March 15, 2012

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Editor s Selections: Grave Goods, Mother-Fetus Burials, Taste, Ornaments, Hallucinations, And Fig Cakes

By Krystal D'Costa

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Featured in my ResearchBlogging.org column this week:

  • At Bones Don’t Lie, Katy Meyers discusses what we can learn from grave goods.

  • Kristina Killgrove examines biological and cultural processes of childbirth via the lens of mother-fetus burials at Powered By Osteons.

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  • Can the ways we eat influence our ability to taste? Possibly. At Inkfish, Elizabeth Preston discusses the independent evolution of taste (or lack thereof) in animals.

  • At Originus, Cris Campbell urges caution when declaring artifacts as ornaments.

  • Can you trust what you think see? Always? At Genealogy of Religion, Cris Campbell discusses perceptual bias and hallucinations.

  • And finally, at Tropaion Nikolaos Markoulakis discusses the significance of fig cakes in a festival honoring Athena.

I'll be back next week with more from anthropology, philosophy, and research.

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