Richard Jantz facts for kids

Richard L. Jantz is an American anthropologist. He used to be in charge of the University of Tennessee's Anthropological Research Facility from 1998 to 2011. Now, he is a Professor Emeritus in the Anthropology Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

His main research areas include forensic anthropology, which is using bones to solve mysteries. He also studies human bones, how our bodies change, and how people are different. He helps create computer tools to make this research easier. Dr. Jantz has written many articles and books. His work has greatly helped the fields of physical and forensic anthropology.

One of his students was Douglas W. Owsley.

Early Life and Education

Richard Jantz grew up in a small town in central Kansas. He went to a community college first. Then he attended the University of Kansas. There, he took a class from a famous anthropologist named Dr. William M. Bass.

He earned his Bachelor's degree in Anthropology in 1962. He got his Master's degree in 1964 and his Ph.D. in 1970. All his degrees were from the University of Kansas. Early on, he realized he was very good at using math (called statistical analysis) to understand measurements.

Exploring Human Body Changes

Dr. Jantz's research often looks at how human bodies change over time. He studies measurements of bones (called osteometry) and body parts (called anthropometry). He has studied Native American groups.

Re-examining an Old Study

In the early 1900s, a scientist named Franz Boas did a study. He looked at how the environment might change the human body. Boas measured children of immigrants who came to the United States. He found that their body measurements became more like those of Americans. Boas thought this showed that food and environment were more important than family background in shaping bodies. Many people believed his study proved that human bodies could adapt.

In 2002, Dr. Jantz decided to look at Boas's study again. He was the first person to check if Boas's findings were still true. Dr. Jantz's research used bones from 10,000 years ago up to modern times. He argued that Boas's ideas about skull changes in children were not quite right. He said he found only very small differences between children born in Europe and those born in America. He also thought that being in America did not really change the children's skulls.

However, other scientists have disagreed with Dr. Jantz's re-evaluation. Jonathan Marks, another anthropologist, said that Jantz's work was quickly challenged by other experts.

In 2003, anthropologists Clarence C. Gravlee, H. Russell Bernard, and William R. Leonard re-examined Boas's original data. They used new computer methods. They found that most of Boas's first findings were correct. They even found more proof that skulls can change due to the environment. They also said that Dr. Jantz and his colleague had misunderstood Boas's claims. They pointed out that Boas looked at how long the *mother* had been in the United States. This is important because a baby's environment before birth can greatly affect its development.

Other Important Research

Dr. Jantz also studies how small changes happen in groups of people. For example, he looked at Aleut and Eskimo groups near the Bering Sea. He uses body measurements to understand these changes.

He helps create and keep up-to-date computer databases for research. These databases include:

• Boas's measurements of 15,000 ancient Native Americans and 2,000 Siberians.
• Forensic data from 1,500 recent American skeletons.
• A database of fingerprints (dermatoglyphics) from 50,000 people worldwide.
• Skull and bone measurements from 2,000 people from the Great Plains and other Western regions.

Another project looked at the DNA (called mtDNA) from three Arikara sites in South Dakota. These sites were used between 1600 and 1832 AD. The research showed that these people were similar to other Native American groups. This suggests different groups mixed together in more recent times.

He is also working on a project using CT scans to better guess the sex of a person from their skull bones. The skull is the second best way to tell sex after the pelvis. Right now, traditional methods are about 85-90% accurate. This new project aims to make it even more accurate. It uses CT scans of modern skeletons from a special collection. This project is funded by the National Institute of Justice.

Dr. Jantz has also been involved in famous cases. He helped study Kennewick Man, a very old skeleton found in Washington in 1996. He was one of eight anthropologists who sued the government to get more access to study Kennewick Man's remains.

He also helped identify the crew members of the Confederate submarine Hunley. This submarine was found off the coast of South Carolina. Scientists used skeletal data and old records to identify the crew. They wanted to learn about the soldiers' lives on the submarine, how long they were there, and any injuries or illnesses they had. The skeletons were well preserved. This allowed scientists to create facial reconstructions to show what the crew might have looked like.

More recently, Dr. Jantz has reviewed evidence about the Nikumaroro bones. He helped look into whether these bones might belong to the missing aviator Amelia Earhart.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Jantz was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This was for his important work in creating databases and computer programs for biological anthropology. In 2003, he received the Research and Creative Achievement Award from the University of Tennessee.