Prowse Tracy, (she/her); Associate Professor; Associate Dean Academic, Faculty of Social Sciences; Associate Editor, American Journal of Biological Anthropology
Tracy Prowse
(she/her); Associate Professor; Associate Dean Academic, Faculty of Social Sciences; Associate Editor, American Journal of Biological Anthropology
Faculty
Department of Anthropology
Area(s) of Interest:
Biography
My research explores diet and mobility in past populations, using stable isotope analyses of human bones and teeth. My approach is interdisciplinary, combining skeletal, isotopic, and archaeological evidence embedded within the historical and archaeological context of the people I study.
My ongoing research project is a bioarchaeological investigation of a rural Roman cemetery on an Imperial estate at Vagnari, south Italy. Learn more about the Bioarchaeological Field School at Vagnari here. I am also working on the following projects:
1) A SSHRC Insight Development Grant entitled 'Deadly Lead? An Interdisciplinary Study of Lead Production, Lead Exposure, and Health on an Imperial Roman Estate in Italy'. This research focuses on lead production, lead use, and associated lead exposure at the Roman period site of Vagnari (south Italy). My co-PI on this project is Dr. Maureen Carroll from the University of York, UK. Learn more about the Deadly Lead Project here.
2) An integrated analysis of health, diet, and mobility in Roman Merovingian Michelet, France. My co-PIs on this project are Dr. Cecile Chapelain de Sereville-Niel and Dr. Christine De La Place (Caen, France). This research is funded through the France-Canada New Research Collaboration Program.
My teaching and supervisory interests include; bioarchaeology, anthropological applications of stable isotope analysis, skeletal biology, palaeopathology, palaeonutrition, and Roman bioarchaeology.
Supervision
I will be on research leave during the 2023-24 academic year, so I will not be accepting graduate students at this time.
Current Graduate Students
Jess Hider (PhD - with H. Poinar)
Akacia Propst (PhD)
Alessio Amaro (PhD)
Katarina Borisov (MA)
Recent MA and PhD Thesis Supervision
PhD
Creighton Avery (2022) Coming of age in the Roman Empire: Exploring the social and physical transformations of adulescentia (adolescence) (co-supervisor with M. Brickley).
Rebecca Gilmour (2017) Resilient Romans: Cross-sectional evidence for long term functional consequences of extremity trauma (co-supervisor with M. Brickley)
- Assistant Professor, Mount Royal University
Matthew Emery (2017) The biogeographic origins of Iron Age Iapygians and working-class Romans from southern Italy (co-supervisor with H. Poinar)
- Adjunct Faculty/Lecturer, Binghamton University, New York
Lori D’Ortenzio (2017) Tooth tales: What internal dental structures reveal about vitamin D deficiency and age estimation (co-supervisor with M. Brickley)
Robert Stark (2016) Ancient lives in motion: a bioarchaeological examination of stable isotopes, non-metric traits and human migration in an Imperial Roman context.
- Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Warsaw
Stephanie Marciniak (2016) Scourge of the Empire? Ancient Pathogen Genomics and the Biosocial Context of Malaria in Imperial-Era Southern Italy (1st-4th c. A.D.) (co-supervisor with H. Poinar).
- Postdoctoral Fellow at Pennsylvania State University
MA
Hana Salahuddin (2019) Individual breastfeeding and weaning histories in Iron Age south Italy using stable isotope analysis of incremental dentine sections and bone collagen.
- PhD, Western University
Taylor Smith (2018) Breastfeeding and weaning histories in a 19thcentury Spanish sample.
- PhD, Western University
Lisa Semchuk (2016) A stable isotope investigation of diet in the Vagnari cemetery.
Education
- PhD McMaster University, 2001
- MA University of Alberta
- BSc University of Alberta
Teaching
Courses (2022-2023)
Fall:
- No Anthro courses
Winter:
- ANTHROP 2FF3 - Skeletal Biology and Bioarchaeology
Courses (2021-2022)
Fall:
- No Anthro courses
Winter:
- ANTHROP 2FF3 - Human Skeletal Biology and Bioarchaeology
- ANTHROP 715 - Readings: Biological Anthropology
Research
*** - undergraduate when submitted; ** - graduate when submitted; * - alum when submitted
In press *Salahhudin H, Prowse TL. Multi-tissue analysis of breastfeeding and weaning in Iron Age (7th – 4th century BCE) South Italy. Bioarchaeology International.
