Siân Halcrow

Siân Halcrow
Born
Siân Ellen Halcrow
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Otago
Thesis
Academic work
DisciplineBiological anthropology
InstitutionsUniversity of Otago

Siân Ellen Halcrow is a New Zealand academic in the field of biological anthropology, specialising in infant and child health and disease in the past populations. She is a professor in the department of anatomy at the University of Otago.[1]

Academic career

Halcrow began a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in anthropology at the University of Auckland and transferred to the University of Otago for her third year and honours year.[2]

Halcrow completed a PhD at the University of Otago in 2006; her thesis was titled Subadult health and disease in late prehistoric mainland Southeast Asia.[3] In 2010, she was appointed to a lecturing position at the University of Otago.[2]

She has led and worked on archaeological projects studying human remains, specifically children and infants[4], in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, China, Chile and New Zealand.[5][6] This area of study helps to understand major human transitions such as the intensification of agriculture,[7] and Halcrow uses this as a way to explore the ethics of the study and preservation of human remains in Aotearoa New Zealand and other parts of the world.[4]

Siân Halcrow manages a northeast Thailand skeletal collection from a late Iron Age site called Non Ban Jak, which shows the development of social complexity before the Kingdom of Angkor (also known as the Khmer Empire) was established.[7] Halcrow takes these cultural opportunities to look at cross-cultural relationships and understandings between the living and the dead, which in turn represents the operation of society through different cultures.[7]

Halcrow has contributed to many Otago University services such as the Division of Health Sciences Research Forum Organising Committee in 2012, the OSMS Māori Strategic Framework Group in 2015, and the Summer School and Continuing Education Board in 2019.[8]

Awards and recognition

In 2018, Halcrow won the Hill Tinsley Medal from the New Zealand Association of Scientists. In the same year, she received the University of Otago's Rowheath Trust Award and Carl Smith Medal for outstanding scholarly achievement of researchers in the early stages of their careers.[9] Halcrow has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and since 2020 is Co-Editor-In-Chief for the global quarterly journal Bioarchaeology International.[8][10]

Selected works

  • Gowland, R., & Halcrow, S. (Eds.). (2020). The mother-infant nexus in anthropology: Small beginnings, significant outcomes. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-27393-4
  • Snoddy, Anne Marie E.; Buckley, Hallie R.; Elliott, Gail E.; Standen, Vivien G.; Arriaza, Bernardo T.; Halcrow, Siân E. (2018). "Macroscopic features of scurvy in human skeletal remains: A literature synthesis and diagnostic guide". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 167 (4): 876–895. doi:10.1002/ajpa.23699. ISSN 0002-9483. PMC 6282809. PMID 30298514.
  • Halcrow, S.E., Tayles, N. "The Bioarchaeological Investigation of Childhood and Social Age: Problems and Prospects". Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 15, 190–215 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-008-9052-x

References

  1. ↑ Department of Anatomy. "Profile". www.otago.ac.nz. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Personal journeys of New Zealand researchers". Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  3. ↑ "Subadult health and disease in late prehistoric mainland Southeast Asia". otago.primo.exlibrisgroup.com. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Siân Halcrow". Asia Media Centre | Helping New Zealand media cover Asia. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  5. ↑ "Siân Halcrow". Asia Media Centre | New Zealand. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  6. ↑ "Sian Halcrow". Mothers in Science. 25 January 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 "What it's like to work with the dead in Southeast Asia". Asia Media Centre | Helping New Zealand media cover Asia. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  8. 1 2 Otago, University of (1 August 2023). "Profile". www.otago.ac.nz. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  9. ↑ Asia-Pacific Biocultural Health. "Hill Tinsley Medal awarded". University of Otago. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  10. ↑ "Prof chosen for bioarchaeology editing role". Otago Daily Times Online News. 15 August 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
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