AGES

Archaeological, Geographical & Environmental Sciences

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Prof Donald Ortner

Visiting Professor in Palaeopathology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Archaeological Sciences

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Donald J. Ortner is a biological anthropologist in the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), Smithsonian Institution where he has worked during most of his professional career. In 1988 he was appointed a Visiting Professor in the (then) Department of Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford. He has taught and conducted research in the Division during multiple visits since that time.

Research Interests

His major research interest is in human adaptation but he has a specific interest in calcified tissue biology and the effect of disease on human evolution during the Holocene. The latter interest includes a focus on the impact of major developments in human society, such as sedentism, urbanism and the development of agriculture, on human health. He has been conducting research on disease in archeological human skeletal remains for more than forty years. He is the author of more than 125 scientific papers many of which are on the subject of human disease. He is the coauthor of "Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains" (1981) a second edition of which was published by Academic Press in January 2003. He organized and edited the proceedings of the Smithsonian Institution's Seventh International Symposium on "How Humans Adapt: A Biocultural Odyssey" (1983) and co-edited "Human Paleopathology" (1991). He is currently conducting research on the antiquity of infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and brucellosis, for which domestic animals are an intermediate host. His has completed a book manuscript based on his research on the Early Bronze I human remains from the Early Bronze Age site of Bâb edh-Dhrâc in Jordan. The book will be published by AltaMira Press in April 2008.

He served as the Chairman of the Department of Anthropology, NMNH for four years (1988-1992) and as acting director of the NMNH for more than two years (1994-1996). He holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Kansas and an Honorary D.Sc. degree from the University of Bradford. He has done field work in Jordan and has conducted research projects in the United States, Europe, and Australia. He has served on several boards and review panels most recently as vice-chairman of the Bioarchaeology Panel, The Wellcome Trust, London. From 1999 to 2001, he was president of the Paleopathology Association, an international scientific society of more than 600 members that promotes the study of ancient disease. He is currently on the editorial boards of three scientific journals.