2023 **Avery LC, Prowse TL, Findlay S, Chapelain de Sereville C, Brickley MB. Pubertal timing as a. measure of early life stress in Roman Italy and Roman Gaul. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 180(3): 548-560.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002.ajpa.24680
2022 **Avery LC, Prowse TL, Findlay S, Bondioli L, Sperduti A, Brickley MB. Eating like adults: An investigation of dietary change in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood at Portus Romae (Italy, 1st-4th centuries CE). Bioarchaeology International. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5744/bi.2022.0006
2022 **Hider H, Duggan AT, Klunk J, Eaton K, Long G, Karpinski E, Giuffra V, Ventura L, Fornaciari A, Fornaciari G, Golding B, Prowse T, Poinar H. Examining pathogen DNA recovery across the remains of a 14th century Italian friar (Blessed Sante) infected with Brucella melitensis. International Journal of Paleopathology 39: 20-34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2022.08.002
2022 Perry MA, Killgrove K, Gregoricka LA, Prowse TL. Towards accurate meta-analyses in Mediterranean bioarchaeology: A critical response to Leppard et al. (JMA 33, 2020). Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 35(1): 108-132.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1558/jma.23771
2022 Buikstra J, DeWitte S, Agarwal S, Baker B, Bartelink E, Berger E, Blevins K, Bolhofner K, Boutin A, Brickley M, Buzon M, de la Cova C, Goldstein L, Grauer A, Gregoricka L, Halcrow S, Hall S, Hillson S, Kakaliouras A, Klaus H, Knudson K, Knusel C, Larsen C, Martin D, Milner G, Novak M, Nystrom K, Pacheco-Forés S, Prowse TL, Robbins Schug G, Roberts C, Rothwell J, Santos AL, Stojanowski C, Stone A, Stull K, Temple D, Torres C, Toyne JM, Tung T, Ullinger J, Wiltschke-Schrotta K, Zakrzewski S. Twenty-first century bioarchaeology: Taking stock and moving forward. Yearbook of Biological Anthropology 2022: 1-61.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24494
2022 Prowse TL. Human remains in the Vicus. In, MP Carroll (Ed.), The Making of a Roman Imperial Estate: Archaeology in the Vicus at Vagnari, Puglia. Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 206-208.
2022 *Stark RJ, *Emery MV, Schwarcz H, Castex D, and Prowse TL. Assessing Gallo-Roman mobility at the Rue Jacques Brel necropolis site (1st to 3rd c. CE), France. Journal of Archaeological Sciences: Reports. 43: 103470. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103470
2021 Glencross B, Warrick G, *Smith T, and Prowse TL. Estimating ancient Huron-Wendat diet in southern Ontario using stable isotopes from dogs. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 41: 103324. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103324
2021*Stark RJ, Emery MV, Schwarcz H, Sperduti A, Bondioli L, Craig OE, and Prowse TL. Dataset of Oxygen (d18Oc) and Strontium (87Sr/86Sr) values utilized for tracing human mobility at the Imperial Roman site of Velia (ca. 1st to 2nd c. CE) in southern Italy. Data in Brief 38: 107421.
