British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology

Our Vision Biological anthropologists study biological evolution and variation. This may include the study primatology, hominines, medical anthropology, forensic anthropology, and bioarchaeology, the latter being focused on archaeological human remains, including palaeopathology or the study of ancient disease. The British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology (BABAO) provides a forum for discussion and intellectual exchange for professionals and students in all areas of biological anthropology. BABAO acts as an advocate to encourage discussion of new research discoveries at our conferences, disseminates this knowledge in our publications, provides guidance to biological anthropologists in the form of our Code of Ethics and Code of Practice, provides help to museum curators in the form of our “Guidance for Institutions Receiving Collections”, and where possible education to the general public on issues relating to biological anthropology. We believe that it is vitally important that we improve our understanding of our species through the study of the remains of humans and their ancestors who lived in the past, in conjunction with the study of modern humans and closely related species of primates living around the world today. Such knowledge helps us to comprehend just what it is to be human. We are fully committed to promoting the highest ethical standards in the treatment and care of human remains and do not condone actions or statements that violate these principles. Membership of the organisation is open to all who support these aims. Our History The annual BABAO conference at Cranfield University took place in September 2018 and this coincided with BABAO’s 20th anniversary. This gave us the opportunity to reflect on our origin and evolution. This is a short description of BABAO’s history. The exercise to produce this history was quite challenging, even though I was there from the start! Many apologies if something or somebody vital to this history is missing. Some of the BABAO Trustees, as of September 2018, and a number of members provided help and images (Jelena Bekvalac, Megan Brickley, Jo Buckberry, Margaret Cox, Malin Holst, Tina Jakob, Chris Knüsel, Mary Lewis, Simon Mays, Piers Mitchell, Holger Schutkowski, Martin Smith, Nivien Speith, James Steele, and Sam Tipper). BABAO’s Origin and Functioning There was no organisation for UK practitioners before BABAO except for the Osteoarchaeological Research Group, and headed up by Sue Anderson (of Spoilheap Archaeology). ‘BABAO’s ‘birth’ can be linked to a conference in 1998 at Bournemouth University organized by Margaret Cox and Simon Mays. It was then agreed to initiate BABAO and the first official conference was in Birmingham in 1999, hosted by Megan Brickley. Megan also agreed to take the organization forward on Margaret’s suggestion. Megan became our first President and the committee was set up…..and the rest is history. Prior to BABAO’s formation, people who wanted to be associated with an organization joined the U.S. based Paleopathology Association and/or the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. It should be noted that there are several people who have been instrumental in taking the organization forward, meaning stepping up to serve on the committee or Board of Trustees for a number of years. Particular mention should be made of Andrew Chamberlain (Non-executive member for 7 years), Tina Jakob (membership secretary for 4 years, general secretary for 1 year, & non-executive member for 4 years), Simon Mays (Professional Organization rep for 14 years), Jackie McKinley (Treasurer for 7 years & commercial archaeology rep for one year), Melissa Melikian (commercial archaeology rep for 5 years), Piers Mitchell (3 years as President, 3 years general secretary, & 1 year as a non-executive member), Holger Schutkowski (President for 4 years & general secretary for 3 years).