Bones and Behavior Working GroupThe Bones and Behavior Working Group has just launched a new website to disseminate measurement protocols commonly used in biological anthropology. The centerpiece of the group’s work is the integrative measurement protocol (PDF), which assembles a core set of skeletal and non-skeletal measurements used in human biology, primatology, and evolutionary morphology. The site promises to include protocols for other methods, including collection of dried blood spots.

The integrative measurement protocol includes non-skeletal measures that many medical anthropologists collect — height, weight, and skinfolds, for example. These and related anthropometric methods are also covered in standard references like the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) Anthropometry Procedures Manual.

What sets the Bones and Behavior Protocol apart is its focus on core measures that span the study of humans and non-human primates. The working group organizers, Josh Snodgrass (U Oregon) and Susan Anton (NYU), note that researchers in different branches of biological anthropology — human biology, primatology, paleoanthropology — address a similar set of questions but work in relative isolation. With the integrative measurement protocol, they hope to encourage researchers to standardize procedures for a core set of measurements that would facilitate greater theoretical integration across subspecialties of biological anthropology.

The Bones and Behavior Working Group is also interested in expanding beyond the integrative measurement protocol. They envision the new website as a clearinghouse for data collection protocols in biological anthropology and encourage contributions from other colleagues. Let’s hope it takes off.