2021 **Avery CL, Brickley MB, Findlay S, Chapelain de Seréville C, Prowse TL. Childhood diet in Roman Gaul: An investigation of incremental dietary stable isotopes. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.3033
2021. *Ledger ML, Micarelli I, Rowan E, Prowse TL, Carroll M, Killgrove K, Rice C, Ward D, Tafuri MA, Manzi G, and Mitchell PD. Gastrointestinal infection in Italy during the Roman and Longobard period: a palaeoparasitological analysis of sediment from skeletal remains and sewer drains. International Journal of Paleopathology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpp.2021.03.001
2021 *Gilmour RJ, Brickley M, Hoogland M, Jurriaans E, Mays S, and Prowse TL. Quantifying cortical bone in fragmentary archaeological second metacarpals. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24248
2021 Carroll M, Evans J, Pashley V, and Prowse T. Tracking Roman lead sources using lead isotope analysis. A case study from the Imperial rural estate at Vagnari (Puglia, Italy). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 36: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102821
2020 Glencross B, Lesage L, Prowse T, *Smith T, and Warrick G. New insights from old dog bones: Dogs as proxies for understanding ancient human diets. In, C Meloche, L Spake, and K Nichols (eds.): Working with and for Ancestors: Collaboration in the Care and Study of Ancestral Remains. London: Routledge, pp. 190-202.
2020 *Stark RJ, *Emery MV, Schwarcz H, Sperduti A, Bondioli L, Craig OE, and Prowse TL. Imperial Roman mobility and migration at Velia (1st to 2nd c. CE) in southern Italy. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102217
2019 **Avery LC, Prowse TL, Brickley M. Dental health and dietary differences at late Roman Winchester. International Journal of Paleopathology. Bioarchaeology International 3(3): 157-174. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5744/bi.2019.1011
2019 *Peacock T, Bourbou C, *D'Ortenzio L, Kahlon B, Prowse T, Brickley M. Migration, mobility, and rickets: Investigating Vitamin D deficiency and regional mobility in Roman Switzerland. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 29: 654-664. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/oa.2781
2019 *Lockau L, Atkinson S, Mays S, Prowse T, George M, Bondioli L, Sperduti A, *Wood C, *Ledger M, Brickley M. Vitamin D deficiency and the ancient city: Early skeletal evidence across the life course from the Roman period site of Isola Sacra. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2019.101069
Prowse TL. Infant Feeding. In, S. Lopez Varela (ed.): The SAS Encyclopedia of Archaeological Sciences. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. DOI: 10.1002/9781119188230.saesas0320.
2018 Prowse TL, *Stark R, and *Emery M. Stable isotope analysis and human migration in the ancient Mediterranean world. In J. Yoo, A. Zerbini, and C. Barron (eds.): Migration, Diaspora and Identity in the Near East from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. London: Routledge, pp. 125-152.
2018 Brickley MB, Mays S, George M, and Prowse TL. Analysis of patterning in the occurrence of skeletal lesions used as indicators of vitamin D deficiency in subadult and adult skeletal remains. International Journal of Paleopathology 23: 43-53. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2018.01.001.
2018 *D'Ortenzio L, Prowse T, Inskip M, Kahlon H, and Brickley M. Age estimation in older adults: Use of pulp/tooth ratios calculated from tooth sections. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 165:594-603. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23371
2018 **Emery MV, Schwarcz HP, **Murchie TJ, Elford S, *Stark RJ, and Prowse TL. Assessing the origins of Imperial workers at a 1st - 4th century CE Roman period cemetery at Vagnari, southern Italy, using 87Sr/86Sr and delta 180 variation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa/23473.
2018 **Emery MV, Duggan AT, **Murchie TJ, *Stark RJ, Klunk J, **Hider J, **Eaton J, **Karpinksi E, Schwarcz HP, Poinar HN, and Prowse TL. Ancient Roman mitochondrial genomes and isotopes reveal genetic relationships and geographic origins at the local and pan-Mediterranean scales. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 20: 200-209. DOI: 10.1016/j/jasrep.2018.04.036.
2018 **Marciniak S, Herring DA, Sperduti A, Poinar HN, and Prowse TL. A multi-faceted anthropological and genomic approach to framing Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Imperial period central-southern Italy (1st - 4th c. C.E.). Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 49:210-224. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2018.01.004.
2018 Mays S, Prowse T, George M, and Brickley M. Latitude, urbanization, age, and sex as risk factors for vitamin D deficiency in the Roman Empire. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 167: 484-496. DOI: 10.1002ajpa.23646.
