Department of Anthropology Weekly Proseminar Speaker Series

Speaker: Julie Lawrence

Our faces are central to how we perceive the world—and how the world perceives us. They are fundamental to our identity, communication, and even survival, but what shaped the way we look today? Why do humans have such a wide range of facial features, and how do our faces connect us to our ancestors, health, community, and individuality?

In this session, we’ll take a closer look at the human face to explore key questions in anthropology and the methods used to study them. Using evidence from the hominin fossil record, population histories, and our closest living primate relatives, we’ll identify the anatomical traits that make our faces uniquely human and uncover the evolutionary forces behind their variation.

We’ll also examine how the human face continues to change in response to cultural practices and modern lifestyles—such as diet, urbanization, dentistry, and cosmetic surgery—offering insight into the dynamic relationship between biology and culture.

By bridging anthropology, bioarchaeology, and forensic science, this talk will show how our faces are more than just reflections in the mirror—they are essential to understanding what it means to be human.