George Milner - Department of Anthropology

George Milner's areas of specialization are in human osteology as well as eastern North American archaeology. Topics of particular research interest include the demographic structure of past populations, skeletal age estimation for archaeological and forensic purposes, paleoepidemiology, long-term trends in settlement patterns and human land use, and warfare among small-scale societies in the deep past. His research has taken him to Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, in addition to the American Midwest and Southeast, to conduct fieldwork and study skeletal collections.

Field and Museum Work:

Over 67 months taking part in archaeological surveys and excavations on mortuary and habitation sites in the United States (Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Missouri), Denmark, Mongolia, Micronesia (Saipan, CNMI), and Egypt.
Studied modern and archaeological skeletons from the United States, Denmark, Portugal, South Africa, Egypt, Saipan, and Thailand; also prehistoric artifacts from the United States (Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, and Wisconsin).

Selected Publications:

2023 (Milner GR, Boldsen JL.) Population Trends and the Transition to Agriculture: Global Processes as Seen from North America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 120:e2209478119.
2022 (Boldsen JL, Milner GR, Ousley SD.) Paleodemography: From Archaeology and Skeletal Age Estimation to Life in the Past. Yearbook of Biological Anthropology 178(Suppl. 74):115-150.
2020 (Rasmussen KL, Milner GR, Delbey T, Skytte L, Søvsø M, Callesen F, Boldsen JL.) Copper Exposure in Medieval and Post-Medieval Denmark and Northern Germany: Its Relationship to Residence Location and Social Position. Heritage Science 8:18. [doi.org/10.1186/s40494-020-00365-4]
2018 (Milner GR, Boldsen JL, Ousley SD, Getz SM, Weise S, Tarp P, Steadman DW.) Selective Mortality in Middle-Aged American Women with Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH). PLOS One 13:e0202283. [doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202283].
2017 (Milner GR, Boldsen JL). Life Not Death: Epidemiology from Skeletons. International Journal of Paleopathology 17:26-39.
2015 (Boldsen JL, Milner GR, Weise S.) Cranial Vault Trauma and Selective Mortality in Medieval to Early Modern Denmark. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 112:1721-1726.
2013 (Milner GR, Chaplin G, Zavodny E.) Conflict and Societal Change in Late Prehistoric Eastern North America. Evolutionary Anthropology 22:96-102.
2010 (G.R. Milner, G. Chaplin) Eastern North American Population at A.D. 1500.American Antiquity 75:707-726. (Supporting Data)
2004 The Moundbuilders. Thames and Hudson, London.
2002 (J.L. Boldsen, G.R. Milner, L.W. Konigsberg, J.W. Wood) Transition Analysis: A New Method for Estimating Age from Skeletons. In Paleodemography: Age Distributions from Skeletal Samples. R.D. Hoppa and J.W. Vaupel (eds.), pp. 73-106. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
1998 The Cahokia Chiefdom: The Archaeology of a Mississippian Society. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. (2006, reprint edition, University Press of Florida, Gainesville)
1992 (J.W. Wood, G.R. Milner, H.C. Harpending, K.M. Weiss) The Osteological Paradox: Problems of Inferring Prehistoric Health from Skeletal Samples. Current Anthropology 33:343-370.