Moffat CS, and Prowse TL. Biocultural and bioarchaeological approaches to infant and young child feeding in the past. In, P. Beauchesne and S. Agarwal (eds.): Children and Childhood in Bioarchaeology. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, pp 98-126.
2018 Rutgers L, Ostrer H, Prowse T, and Schroeder H. Viewpoint: Diaspora, migration, and the sciences: A new integrated perspective. European Journal of Human Genetics 27: 509-510. DOI: 10.1038/s41431.018.0314.0
2018 Sperduti A, Bondioli L, Garnsey P, Craig O, Prowse T, and Garnsey P. Bones, teeth, and history. In, W. Scheidel (ed.): Science of Ancient History: Biology, Climate and the Future of the Past. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp 123-173.
2017 Prowse T. Lo studio antropologico dei resti scheletrici. In, L. Cossalter and M.R. Depalo (eds.), Il Paesaggio Storico Ricostruito. L'insediamento di Piana San Felice a Gravina in Puglia. Bari: Edipuglia, pp. 127-130.
2017 **Emery MV, Prowse TL, Elford S, Schwarcz HP, and Brickley M. Geographic origins of a war of 1812 skeletal sample integrating oxygen and strontium isotopes with GIS-based multi-criteria evaluation analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 14:323-331.
2016 **Marciniak S, Prowse TL, Herring DA, **Klunk J, Kuch M, Duggan AT, Bondioli L, Holmes EC, and Poinar HN. Plasmodium falciparum malaria in 1st – 2nd c. CE southern Italy. Current Biology 26:R1205-R1222.
2015**D'Ortenzio L, Brickley M, Schwarcz HP, and Prowse TL. You are not what you eat during physiological stress: Isotopic evaluation of human hair. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 157(3): 374-388.
2014 Prowse T, *Nause C, and *Ledger M. Growing up and growing old on an Imperial estate: preliminary palaeopathological analysis of skeletal remains from Vagnari. In, AM Small (ed): Beyond Vagnari: New Themes in the Study of Roman South Italy. Bari: Edipuglia, pp. 111-122.
2014 Brent L, and Prowse T. Grave goods, burial practices and patterns of distribution in the Vagnari cemetery. In, AM Small (ed): Beyond Vagnari: New Themes in the Study of Roman South Italy. Bari: Edipuglia, pp. 99-110.
2014 Prowse TL. Burial practices and tombs in the Roman world. In, C. Smith (ed.): Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. DOI: 10.1007/SpringerReference 401584 2014-02-28 14:30:49 UTC
2012 Prowse TL. Isola Sacra. In, R Bagnall, K Brodersen, C Champion, A Erskine and S Huebner (eds.): Encyclopedia of Ancient History. London: Wiley-Blackwell Press, pp. 3520-3521.
2011 Favia P and Prowse T. La sepoltura nella parte settentrionale del sito. In, AM Small (ed.) Vagnari: the village, the industries, the imperial property. Vagnari: il villaggio, l'artigianato, la proprieta' imperiale. Bari: Edipuglia, pp. 287-289.
2011 Prowse TL. Diet and dental health through the life course in Roman Italy. In, S. Agarwal and B. Glencross (eds.), The Handbook of Social Bioarchaeology. Wiley-Blackwell Press, pp. 410-437.
2011 Holobinko A, Meier-Augenstein W, Kemp H, Prowse T, Ford S. 2H stable isotope of human tooth enamel: a new tool for forensic human provenancing? Communications in Mass Spectrometry 25: 910-916.
2010 Prowse TL, Barta JL, von Hunnius TE, and Small AM. Stable isotope and mtDNA evidence for geographic origins at the site of Vagnari, South Italy. Journal of Roman Archaeology, Supplement 78: 175-198.
2010 Prowse TL, Saunders SR, FitzGerald C, Bondioli L, and Macchiarelli R. Growth, morbidity, and mortality in antiquity: a case study from Imperial Rome. In, T. Moffat and T. Prowse (eds.), Human Diet and Nutrition in Biocultural Perspective. Biosocial Society Series. Berghan Press.
