Dr. Victoria van der Haas recently completed her PhD under the supervision of Professor A.W. Weber. Her dissertation, titled Growing up in the Cis-Baikal region of Siberia, Russia: reconstructing childhood diet of Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers, reconstructs the dietary life histories of Early Bronze Age hunter-gatherers from the Lake Baikal region through the application of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis on serial micro-samples of human tooth dentine. By revealing minute intra- and inter-individual dietary changes, this micro-sampling technique permits inferences to be made regarding resource choice, health, nutrition, and even movement. Victoria is an archaeologist with a research focus on the prehistory of East Asia and her research aims to ultimately provide a more detailed and informative understanding of human behaviour in the Baikal region. She is currently a visiting scientist at the University of Toronto Mississauga.
RESEARCH INTERESTS: Hunter-gatherers, Individual life-histories, Stable isotopes, Dental anthropology, Prehistory of Asia
