Brenda Baker

Brenda Baker is a Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on bioarchaeology, paleopathology, and ancient population studies across Africa and the Mediterranean. She specializes in skeletal analysis to understand health, mobility, and cultural practices in ancient communities, particularly in Nubia and Sudan. Dr. Baker leads interdisciplinary projects exploring mortuary practices, disease patterns, and human-environment interactions in prehistoric and historic contexts.

Her work integrates methods like isotopic analysis, dental morphology studies, and statistical clustering to investigate kinship, migration, and trauma. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Sudan, Cyprus, and Egypt, contributing to international collaborative projects such as the Qatar-Sudan Archaeological Project and the Fourth Cataract Project. Dr. Baker is also actively involved in developing ethical guidelines for the excavation and curation of human remains, emphasizing cultural sensitivity and repatriation issues. Her research bridges past and present through studies on climate change impacts, disability in bioarchaeology, and the application of modern forensic techniques to ancient populations.