Degrees

University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D. in Anthropology, 2008.
Dissertation: Embodying Life and Death: Osteobiographical Narratives from Alalakh.

Pomona College, B.A., cum laude, in History (minor in Classics), 2000.

Courses Taught at Sonoma State

Anthropology Teaching Praxis

Bioarchaeology

Forensic Anthropology Methods

Human Osteology

Introduction to Biological Anthropology

Organization of Societies

Courses Taught Elsewhere

Archaeology and the Bible

Biological Anthropology Laboratory

Interests

To put it simply, I am a bioarchaeologist. My research focuses on ancient Near Eastern, Gulf, and eastern Mediterranean cultures, which I have cultivated through fieldwork in Turkey, Cyprus, Israel, and Crete. I have also worked on osteological collections at the British Museum, University College London and, most recently, the Hearst Museum.

To put it less simply, I am a broadly trained anthropologist whose research draws from biological anthropology, archaeology, and social theory, thus bridging the anthropological subfields. I use human skeletal remains, archaeological contexts, and ancient texts to explore embodied personhood in all of its iterations --gender, sex, age, class, kin relations, religion, etc. etc. etc. I interpret these personhoods by means of fictive osteobiographical narratives, which are framed in terms of a life course model.

Much of my upper division teaching is oriented around human skeletal biology and its analysis by means of forensic methods. In addition to the lower division G.E. course Introduction to Biological Anthropology, my upper division offerings include Human Osteology, Bioarchaeology, and Forensic Anthropology. Much of my advising at Sonoma State is oriented toward students' burgeoning interest in Forensic Sciences, which they can learn more about here.

Research

I am currently the co-director of the Dilmun Bioarchaeology Project.

Here's a little background on the DBP...

From 1940-41, Peter B. Cornwall, a graduate student at Harvard University, excavated and surveyed regions that once comprised the ancient polity of Dilmun, known today as the kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Cornwall excavated multiple prehistoric settlements throughout central and eastern Saudi Arabia and also excavated thirty-five burial mounds around the island of Bahrain. From the latter, he recovered human skeletons (representing at least 32 individuals), faunal remains, and associated objects. Upon returning to the United States with this material, Cornwall published portions of the data in his Ph.D. dissertation and other journal articles. The entire collection was deposited in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at UC Berkeley in 1945. Although the skeletal materials were catalogued in 1965 and inventoried during the museum's efforts to be NAGPRA compliant during the 1980s-90s, funds were not available for their analysis. No subsequent record of research on the collection has been found.

In Fall 2008, I came across this collection while perusing the Hearst Museum's card catalog. Joining forces with Benjamin W. Porter (Assistant Professor, Department of Near Eastern Studies, UC Berkeley), the Dilmun Bioarchaeology Project (DBP) was initiated to conduct a comprehensive, interdisciplinary bioarchaeological analysis of the skeletal and artifactual remains from Cornwall's expedition. A team of scholars with unique talents and complimentary research interests was assembled that consists of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and professionals. It includes individuals from a number of institutions, with interests ranging from bioarchaeology and Near Eastern Studies, to zooarchaeology and scientific illustration.

Each semester between Fall 2009 and Spring 2012, undergrads from Sonoma State joined the DBP to get hands-on experience with human skeletal remains and/or artifacts.

DBP Research Assistants Extraordinaire 2009-2012: Taylor Allcock, Amy Brandon, Bianca Brenes, Emily Carleton, Mary Beth Glisson, Whitney McClellan, Natalie Sadler, Daniel Cusimano

EmmyNatalie Emmy and Natalie on the job

Here are a few of the other fabulous projects I have been involved with...

Self excavating skeleton at AlalakhExcavations at Alalakh (Turkey)

Holding a potsherd in Cyprus for TAESPTroodos Archaeological and Environmental Survey Project (Cyprus)

Logo for Tell Farah South excavationsExcavations at Tell el-Far'ah South (Israel)

 

Recent Publications

Books and Edited Volumes

In prep.  Benjamin W. Porter and Alexis T. Boutin, editors. Remembering and Commemorating the Dead: Recent Contributions in Bioarchaeology and Mortuary Analysis from the Ancient Near East. University of Colorado Press.
2011 Aubrey Baadsgaard, Alexis T. Boutin, and Jane E. Buikstra, editors. Breathing New Life into the Evidence of Death: Contemporary Approaches to Bioarchaeology. School for Advanced Research Press.

Articles

2012 Alexis T. Boutin, Gloria L. Nusse, Sabrina B. Sholts, and Benjamin W. Porter. “Face to Face With the Past: Reconstructing a Teenage Boy from Early Dilmun,” Near Eastern Archaeology 75(2): 68-79.
2012 Benjamin W. Porter and Alexis T. Boutin. “The Dilmun Bioarchaeology Project:  A first look at the Peter B. Cornwall Collection at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum,” Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 23: 35-49.
2010 Colleen Morgan, Alexis T. Boutin, Sheel Jagani, and Benjamin W. Porter. “Old Bones, Digital Narratives: Investigating the Peter B. Cornwall Collection in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum.” University Museums and Collections Journal 3: 113-119.