2010 Moffat T and Prowse TL. (editors) Human Diet and Nutrition in Biocultural Perspective. Biosocial Society Symposium Series. Berghan Press.
2008 Prowse TL, Saunders SR, Schwarcz HP, Garnsey P, Bondioli L, and Macchiarelli R. Isotopic and dental evidence for weaning and young child feeding practices in an Imperial Roman skeletal sample. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 137(3): 294-308.2007
2007 Prowse TL. Burials/cemeteries: burials, excavation and recording techniques. In, DM Pearsall (ed.): Encyclopedia of Archaeology. Academic Press. pp. 944-948.
2007 Prowse TL, Schwarcz HP, Garnsey P, Bondioli L, Macchiarelli R, and Knyf M. Isotopic evidence for age-related immigration to Imperial Rome. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 132(4):510-519.
2007 Prowse TL. The human skeletal remains. In, Excavation in the Roman Cemetery at Vagnari in the Territory of Gravina in Puglia (2002) edited by Alastair Small and Carola Small. Papers of the British School at Rome, Volume LXXV, pp. 150-162. The British School at Rome, Rome (Italy).
2005 Prowse T, Schwarcz H, Saunders S, Bondioli L, and Macchiarelli R. Isotopic evidence for age-related variation in diet from Isola Sacra, Italy. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 128(1):2-13.
2004 Prowse T, Schwarcz H, Saunders S, Bondioli L, and Macchiarelli R. Isotopic paleodiet studies of skeletons from the Imperial Roman cemetery of Isola Sacra, Rome, Italy. Journal of Archaeological Science. 31(3):259-272.
1998 Small A, Small C, Campbell I, MacKinnon M, Prowse T, and Sipe C. Field Survey in the Basentello Valley on the Basilicata-Puglia Border. Echos du Monde Classique/Classical Views. XLII: 337-371.
1996 Prowse TL and Lovell NC. Concordance of Cranial and Dental Morphological Traits and Evidence for Endogamy in Ancient Egypt. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 101(2): 237-246.
1995 Prowse TL and Lovell NC. Biological Continuity between the A- and C- Groups in Lower Nubia: Evidence from Cranial Nonmetric Traits. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 5(2): 104-114.
Book Reviews
2017 Prowse TL. Bones: Orthopaedic Pathologies in Roman Imperial Age. Andrea Piccioli, Valentina Gazzaniga, Paola Catalano, with contributions by C. Caldarini, S. Marinozzi, M.S. Spinelli, F. Zavaroni. Springer, Heidelberg (2015). 171 pp. International Journal of Paleopathology 18: 5-6.
Site Reports
2020 Prowse TL Excavations of the Necropolis on the Roman Imperial Estate at Vagnari (Comune di Gravina in Puglia, Provincia di Bari, Regione Puglia). Papers of the British School at Rome 87: 377-379. DOI: 10.1017/S006824622000015X
2017 Prowse TL and Carroll PM. Exploring the Roman Imperial estate at Vagnari, Puglia (Comune di Gravina in Puglia, Provincia di Bari, Regione Puglia). Papers of the British School at Rome 85: 330-334.
2016 Carroll M and Prowse T. Research at the Roman Imperial estate at Vagnari, Puglia (Comune di Gravina in Puglia, Provincia di Bari, Regione Puglia). Papers of the British School at Rome 84:333-336.
2014 Carroll M and Prowse T. Exploring the vicus and the necropolis at the Roman Imperial estate at Vagnari (Comune di Gravina in Puglia, Provincia di Bari, Regione Puglia). Papers of the British School at Rome 82: 353-356.
2013 Prowse TL. Vagnari cemetery (Gravina in Puglia, Provincia di Bari, Regione Puglia). Papers of the British School at Rome 81: 384-386.
2012 Prowse TL. Excavations at Vagnari, 2011. Papers of the British School at Rome 80: 378-380.
2009 Prowse T and Small AM. Excavations in the Roman cemetery at Vagnari, 2008. Preliminary report. The Journal of Fasti Online. www.fastionline.org/docs/FOLDER-it-2009-131.pdf