Objectives

The main goals of the unit is the study of human health, disease and well-being, in past and living populations, from a bio-cultural perspective. This is achieved through:

1. Research projects

2. Graduate teaching courses and supervising of Masters and PhD theses (The Department of Anthropology offers three Masters programs: Medical Anthropology; Human Evolution and Biology and Social and Cultural Anthropology; and three PhD programs: Biological Anthropology; Forensic Anthropology and Social and Cultural Anthropology)

3. Publication of “Antropologia Portuguesa”

4. Development of Museum activities directed to both the general and specialized audiences

5. Services to the society, namely assisting and supervising educational activities to archaeological institutions, organizing public lectures to the general public, to schools, to health managers and to local political authorities, among others

Our research projects cover important topics such as:

1. The study of human developmental origins of health and disease (DOHD)

2. The evaluation of prevalence of obesity in child and adolescents in relation to sedentary behaviors (TV watching, internet use) and to patterns of physical activity

3. The examination of social inequalities in growth and health

4. Assess trends in child oral health inequalities

5. To characterize genetic variation among individuals and populations

6. Understand why do genetic diseases vary in their incidence between populations

7. Understand the effects of past genetic diseases on modern patterns of genetic variation

8. Compare Mesolithic and contemporary populations to reveal individual life histories and reconstruct past demography

9. Explore the relevance of skeletal remains for the study of human conditions and behavior

10. Develop criteria for diagnosis of sex, age and pathology (mainly infectious and neoplastic diseases, stress and dietary behavior) using skeletal analysis.