News

DNA Confirms Oral History of Swahili People

Ancient DNA reveals entwined African and Asian ancestry along the Swahili coast of eastern Africa

March 29, 2023

A new genetic study of medieval people who lived along the Indian Ocean coast of eastern Africa — an area often called the “Swahili coast” for its language and culture — revealed that they had both African and Persian ancestry.

Old bones get new life in renovated Rice laboratory

September 28, 2018

Collection of Texas animal bones donated by Houston Archeological Society

Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs? Try Intro to Archaeology

September 28, 2018
Students enrolled in Rice Professor of Anthropology Jeffrey Fleisher’s ANTH 205 (Introduction to Archaeology) course participated in his annual Cereal Survey Sept. 18 on campus. The exercise, which requires students to hunt for, identify and document “archaeological sites” made up of different types of breakfast cereal they find on the east side of campus, teaches students how to plan and execute an archaeological survey.

African settlers and modern mobility: Rice research project to capture unrecorded history

September 25, 2018
One of the great demographic transformations in human history will become the focus of a new research project from a Rice University anthropologist, whose work will capture how early settlers survived in south central Africa and offer important lessons about modern mobility.