Current Position:

Professor of Anthropology

Description:

I'm a physical/biological anthropologist.

Office Hours:

My FALL semester office hours:
     Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.,
     Tuesday and Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

My SPRING semester office hours:
     Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.,
     Tuesday and Thursday 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Field Of Study:

Physical/Biological Anthropology

Human and Primate Evolution

Phylogenetic Analysis (Cladistics), Statistics and Informatics in Anthropology

Forensic Anthropology and Skeletal Biology

Research Interests:

Phylogenetic analysis as applied to morphological and continuous data

Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene Hominins

 

Courses:

FALL Semester

• ANTY 314: Principles of Forensic Anthropology
• ANTY 515: Theory & Methods in Biological Anthropology
• ANTY 311: Primatology (even years)
• ANTY 514: Seminar in Paleoanth & Evolutionary Analysis (odd years)

 

WINTERSESSION

• ANTY 101H: Anthropology & the Human Experience

 

SPRING Semester

• ANTY 408: Advanced Anthropological Statistics
• ANTY 512: Advanced Forensic Anthropology
• ANTY 312: Human Evolution (even years)
• CJUS 488: Forensic Science Beyond the Crime Lab (odd years)

 

SUMMER Session

• ANTY 310: Human Variation
• ANTY 101H: Anthropology & the Human Experience

 

OTHER Classes Taught Occasionally

• ANTY 210N: Introduction to Physical Anthropology
• ANTY 401: Anthropological Data Analysis
• ANTY 412: Osteology
• CJSU 125: Fundamentals of Forensic Science

Hobbies:

When I have time I play video games.  The games I like best are all the Arc the Lad, except the most recent one; the Shadow Hearts series; and the original dotHack series (not! GU).

Education:

Where                                           When            Degree Earned

Yuba Community College             1973-1975      AA in Life Sciences

University of California, Davis      1975-1977      BS in Anthropology

University of California, Davis      1977-1979      MA in Anthropology

University of California, Davis      1979-1983      PhD in Anthropology

University of Montana, Missoula  2001-2006      BS in Computer Science & Mathematical Sciences

Teaching Experience:

1991-present: Professor, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor, Anthropology, The University of Montana

1988-1991:      Assistant Professor, Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.

1980-1988:      Visiting Lecturer/Assistant Prof, Anthropology, University of California, Davis.

1985-1988       Research Associate, Anthropology, University of California, Davis.

1977-1983       Teaching Assistant & Reader, Anthropology, University of California, Davis.

Affiliations:

Member: American Academy of Forensic Sciences

Specialized Skills:

Physical Anthropology; Phylogenetic Analysis; Forensic Anthropology

International Experience:

Basically none.  I attended a convention in Canada once a long time ago.

Selected Publications:

Tornow, Matthew A. and Skelton, Randall R. 2012. A priori assumptions about characters as a cause of incongruence between molecular and morphological hypotheses of primate interrelationships. Primates 53(1):83–96.

Prentiss, Anna Marie; Skelton, Randall R.; Eldridge, Niles; Quinn, Colin, 2011. Get Rad! The Evolution of the Skateboard Deck. Evolution, Education, & Outreach. "Online First" prepublication version available at http://www.springerlink.com/ content/1936-6426/preprint/?sort=p_OnlineDate&sortorder=desc&o=10

Skelton, Randall R., 2011.  A Survey of the Forensic Sciences.  Raleigh, NC: Lulu Press.

Skelton, Randall R., 2003. Finding a Perfect Body for Sacagawea. A Confluence of Cultures: Native Americans and the Expedition of Lewis and Clark, 2003 Symposium Proceedings, pp. 146-148. Also featured prominently on the DVD produced from the symposium.

Graber, Robert Bates, Skelton, Randall R., Rowlett, Ralph M., Kephart, Ronald, and Brown, Susan Love, 2000. Meeting Anthropology Phase to Phase. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.

Skelton, Randall R, 1997. How Children Score on Discriminant Functions Designed for Adults. Intermountain J. of Sci. 3(1):47-53.

Skelton, R.R., H.M. McHenry, and G.M. Drawhorn, 1986. Phylogenetic analysis of Plio-Pleistocene hominids. Current Anthropology 27:21-43.

 

Other Publications:

Skelton, Randall R., 2000. Physical Anthropology. Section in Microsoft Encarta 2000 encyclopedia.

Skelton, Randall R., 1998. Book review of WHAT THE BONES SAY: TASMANIAN ABORIGINES, SCIENCE AND DOMINATION. International J. of Osteoarchaeology, 8(3):224-227.

Skelton, Randall R., 1996. A Suggested Method for Using Means Data in Discriminant Functions Using Anthropometric Data. Journal of World Anthropology 1(4). http://wings.buffalo.edu/research/anthrogis/JWA/V1N4/skelton-art.txt.

Skelton, Randall R., 1995. The Impact of the Human Remains & Burial Site Protection Act on the Practice of Archaeology in Montana. Archaeology in Montana 36(1):33-35.

Skelton, Randall R., 1994. Book Review of Kingdon, Jonathan, 1993, Self-Made Man: Human Evolution from Eden to Extinction? John Wiley, New York. ISBN 0-471-30538-3. xiii + 368 pp. $27.95 (cloth). Am. J. Phys. Anthrop. 94:160-161.

Skelton, R.R. and McHenry, H.M., 1992. Evolutionary Relationships among Plio-Pleistocene Hominids. J. Human Evolution 23:309-349.

Skelton, Randall R., 1990. Primate Evolution Textbooks. Amer. J. Primatology 21:73-75.

Skelton, Randall R., 1990. Beneath the surface: The promise and problems of the Laetoli site. Amer. J. of Primatology 20:57-62.

Skelton, R.R. and H.M. McHenry, 1986. On the phylogenetic analysis of early hominids. Reply. Current Anthropology 27:363-365.

Skelton, R.R., H.M. McHenry, and G.M. Drawhorn, 1986. Phylogenetic analysis of Plio-Pleistocene hominids. Current Anthropology 27:21-43.

McHenry, Henry M. and Randall R. Skelton, 1985. Is Australopithecus africanus ancestral to Homo? In: Hominid Evolution: Past, Present and Future. Phillip V. Tobias (ed.). Pp. 221-226. Alan R. Liss, New York.

Skelton, R.R., H.M. McHenry, and G.M. Drawhorn, 1984. Phylogenetic analysis of Plio-Pleistocene hominids. Amer. J. Physical Anthropology 63(2):219.

Skelton, Randall R., 1983. Amino acid racemization dating: Its reliability for North American Archaeology. Ph.D dissertation in Anthropology, U of CA, Davis.

Skelton, R.R., 1982. A test of the applicability of amino acid racemization dating for Northern California. Amer. J. Physical Anthropology 57(2):228-229.

Countries Visited:

• United States
  
• Canada