The Southern Utah University Department of History, Sociology, and Anthropology hosted a “Snacks and Skulls” event on Wednesday, Jan. 24. The event featured a table packed with various skull casts as well as an assortment of chips, apples and peanuts.
Crystal Koenig, an assistant professor of anthropology at SUU, shared why the event is beneficial to the entire student body.
“I think for anthropology students, the benefits are pretty obvious,” said Koenig. “For the broader campus community, I don’t think that SUU students are always aware that we have a pretty great resource in this giant cast collection. It tends to increase awareness that we offer these general education classes that are of pretty broad interest.”
In addition to the more traditional snacks, the event also allowed students to munch on dehydrated ants, which were favored by early species of human for their high protein content.
“You get the most amount of protein in the least amount of space,” explained Koenig.
Jalynn Lunceford, an anthropology student, helped out with this event by offering additional information to students visiting the display. According to her, the exposure is extremely valuable to the anthropology department.
“Anthropology is actually one of the smallest majors on campus. Having an event like this really gets our department out there,” said Lunceford. “[Anthropology] gives them a really good biological and cultural basis of knowledge that they can use for practically any major on campus. We’re a really good all-around class to take.”
Good anthropology classes to start with include Biological Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology and Archaeology.
“Those are kind of the three specialty areas of our three anthropologists in the department,” explained Koenig.
To see the anthropology department’s collection of skulls and casts, visit Bristlecone Hall, Room 314. For more information about the anthropology department and the courses they offer, visit their website.
Author: Nick Stein
Photos: Nick Stein
life@suunews.net
