattersall's website
• Jablonka, E. & Lamb, M.J. (2014). Evolution in Four Dimensions, Revised Edition: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life. Bradford Book.
• Sapolsky, R.M. (2023). Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will. Penguin Publishing Group.
• Rachel Kushner's books
• Reiss, T. (2006). The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life. Random House.
• Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club series

Keri Porter, a PhD candidate at Notre Dame University, joins the show to discuss their research on patterns of violence in a Bronze Age urban center in the Southern Levant. They focus on cranial trauma and what it can reveal about humans attempting to live together along with what it might reveal about who suffers violence. They also share some excellent recommendations for how to think about grad school, whether or not to go, and tips for applying.

• Keri Porter's Notre Dame profile page
• Martin, D.L., Harrod, R.P., & Pérez, V.R. (Eds.) (2013). The Bioarchaeology of Violence. University Press of Florida.
• Regev J, De Miroschedji P, Greenberg R, Braun E, Greenhut Z, Boaretto E. Chronology of the Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant: New Analysis for a High Chronology. Radiocarbon. 2012;54(3-4):525-566.
• Greenberg, R. (2019). The Archaeology of the Bronze Age Levant: From Urban Origins to the Demise of City-States, 3700-1000 BCE. Cambridge University Press.
• Krakowka K. (2017). Patterns and prevalence of violence-related skull trauma in medieval London. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 164(3), 488–504. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23288
• Krakowka, K. (2015). Understanding violence in medieval London: an examination of the skeletal evidence. [PhD thesis]. University of Oxford.
• Gorn, E. J. (1985). "Gouge and Bite, Pull Hair and Scratch": The Social Significance of Fighting in the Southern Backcountry. The American Historical Review, 90(1), 18–43.
• Collins, S. (2025). Sunrise on the Reaping. Scholastic Press.
• Fox, J. (2025). Down the Drain. Simon & Schuster.
• Green, J. (2025). Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection. Crash Course Books.
• Reinhard, A. (2018). Archaeogaming: An Introduction to Archaeology in and of Video Games, Berghan Books.
• Porter, K. (2022, November 4). Digging Up the Digital Past: Archaeogaming and Archaeological Practice in the Sims™ Franchise. UMMAA Brown Bag Lecture Series, Notre Dame University, Notre Dame, IN, USA.