UB to Host Meeting of Physical Anthropologists in April

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Primate evolution, Neanderthal life and the interpretation of human bone will be among the enormous array of topics to be covered April 9-13 when the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA), the largest association of physical anthropologists in the world, meets in Buffalo for the organization's 71st annual conference.

The University at Buffalo will host the meeting, which will take place in the Adams Mark Hotel in downtown Buffalo.

Ted Steegmann, Joyce Sirianni and Chris Duggleby, professors of anthropology at UB, are handling local arrangements for the conference.

Physical anthropology is a biological science that deals with the adaptations, variability and evolution of human beings and their living and fossil relatives. Because it studies human biology in the context of human culture and behavior, physical anthropology also is a social science.

Steegmann says conference participants will offer scientific sessions whose topics reflect the diversity of our species and its closest relatives, the primates.

"The topic of greatest interest to the scientific community and to the general public is human evolution," he says, "and there will be papers presented on Neanderthals, their ancestors from Africa and Asia, and one of our earliest forerunners, the australopithecines.

"Because we study our species and evolution in the broadest context, there will be presentations on primate behavior, human adaptation and genetics, interpretation of human bone, racial variation and nutrition," he says, adding that there also will be special plenary sessions, exhibits of books and teaching materials, and a pressroom to accommodate interviews with participants.

Inquiries should go to Steegmann at atsjr@acsu.buffalo.edu or 645-2240. Information on conference contents will be posted in a timely manner on the AAPA Web site, http://physanth.org/.

Information on lodging may be directed to the Adam's Mark Hotel, (716) 845-5100 or http://www.adamsmark.com.

The annual meetings of several learned societies affiliated with the AAPA, including the Paleopathology Association and the Human Biology Association, also will be held in Buffalo during the AAPA conference.

The AAPA publishes the monthly American Journal of Physical Anthropology and more than 100 original scientific papers a year, as well as the abstracts and proceedings from the AAPA's annual meetings and other official AAPA documents and notices.