The SMU Brown Bag Lecture Series, a monthly noon lecture sponsored by the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, held its program yesterday in the Texana Room of the DeGolyer Library. Senior teaching fellow in the anthropology department Catrina Whitley headed the lecture on “The Study of Death: Revealing Life Stories in the Rio Grande del Rancho Valley.”

In her lecture, Whitley likened the study of archeology to what many people see in a ‘CSI’ television episode. However, the difference is that archeologists do not focus on death, like the characters in ‘CSI.’

“When we study archeology, we study not just about the death but also about the life,” Whitley said.

According to Whitley, archeologists strive to gain an understanding of how the deceased lived. In this process, they not only gain knowledge about the culture, but also about the life stories of the individual whose bones are being studied.

“Every incident of broken bone and everything you eat is recorded in your bones,” she said.

For example, Whitley, whose research deals with the residents of the Rio Grande Del Rancho Valley from 150 A.D. to 1320, told the audience about how examining a few specimens tells her about the kinds of diseases the population faced.

Whitely said the use of modern technology has made reading bones even more accurate.

“Thanks to modern technology, we have been able to expand the details we can extract from skeletons,” she said.

The use of DNA extraction proves to be particularly helpful, but comes with an ethical dilemma since the process is rather destructive to the bones being studied. Whitley also said that dental radiographs could help pinpoint the age of the individual to within a year. The use of technology now includes the scanning electron microscope images and CT scans.

Whitley finished her lecture stressing how easy it is to “forget the life aspect and forget the human element.” She then went onto a question and answer session with the audience that included students, faculty and other members of the SMU community interested in hearing about archeology.

The next installment of the Brown Bag Lecture Series will be held Wednesday, Nov. 14.