Book Chapters

2012

Alexis T. Boutin. “Written in Stone, Written in Bone: The Osteobiography of a Bronze Age Craftsman from Alalakh.” In The Bioarchaeology of Individuals, A. L.W. Stodder and A. M. Palkovich, eds. University Press of Florida, pp. 193-214.
2011

Alexis T. Boutin. “Crafting a Bioarchaeology of Personhood: Osteobiographical Narratives from Alalakh.” In Breathing New Life into the Evidence of Death: Contemporary Approaches to Bioarchaeology, A. Baadsgaard, A. T. Boutin, and J. E. Buikstra, eds. School for Advanced Research Press, pp. 109-133.
2011 Jane E. Buikstra, Aubrey Baadsgaard, and Alexis T. Boutin. “Introduction.” In Breathing New Life into the Evidence of Death: Contemporary Approaches to Bioarchaeology, A. Baadsgaard, A. T. Boutin, and J. E. Buikstra, eds. School for Advanced Research Press, pp. 3-26.
2010 Alexis T. Boutin. “The Burials.” In Tell Atchana, Ancient Alalakh, Volume I: The 2003-2004 Excavation Seasons. K.A. Yener, ed. Istanbul: Koç Universitesi Yayınları, pp. 111-121.

Reviews and Reports

2012

“Social Bioarchaeology,” ed. Sabrina C. Agarwal and Bonnie A. Glencross. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 22 (1): 135-136.
2010  Michael D. Meyer, Alexis T. Boutin, and Michael Stoyka. “Results of Human Remains Recovery at the Abalone Point Waterfall Site, Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California.”  Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California. Prepared for Point Reyes National Seashore.
2009 Benjamin W. Porter and Alexis T. Boutin. “The Peter B. Cornwall Collection, P.A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology: Collections Assessment.” University of California eScholarship.
2009 Review of “Sacred Spaces: Religious Architecture in the Ancient World,” by G.J. Wightman. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 19 (2): 284-286.

Recent Conference Symposia, Presentations, and Posters

2012 Alexis T. Boutin and Whitney McClellan, “Collection, Curation, and Commingling: The Stories of Two Near Eastern Museum Assemblages.” Paper presented at the Society for American Archaeology annual meetings, Memphis, April 2012.
2011 Alexis T. Boutin and Whitney McClellan, “Bioarchaeological Analysis of Human Remains from   Tell en-Nasbeh.” Paper presented at the American Schools of Oriental Research annual meetings, San Francisco, November 2011.
2011 Alexis T. Boutin and Benjamin W. Porter, “Dying in Dilmun: Revisiting the Peter B. Cornwall Collection.” Paper presented at the American Schools of Oriental Research annual meetings, San Francisco, November 2011.
2011 Co-organizer (with Benjamin W. Porter) of symposium, “Remembering and Commemorating: The Mortuary Archaeology and Bioarchaeology of Ancient Near Eastern Societies.” Held at the Society for American Archaeology annual meetings, Sacramento, April 2011.
2011 Alexis T. Boutin and Benjamin W. Porter, “Dying in Dilmun: Revisiting the Peter B. Cornwall Collection.” Paper presented at the Society for American Archaeology annual meetings, Sacramento, April 2011.
2011 Invited discussant, “The Future of Bioarchaeology: A Forum in Honor of Jane E. Buikstra, the 2010 Fryxell Award Winner.” Held at the Society for American Archaeology annual meetings, Sacramento, April 2011.
2009    Colleen Morgan, Alexis T. Boutin, Sheel Jagani, and Benjamin W. Porter, “Old Bones, Digital Narratives: Re-Investigating the Cornwall Collection in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum.” Paper presented at the 9th International Conference of UMAC (University Museums and Collections), Berkeley, September 2009.
2009 “Objectified Bodies: Reconstructing a “Foundation Burial” from Late Bronze Age Alalakh (Ancient Syria).” Paper presented at Theoretical Archaeology Group, Stanford, May 2009.
2008 Co-organizer (with Aubrey Baadsgaard and Jane Buikstra) of SAR Short Seminar, “Breathing New Life into the Evidences of Death”. Held at the School for Advanced Research, September 11-12, 2008.
2007 Co-organizer (with Aubrey Baadsgaard) of symposium, “Breathing New Life into the Evidence of Death: Contemporary Approaches to Mortuary Analysis.” Held at the Annual Meetings of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, April 2007.
2007 “Osteobiographies of Life and Death from Ancient Alalakh.” Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, April 2007.
2007 “Written in Stone, Written in Bone: The Osteobiography of a Bronze Age Craftsman fromAlalakh (Turkey).” Poster presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Association of Physical Anthropology, Philadelphia, March 2007.
2005 “Mortuary Practices and Bodies of Identity: The ‘Plastered Tomb’ at Ancient Alalakh.” Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C., December 2005.
2005 “Life and Death at Alalakh: A Bioarchaeological and Phenomenological Reconstruction of the ‘Plastered Tomb.’” Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Philadelphia, November 2005.